Luke 22:1–38

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, ² and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. ³ Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. ⁴ And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. ⁵ They were delighted and agreed to give him money. ⁶ He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

⁷ Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. ⁸ Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

⁹ “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.

¹⁰ He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, ¹¹ and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹² He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”

¹³ They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

¹⁴ When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸ For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹ And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. ²¹ But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. ²² The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” ²³ They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

²⁴ A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. ²⁵ Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.²⁶26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. ²⁷ For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. ²⁸ You are those who have stood by me in my trials. ²⁹ And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, ³⁰ so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

³¹ “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. ³² But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

³³ But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

³⁵ Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”

“Nothing,” they answered.

³⁶ He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. ³⁷ It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

³⁸ The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”

“That’s enough!” he replied.

Holy Father

As we come before you to dive into your word, please prepare our hearts and minds. Guide us to understand the truth of the message you are giving with these words. Help us to know how to integrate them so that we are living in grace.

LORD, each day we are provided opportunities to be witnesses to your glory. Open our eyes to see how that may be achieved today.

May we be humbled to understand your will for us and to go forth living it. May we be examples for how you move in our lives.

God, there is much in this passage to uncover. Let the focus be on serving. Let each of our senses be attuned to what it means to both be served and to serve.

We invite you, LORD, to be with us as we read through this message and we thank you for your presence.

In the power and glory of Jesus Christ

Together we say, ‘AMEN.’

As a person who served in restaurants for 30 years, there certainly isn’t much I haven’t seen or heard in that industry. It packed a wallop most nights. There were times I would come home and literally drop onto the couch only to awaken a couple of hours later. And then there were those other times, when I’d come home bursting with the joy of having served.

I have a bit of a bias I openly confess to when hearing from others about their serving experiences. It has always been a trade, and a profession, that I’ve wondered if everyone would benefit from doing. It encompasses so much—from timing, to psychology, to celebrations and even to tears of frustration.

Of course, that’s only a ‘taste’ of what serving is all about…

Luke 22:1–38 primarily covers what we call the last supper: The time before Jesus was to be accosted, imprisoned, brutally beaten and then crucified.

This passage from the Book of Luke has the meat and potatoes of life. It talks about how Satan enters Judas and leads him so far astray. It speaks to the betrayal of Christ by Judas. In it, Jesus warns his disciples to not think so highly of themselves and yet, offers how they will be beside him in the glory to come.

Through this passage we read how Simon Peter will deny Christ, not once, or even twice but three times. We also see how Jesus beckons those that are bickering about their greatness to be silent.

This passage has a full meal, indeed. But today we will focus on verse 27, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”

When we look to the Biblical Greek for the word ‘serve,’ we read ‘diakoneo.’ This is interpreted as being a servant, attendant, to minister to one. Even as he speaks the words and asks his disciples who is greater—the server or the servant—he gives them the right pause with saying ‘but.’ This small word aids so dearly in pointing them and us in the right direction of knowing Christ, the Servant, is the One to whom we belong. Christ alone is equal in both the serving and servant roles.

When I would go to work at the restaurant, tired already from attending school classes during the day, and pushing myself to be present, I didn’t give the best of who I could be as a server. I could be impatient. I could get frustrated quickly. I would even beg off getting more tables—more people in my section. I certainly wasn’t being the stellar server I could be. Truthfully, I wanted only to be the one being served.

Have you had days like that? When you wanted to be the one receiving? Have you ever wished that things could be given to you on the proverbial ‘silver platter?’ You might not have been comparing yourself as a couple of the disciples did, pushing for who was the ‘greater one.’ Yet, when we choose to be completely honest, there are definitely days when we would like to be the one being served.

In this day and age when we are mostly going at a breakneck speed, we need the reminder of what serving actually is. It is being the servant and doing what the servant does. It means showing up—even when we least would like to. Imagine how Christ knew that was his last supper with his disciples. Imagine how those disciples would have reacted the next day when the realization of that having been their last supper with Jesus hit them.

Hindsight is a lovely thing, isn’t it? We can look now at how they might have felt, how they may have reacted, and we can wonder if we would have felt the same. We can even go a step further and recognize the gift we have of today, and not need hindsight to see it.

Christ is speaking about both greatness and leadership when he shares his use of the word ‘but’ at the end of Luke 22:27; “But I am among you as one who serves.” It is not about who is sitting as much as it is about being the example of true greatness and leadership that Christ exudes.

There are several examples throughout the New Testament where we discover that Jesus is the Servant of man. Matthew 20:28, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In Philippians 2: 7-8, “Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” And again, in John 13: 5-16, “After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus answered, ‘Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.’ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.” When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.’”

How incredible to read that Jesus Christ washed the feet of his disciples. He did so to show the perfect example of giving that only he can be, and thus his followers were the recipients of his everlasting grace. By washing their feet (and this was done during the Last Supper), Jesus provided the fabulous background of how serving means to be equal with the one being served. Thus, the answer to the question of who is greater is understood that none are greater than another; we are equal. As we see in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

Think about today. How might you serve while you are at home, at work, driving? Now that last one can be more challenging and it is meant to make you laugh. It is also intended to get you thinking about your role as a servant to all those around you. Especially when you know the example you have been given.

It is also important to note that this is how we acknowledge the equality of servant/served. There is better understanding found in both Luke 12:37, which states, “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.” And then in, Luke 17: 7-9, “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?”

There is no line drawn between the two, other than the one you might draw. We are to accept that we are both at the same time. We are servants just as we are being served and vice versa. We are served as we are being served. How incredibly great that Christ came as a man to serve us. In so doing he died for us that one day as we come to accept him as LORD and Savior, we may sit with him and both be served and serve. How phenomenal!

Holy Father

How blessed are we? To understand that you came to serve us, and in doing so you have given us the opportunity to have a beautiful relationship with you, LORD Jesus. How do we serve you?

Guide us to witness how we may serve all those around us. To be the patience you have shown, to be the kindness, the thoughtfulness of presence, the gift of grace to one another just as you have given to us.

We realize that some days we may not always wish to be the one serving, yet it is in that exact moment that we need to turn to you and get moving on how we can serve. To realize that you served at your last meal—you washed the feet of those who loved you, you broke the bread and passed it around, you poured the cup and offered it—everything you did was to give us life, eternal. How blessed we are.

Thank you, God. Thank you for showing us the perfect example of serving. The perfect example of how we may be gracious in being served.

May You receive all glory from how we follow your example.

Reverend Trudy Gryschuk was ordained by her home church, Southview Church, located at 20200 Walden BLVD SE, Calgary, Alberta. She has been a member of her church for over 15 years and is honoured to go there. The church offers everything you could want or need and the congregation/staff blesses all those around them with love and light.

She currently works as a Spiritual Care Practitioner for Bethany Seniors. She has a deep sense of calling to this ordination and it is a gift she lovingly brings to her residents, families, staff and volunteers. Social handles:

Trudygma (Instagram)

Saccalgary (Instagram)

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Luke and Acts taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®

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