The Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:1-53)
The Festival of Unleavened Bread is approaching, the time of the Passover. The chief priests and teachers of the law are looking for a way to kill Jesus. Then Satan enters Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve. Judas goes to the chief priests and officers of the temple guard and agrees to betray Jesus. They are delighted and offer him money. He accepts. He begins looking for an opportunity to hand Jesus over when no crowd is present.
Jesus sends Peter and John into the city to prepare the Passover. He tells them they will find a man carrying a water jar. Follow him. Whatever house he enters, say the Teacher asks: where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples? They find everything exactly as He said.
When the hour comes, Jesus sits at the table with the apostles and says: "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." He takes the cup, gives thanks, and says to share it among themselves. Then He takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it to them: "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." After the supper He takes the cup again: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." Then He tells them the one who will betray Him is at the table with them right now. They are shocked and begin asking each other which of them it could be.
A dispute breaks out among the disciples about who is the greatest. Jesus corrects them: the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. He is the one among them as the one who serves.
Then Jesus goes out to the Mount of Olives, as was His custom. The disciples follow. He tells them to pray they will not fall into temptation. He withdraws about a stone's throw, kneels, and prays: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." An angel from heaven appears and strengthens Him. In anguish He prays more earnestly, and His sweat is like drops of blood falling to the ground.
He rises, comes back to the disciples, and finds them asleep, exhausted from grief. He wakes them: pray that you will not fall into temptation. While He is still speaking, a crowd arrives with Judas at the front. Judas steps forward to kiss Jesus. Jesus says: "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" One of the disciples draws a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant. Jesus says: "No more of this!" and heals the man's ear. Then He is seized and led away.
A Curious Question
At the Last Supper, Jesus said the person who would betray Him was sitting right there at the table with Him. He knew who it was. He did not point at Judas, ask him to leave, or refuse to eat the Passover with him. He still broke the bread. He still shared the cup. Why do you think Jesus would do that? What does it tell you about Jesus that He chose to give the bread to the one who was about to hand Him over to be killed?
Old Testament Connection
The Last Supper is built entirely on the foundation of the Passover. Every element Jesus uses comes from the Exodus story: the lamb, the bread, the cup, the meal eaten together in the night before a rescue. In Exodus 12, God commanded Israel to mark their doors with the blood of a lamb so the angel of death would pass over them. The Passover meal was a yearly reminder that God had rescued them by blood. When Jesus takes the bread and says "this is my body given for you," and takes the cup and says "this is the new covenant in my blood," He is reinterpreting the entire Passover. He is the lamb. His blood is the mark. The rescue He is about to accomplish is not from Egypt. It is from sin and death itself.
The prayer in Gethsemane connects to the Psalms of lament and to the Servant Songs of Isaiah 53, where the servant of God is described as one who pours out His soul to death and bears the sin of many. Jesus is not surprised by what is coming. He is walking into it with clear eyes, asking the Father if there is another way, and then submitting: not my will, but yours be done. This is the obedience that Adam failed to offer in the garden of Eden. Where Adam chose his own will over God's, Jesus chose God's will over His own. The second garden undoes what the first garden broke.
Discussion Questions
- Jesus said at the Last Supper that the bread was His body given for us, and the cup was the new covenant in His blood. Why do you think He chose something as ordinary as bread and a cup to help us remember something so important? What do those ordinary things help you think about when you see them now?
- In the garden, Jesus prayed: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done." What do you think it felt like for Jesus to pray that prayer? And what does it mean for us to pray "not my will, but yours be done" in our own lives?
- The disciples fell asleep in the garden even after Jesus asked them to stay awake and pray with Him. Have you ever let someone down when they needed you? What do you think it is like to know that God does not abandon us even when we fail Him the way the disciples failed Jesus?
"So What?" What Can I Do?
Jesus prayed in Gethsemane: "Not my will, but yours be done." That is one of the hardest prayers anyone can pray. This week, think of one situation in your life where you want things to go a certain way. Maybe it is at school, at home, or with a friend. Write down what you want. Then write the words: "Not my will, but yours be done." Pray it. It does not mean you cannot want things. It means you trust that God's plan is better, even when you cannot see it yet.
Memorize God's Word
Luke 22:42: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
Hand Motions:
- Father: Look upward and extend both arms slightly upward with open palms, as if addressing someone above.
- if you are willing: Hold both hands open in front of you, palms up, as if presenting a question.
- take this cup from me: Hold one hand out as if holding a cup, then pull it back toward your chest.
- yet not my will: Place one hand flat on your chest, then push it gently to the side as if setting something aside.
- but yours be done: Extend both arms forward and down, palms up and open, in a posture of full surrender.
Praying with Kids
Father, Jesus prayed in the garden that Your will would be done even when it was hard. He knew what was coming and He went anyway, because He trusted You. Help us to learn to pray that prayer too. When things are scary or hard or not what we wanted, remind us that You are a good Father who has a plan bigger than what we can see. Thank You that Jesus did not choose His own comfort over our rescue. Thank You that the cross was not an accident. It was Your plan, and He said yes. Help us say yes too. Amen.
Craft: The Two Gardens Prayer Journal Page
Children will create a simple two-panel journal page comparing Adam's choice in Eden with Jesus' choice in Gethsemane, helping them see the Old Testament Connection at the heart of this lesson and giving them a space to write their own "not my will" prayer.
Materials Checklist
Instructions
- Fold the paper in half vertically to create two panels side by side.
- On the left panel, draw a tree (representing the garden of Eden). Write at the top: "Garden of Eden: Adam chose his own will." Below the tree, write: "My will be done."
- On the right panel, draw an olive tree (representing Gethsemane). Write at the top: "Garden of Gethsemane: Jesus chose God's will." Below the tree, write: "Not my will, but yours be done."
- Below both panels, write the memory verse: Luke 22:42.
- On the back of the paper, write one area of your life where you need to pray "not my will, but yours be done," and write that prayer out in your own words.
- If time allows, let children share one word from the front or back of their page, without pressure to share anything private.
Effective Teaching Techniques
This lesson covers a large section of text. The Passover institution and the prayer in Gethsemane are both weighty and deserve full attention. Consider dividing the lesson into two clear acts: the table and the garden. At the table, Jesus gives Himself willingly through the bread and cup. In the garden, Jesus gives Himself willingly through prayer and submission. Both moments show the same thing: He chose the cross. It was not something that happened to Him. It is something He walked into with open eyes and open hands.
If your children have done the Exodus unit, the Passover connection is a golden moment. Ask: what happened on Passover in Egypt? What did God say the blood of the lamb would do? Then let the Last Supper unfold with that context already in the room. Children who remember the blood on the doorposts will hear Jesus say "this is my blood" with entirely new ears.
For a sensory element, consider breaking a simple piece of bread in class and passing it around while you read Jesus' words from Luke 22:19. You do not need to replicate Communion theologically. Just let children feel the bread in their hands when they hear the words. The physical sensation of holding bread and hearing "given for you" is more memorable than any diagram or worksheet.
The most likely question: "Did Judas eat the bread and the cup too?" The text suggests he was present for at least part of the meal. Answer honestly: we do not know exactly when he left, but Jesus knew he was there and still shared the meal with him. That is a striking detail. Jesus offered even Judas the bread. That is not weakness. That is the kind of love that goes all the way to the cross.