The Passover Supper was a memorial of God’s great liberating act in setting Israel free from slavery in Egypt, central to their faith. The night before his crucifixion, Jesus gathered his disciples around the table. They shared the Passover, and Jesus redefined the meal into a way of remembering his giving of his body and blood to save them (and us). But even that meal wasn’t limited to “good” people—Jesus noted that his betrayer was there.

• Practical issues and centuries of Christian tradition may make it hard for you to think of the Lord’s Supper as a “meal.” But the next time you take part, imagine a great meal, with Jesus as the host offering you and all those around the table with you the bread and wine. How might a sense of the Supper’s “meal-ness” create closer bonds between you and those who share the meal with you?
• Yes—Judas was at the Last Supper, that awful man! Scholar William Barclay wrote poignantly, “Jesus Christ has at every communion table those who betray him, for if in his house we pledge ourselves to him and then by our lives go out to deny him, we too are traitors to him.” What made the difference between Judas and the other 11 flawed, fallible disciples? How can you, even when you fail, avoid being a traitor to Christ?