Lesson 23: “Love One Another, As I Have Loved You”

Luke 22
John 13-15
Matthew 26
Mark 14

Purpose: To inspire class members to follow Jesus’s example by loving and serving others.

Lesson Development

1. Jesus institutes the sacrament.
2. After washing their feet, Jesus commands the Apostles to love one another.
3. Jesus teaches “I am the way, the truth, and the life” and “I am the true vine.”

[Draw timeline on board during this discussion, indicating women with Jesus immediately before and immediately after the events of Lesson 23.]

When Jesus was crucified, and buried, and resurrected, what women do we know were there?

John 19:25

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

Luke 23:55

55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.

Luke 24:10

10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.

Did these women normally live in Jerusalem? Then why were they there?

Mark 15:40-41

40 There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;

41 (Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.

When did these women arrive in Jerusalem? [The scriptures don’t mention them explicitly as entering Jerusalem with Jesus, but it makes little sense to suppose that the women who have been traveling with Jesus as he went through town after town did not, for some reason, enter with him at his “triumphal entry.”]

John 12:12-13

12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Among the people traveling with Jesus were those who had witnessed the raising of Lazarus from the dead, just a few days earlier.

John 12: 17-18

17 The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.

For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.

Is it likely this was an all-male crowd? Is it likely that Mary and Martha would have been willing to part with Lazarus so soon after his restoration to life?

So we know that women came with Jesus to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, and we know that these women were still there, in Jerusalem, with Jesus during his crucifixion and at his resurrection a week later.

Where were these women in between those days, during Passover itself?

We’ll come back to this question in a moment.

All four of the Gospels give us a picture – some far more detailed than others – of the last Passover that Jesus celebrated with his disciples just before his betrayal and arrest. Let’s look at the account in Luke, chapter 22.

Luke 22:1-6

1 Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.

2 And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.

3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.

4 And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.

5 And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.

6 And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.

Why would the betrayal have to take place “in the absence of the multitude”?

Here Luke tells us that “Satan entered into Judas.” In another of the gospels, John tells us that “the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him.” Does that alternate wording affect how you read Luke, in your mental image of how “Satan entered into Judas”? One factor to remember is that while we see the heart as a metaphor for feelings, the ancient Israelites considered the heart to be what we call “the mind” – the seat of reason and thought and planning. How does that affect your understanding of that phrase?

Luke 22:7

7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be filled.

The Passover, then and now, is an intimate meal shared with family and friends. If you were Judas, looking for a time to betray Jesus “in the absence of the multitude,” wouldn’t that be a perfect time and place to tell the “chief priests and captains” where to arrest Jesus? Judas can’t do that, though.

Luke 22:8-13

8 And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.

9 And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?

10 And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.

11 And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?

12 And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.

13 And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.

Okay, so why wasn’t Judas able to tell the “chief priests and captains” ahead of time where they could find Jesus with relatively few of his followers?

Do you think Peter and John personally “made ready the passover” – that is, cut up the herbs, and baked the unleavened bread, and took the lamb to be slaughtered at the Temple, and then roasted it, and made all the other preparations for the passover meal? The scripture doesn’t tell us who actually did the cooking – but from all you know of Israelite customs, who is likely to have done most of the baking and cooking and other preparations for a feast?

We don’t know for certain, of course, and you certainly are not required to believe this, but many people believe that some of the women who accompanied Jesus into Jerusalem – his mother, for one, and his aunt, and likely others of the women who were especially close to Jesus – his intimate family and friends, those you would expect to be present at a Passover meal, were there. Our mental image of the Last Supper has been formed as much by art, like Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” as they are by scripture. The scripture does not name all those who were present – not even all the twelve Apostles are named, and we infer they are there because of references to “the Twelve” – but then there are references to “the disciples” as well as “the twelve.”

As I said, no one is required to believe that women were present at the Last Supper. But we know that scripture almost always leaves women out of the story, even when we absolutely know they had to have been there – consider all the “begats” for instances – generation after generation of men fathering men without, apparently, the help of women. So I offer this idea for consideration, as something that is not explicit in the scripture, but that does not contradict scripture, and for which there is room in scripture.

[Hold this in reserve as possible response to push-back from class members:

Mark 14: 16-17, 20

16 And his disciples went forth …

17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. …

20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish.]

So – the disciples do as they have been instructed, and find the man carrying the pitcher, follow him into a house, and obtain the use of the upper room for Jesus’s Passover feast. Few homes in Jerusalem had a second story; this suggests that this is a wealthy home. The upper chamber is described as “large,” also suggesting an unusually fine house – and, incidentally, possibly another indication of other disciples at the meal, because 13 men alone would not have required a “large” room.

We don’t know for certain that Passover customs at the time of Christ are precisely the same as they are among the Jewish people today, but if they’re different, they probably are not wildly different. Today’s Passover meal includes four cups of wine passed at different points in the meal. The account of the Passover supper given in Luke 22 gives us a hint of this.

Luke 22:17-20

17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:

18 For I say unto you,, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Passover was already a feast of remembrance among the people of Israel. When the Lord gave instructions for the first Passover meal in the days when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, he told them:

Exodus 12:14

14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

What was the Passover intended to serve as a memorial for?

How different, really, was the new memorial of the sacrament from the old memorial of the passover lamb?

In a conference talk almost 20 years ago [October 1995] Elder Holland said:

Since that upper room experience on thee eve of Gethsemane and Golgotha, children of the promise have been under covenant to remember Christ’s sacrifice in this newer, higher, ore holy and personal way. … If remember is the principal task before us [he said], what might come to our memory when those plain and precious emblems are offered to us?

[If time permits, briefly relate stories of Nellie Finguar and Jeannie Bleakley.]

[Invite class members to share personal experiences with the Sacrament.]

Following the Passover meal and the introduction of the Sacrament in remembrance of the body and blood Jesus was soon to offer as a sacrifice, the Savior knelt and washed the feet of his disciples. Some of them – notably the hot-headed Peter – drew back in shock. Foot-washing was a traditional mark of hospitality when a guest arrived in a home, but it was always done by a slave or servant, never by the head of the house.

John 13:12-17

12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?

13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well: for so I am.

14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

What was Jesus trying to teach his disciples by this action?

John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

When is it the hardest to love other members of the Church?

What opportunities do we have as disciples of Jesus Christ to show love, one to another?

[Concluding testimony]

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Hat tips to Julie Smith and Ben Spackman for elements from their teaching posts used in this lesson.