The Last Supper^(A)(B)

¹² On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb,^(C) Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

¹³ So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴ Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹⁵ He will show you a large room upstairs,^(D) furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

¹⁶ The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷ When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. ¹⁸ While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”

¹⁹ They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”

²⁰ “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me.^{(E) 21} The Son of Man^(F) will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

²² While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it^(G) and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

²³ Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.^(H)

²⁴ “This is my blood of the^[a] covenant,^(I) which is poured out for many,” he said to them. ²⁵ “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”^(J)

²⁶ When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.^(K)

The Ministry of Reconciliation

¹¹ Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord,^(A) we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.^{(B) 12} We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again,^(C) but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us,^(D) so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³ If we are “out of our mind,”^(E) as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.^{(F) 15} And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves^(G) but for him who died for them^(H) and was raised again.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly^(I) point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,^(J) the new creation^(K) has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!^{(L) 18} All this is from God,^(M) who reconciled us to himself through Christ^(N) and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.^(O) And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,^(P) as though God were making his appeal through us.^(Q) We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.^{(R) 21} God made him who had no sin^(S) to be sin^[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^(T)