Luke 22

₁It was nearly time for the Feast of the flat bread. They also named this feast the Passover.

₂The chief_priests and the teachers_of_the_Laws made plans to kill Jesus. They did not want other people to know about their plans because they were afraid of the people. ₃Judas was one of the disciples of Jesus. His other name was Iscariot. Satan came into Judas ₄and Judas went to the chief_priests and the officers of the temple-guards. Judas talked to them about how he could help them to arrest Jesus. ₅They were pleased when they heard what Judas said and they told him that they would give him money. ₆Judas was happy and he started to look for the right time to betray Jesus, when there were no other people with them.

₇On the first day of the Feast of the flat bread people had to kill the Passover lambs. ₈Jesus told Peter and John to go and prepare the Passover meal so that they all could eat it. ₉The 2 disciples asked Jesus: ‘Where do You want us to prepare the meal?’ ₁₀Jesus said to them: ‘When you go into the city, a man with a water jar will come to you. Go with him. He will go to a house ₁₁and you must say to the owner of that house: “Sir, our Teacher wants to know where the room is where we can eat the Passover meal.” ₁₂The owner will show you a big room on the roof of his home. Everything that you will need for the meal will be there. You must prepare for the Passover there.’

₁₃The disciples went and everything happened as Jesus had told them. They prepared everything for the Passover meal.

₁₄When it was time to eat, Jesus and the apostles went into the room and they sat at the table. ₁₅Jesus said to them: ‘I have wanted to eat this Passover meal with you so much. ₁₆I tell you: I will never eat the Passover meal again until everyone knows about God who is King and everyone knows what this Passover meal means.’

₁₇Then Jesus took a cup of wine and He thanked God for it. He said to the apostles: ‘Take this cup of wine and give some of it to everyone here to drink. ₁₈I tell you, I will not drink wine again until everyone knows and accepts that God is King.’

₁₉Then Jesus took bread and He thanked God for it. He broke the bread into pieces and said to his apostles: ‘This is my body that I give to you. Every time when you break bread and eat it, you must think of Me.’

₂₀When they were finished eating, Jesus took the cup of wine and He said: ‘The wine in this cup is my blood. I will die, and my blood will flow for you. It is the blood of the new covenant. ₂₁And look, the man who will betray Me is eating with Me at this table. ₂₂It is true that I, the Son of man, will die as God has decided, but that man who betrays Me will suffer a lot.’

₂₃The apostles asked each other who would do a bad thing like that.

₂₄The apostles argued with each other and asked which of them was the most important. ₂₅Then Jesus said to them: ‘The kings of the world want to rule over their people and they want the people to say they are good leaders. ₂₆But you must not be like them. If any one of you wants to be important, then he must be like the smallest of you, unimportant. The one who wants to be the leader must serve everyone. ₂₇Who do you think is the most important: the one who sits at the table or the one who serves the people at the table? Of course the person who sits at the table is the most important one. But look at Me, at what I am doing. I am with you like someone who serves the people at the table.

₂₈You have stayed with Me, even when I have had trouble. ₂₉That is why I will make you kings, like my Father has made Me King. ₃₀You will be with Me to eat and drink at my table where I will be King. You will sit on thrones and you will judge the 12 tribes_of_Israel.’

₃₁Jesus said to Peter: ‘Simon, Simon, you must listen carefully. The devil is going to test you and he wants to see if you will keep on believing in Me. He wants to separate you from Me like a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff. ₃₂But I have prayed that you will keep on believing in Me. And when you have turned back to Me, you must help your brothers to be strong again.’

₃₃Peter said to Jesus: ‘Lord, I will go with You. If You must go to jail and die, I will go with You.’

₃₄Jesus said to him: ‘Peter, you will say you don't know Me. You will say it 3 times before the cock_crows tonight.’

₃₅Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Can you remember that when I sent you to the people, I said you must not take money or a bag with extra clothes or sandals? Did you need anything then?’ The disciples answered: ‘No, we did not need anything.’

₃₆Jesus said to them: ‘But now it is different. If someone has a money bag, he must take it with him. And if he has a bag for his clothes, he must take it with him. If he does not have a sword, he must sell some of his clothes and buy a sword. ₃₇I tell you: The things that the prophet Isaiah said will now start to happen. He said:

Yes, all the things that he wrote about Me will happen now.’

₃₈Then his disciples said: ‘Lord, look we have 2 swords.’

But Jesus said: ‘No, we have talked enough about that.’

₃₉Jesus went to the Mount_of_Olives like He did every night from the time that He came to Jerusalem. His disciples went with Him. ₄₀At the Mount_of_Olives Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You must pray that you will keep on following Me, even when you suffer.’

₄₁Jesus walked away from his disciples, as far as a man can throw a stone. He knelt down and prayed. ₄₂He said: ‘Father, if You want to, You can take away this suffering that is coming to Me. But You must not do what I want. Do what You want to do.’

₄₃Then an angel_from_heaven came to help Jesus and make Him strong. ₄₄Jesus was afraid and He prayed for a long time. His sweat was like drops of blood and it fell onto the ground. ₄₅When Jesus finished praying, He stood up. He went to his disciples and He saw that they were sleeping. They were tired because they had worried so much about Jesus. ₄₆Jesus asked them: ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that God will help you not to do wrong.’

₄₇Jesus was speaking to his disciples when a crowd of people came to them. Judas, one of Jesus' disciples, was walking in front of them. He came to Jesus to kiss Him. ₄₈Jesus said to him: ‘Judas, how can you betray Me, the Son of man, with a kiss?’

₄₉When Jesus' disciples saw what was happening, they asked Jesus: ‘Lord, do You want us to attack these people with our swords?’

₅₀One of the disciples took out his sword and he cut the slave of the high-priest. He cut off his right ear. ₅₁But Jesus told his disciples to stop.

Then Jesus touched the slave's ear and He healed it. ₅₂Then Jesus said to the people who came to arrest Him, to the chief_priests, the officers of the temple-guards and the family leaders: ‘Why did you bring swords and sticks with you to arrest Me? Do you think I am a robber? ₅₃I was in the temple with you every day. I taught the people and you did not arrest Me. But now it is night time, the time that the enemies of God choose to do bad things. You can now do what you have decided to do.’

₅₄The Jews arrested Jesus and they took Him to the house of the high-priest. Peter also went with them, but he walked far behind them. ₅₅The people who arrested Jesus started a fire on the open ground in front of the house and they were sitting at the fire. Peter also came and sat with them. ₅₆One of the girls who worked there saw Peter sitting by the fire. She looked at him for a long time and she said: ‘This man was also with Jesus.’ ₅₇But Peter said it was not_true. He said: ‘Madam, I don't know Him.’

₅₈A little later another man saw Peter and said: ‘You are one of Jesus' people.’ But Peter said: ‘No, I am not one of them.’

₅₉After about one hour another man said: ‘I am very sure that this man was with Jesus. He also comes from Galilee.’ ₆₀But Peter said: ‘Man, I don't know what you are talking about.’

And while Peter was speaking, the cock_crowed. ₆₁The Lord turned to Peter and He looked at him. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him. He had said: ‘You will say that you don't know Me. You will say it 3 times before the cock_crows.’

₆₂Peter went outside and he cried loudly.

₆₃The guards who arrested Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. ₆₄They covered his eyes and said to Him: ‘Show us that You are a prophet and tell us who hit You.’

₆₅They also said many other bad things to Him.

₆₆The next morning the Jewish_Council came together. There were family leaders, chief_priests and teachers_of_the_Laws. They said Jesus must stand in front of them ₆₇and they asked Jesus: ‘Tell us, are You the Christ?’ Jesus said to them: ‘If I tell you that I am the Christ, you will not believe Me. ₆₈And if I ask you something, you will not answer Me. ₆₉But from now on, I, the Son of man, will sit at the most important place next to God who is powerful and who rules over all.’

₇₀They then asked Jesus: ‘Are You the Son of God?’ And Jesus answered: ‘You are right when you say that I am.’

₇₁Then the members of the Council said: ‘We have heard enough. We have heard what He said.’