Timing of Last Supper and Gethsemane Betrayal
The Last Supper and the betrayal in Gethsemane occurred during the Jewish Passover festival, specifically around the 14th of Nisan, which typically falls in March or April [4]. The timing of these events is closely tied to the Passover meal, which commemorated the Exodus from Egypt [2, 4].
According to the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), the Last Supper was a Passover meal [4]. Mark 14:12 states that the Passover lamb was sacrificed at twilight on the 14th of Nisan [4]. The phases of the Jewish liturgy for Passover included a festal blessing, the drinking of cups, the eating of bitter herbs, and unleavened bread [2]. Jesus' institution of the Last Supper drew significance from these Passover traditions [2]. Paul also received a special revelation concerning the institution of the Lord's Supper, emphasizing its solemnity [3].
Augustine notes that Jesus' words, "Ye know that after two days shall be the feast of the passover, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to be crucified," indicate the proximity of these events to the Passover [1]. The chief priests and elders had planned to seize Jesus by subtlety and kill him, but they initially sought to avoid doing so on the feast day to prevent an uproar among the people [1]. However, Judas Iscariot then went to the chief priests, initiating the betrayal [1].
After the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples went to a place called Gethsemane [6]. Matthew and Mark explicitly name Gethsemane, while Luke refers to the Mount of Olives without naming the specific piece of ground [6]. John's Gospel indicates that Judas knew this location well, as Jesus often resorted there with his disciples [9]. This knowledge allowed Judas to lead the arresting party directly to Jesus [9]. The betrayal and arrest in Gethsemane thus immediately followed the Last Supper, occurring on the same night.
Some early Christian writers, such as the author of "From the Last Work on the Passover," suggest that Jesus ate the Passover meal on the 13th day of the month, the day on which disciples inquired where to prepare for the Passover [7]. This perspective highlights the consecration of unleavened bread on this day [7]. John's Gospel also refers to the day of Jesus' crucifixion as "the preparation of the passover" [5, 8]. Augustine interprets this "preparation" as beginning from the ninth hour of the night when the chief priests declared Jesus "guilty of death" [8].
Sources
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — CHAP. LXXVIII.--OF THE QUESTION WHETHER THERE (part 4): Lord's words coming in thus: "Ye know that after two days shall be the feast of the passover, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill Him. But they said, Not on the feast-day, lest there be an uproar among the people. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Scarioth, went unto the chief”
- Matthew (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Matthew 26:26: 26:26-29 The Last Supper derives its significance in part from the Jewish Passover (see Exod 12). The phases of the Jewish liturgy for Passover are as follows: (1) Festal blessing; (2) first cup (see Luke 22:17-18); (3) eating bitter herbs (see Matt 26:23 and corresponding study note); (4) eating unleavened bread (26:26; Mark 14:22); (5) second cup is mixed; (6) the Passover haggadah (reading) is given (Exod 12); (7) first part of the hallel (Pss 113–114; see study note on Pss 113–118); (8) second cup is taken; (9) blessing and eating of unleavened bread (Matt 2”
- 1 Corinthians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Corinthians 11:23: His object is to show the unworthiness of such conduct from the dignity of the holy supper. I--Emphatic in the Greek. It is not my own invention, but the Lord's institution. received of the Lord--by immediate revelation (Gal 1:12; compare Act 22:17-18; Co2 12:1-4). The renewal of the institution of the Lord's Supper by special revelation to Paul enhances its solemnity. The similarity between Luke's and Paul's account of the institution, favors the supposition that the former drew his information from the apostle, whose companion in travel he”
- Mark (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Mark 14:12: 14:12-32 The preparation for the Passover meal (14:12-16) introduces the story of the Last Supper (14:22-25). • The Last Supper is associated with the Passover meal (14:12, 14, 16; Matt 26:17-19; Luke 22:7-8, 11, 13, 15; cp. John 18:28; 19:14). Many pilgrims celebrated Passover in Jerusalem, where God’s Temple was located (see Deut 16:2). 14:12 The time when the Passover lamb is sacrificed was twilight on the 14th of Nisan (Exod 12:6). This date falls in March or April each year.”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 6: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius, Julius Africanus, Methodius, Arnobius — V.--THAT UP TO THE TIME OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, THE JEWS RIGHTLY APPOINTED THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF THE FIRST LUNAR MONTH. (part 5): hand of the evangelist, which, by the divine grace, has been preserved in the most holy church of Ephesus, and is there adored by the faithful. And again the same evangelist says: "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath-day (for that Sabbath-day was an high day), besought Pilate that their legs migh”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — CHAP. IV.--OF WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE PIECE OF GROUND OR GARDEN TO WHICH THEY CAME ON LEAVING THE HOUSE AFTER THE SUPPER; AND OF THE METHOD IN WHICH, IN JOHN'S SILENCE ON THE SUBJECT, A REAL HARMONY CA (part 1): 10. Matthew then proceeds with his narrative in the same connection as follows: "Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane."(4) This is mentioned also by Mark.(5) Luke, too, refers to it, although he does not notice the piece of ground by name. For he says: "And He came out, and went, as was His wont, to the Mount of Ol”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 2: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria — FROM THE LAST WORK ON THE PASSOVER.: Quoted in the Paschal Chronicle. Accordingly, in the years gone by, Jesus went to eat the passover sacrificed by the Jews, keeping the feast. But when he had preached He who was the Passover, the Lamb of God, led as a sheep to the slaughter, presently taught His disciples the mystery of the type on the thirteenth day, on which also they inquired, "Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the passover?"[1] It was on this day, then, that both the consecration of the unleavened ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 7: Augustine — Homilies on John — CHAPTER XIX. 17-22. (part 2): than Greek. It was therefore the preparation of the passover. But "our passover, Christ," as the apostle says, "has been sacrificed;"(4) and if we reckon the preparation of this passover from the ninth hour of the night (for then the chief priests seem to have given their verdict for the sacrifice of the Lord, when they said, "He is guilty of death,"(5) and when the hearing of His case was still proceeding in the high priest's house: whence there is a kind of harmony in understanding that therewith began the preparation ”
- John (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on John 18:2: Judas . . . knew the place, for Jesus ofttimes--see Joh 8:1; Luk 21:37. resorted thither with his disciples--The baseness of this abuse of knowledge in Judas, derived from admission to the closest privacies of his Master, is most touchingly conveyed here, though nothing beyond bare narrative is expressed. Jesus, however, knowing that in this spot Judas would expect to find Him, instead of avoiding it, hies Him thither, as a Lamb to the slaughter. "No man taketh My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself" (Joh 10:18). Besides, the scene which was to f”