The Last Supper (Mark 14:22-25 *, Matthew 26:26-29 *). Henceforth Lk. seems to be using another source in addition to (and in preference to) Mk. The revelation of the treachery of Judas is deferred till after the bread and the cup. Luke 22:15-18 seems to describe the Passover meal (but see below); the eating of unleavened bread is implied in Luke 22:16, as the drinking of the Passover cup is expressed in Luke 22:17. Then in Luke 22:19 (after Jesus-' last Passover) we have the institution of the new rite in words closely resembling 1 Corinthians 11:24 f. Of this bread and cup Jesus does not partake. Note that Mk. separates the Passover from the Last Meal by inserting the prediction of the betrayal between them.
Codex Bezæ omits the latter part of Luke 22:19 (after body; cf. Mk.) and all of Luke 22:20. With this reading, Luke 22:16 is introductory, and Luke 22:17 begins the institution of the new rite, which is not separated from the old Passover meal. The bread follows the cup as in 1 Corinthians 10:16. The bread is the body of Jesus, but nothing is said of the cup being His blood. Wellhausen goes further and excises the whole of Luke 22:19 (and Luke 22:20). In his view Luke 22:15 f., apparently referring to the Passover, really refers to the bread, and corresponds with Mark 14:22, just as Luke 22:17 f. (the cup) = Mark 14:25. There is a parallelism between Luke 22:16 and Luke 22:18 which should be preserved, and the suggestion is that both refer to the Last Supper, which is assimilated by Lk. to the Passover. There is no institution of a new rite; Luke 22:19 f., which alone deals with this, is a subsequent insertion due to a feeling that the rite must have originated with Jesus. The reading of Codex Bezæ in Luke 22:19 a is just an attempt (from 1 Corinthians 11:24, like the fuller text in Lk.) to mention the bread, omitted in Luke 22:15-18. If we accept it we must accept the rest of Luke 22:19 and Luke 22:20. The difficulty of the view is that Luke 22:16 is hardly a good substitute for Mark 14:22, and that according to it Jesus makes no reference to His own body or His blood.
Luke 22:15. With desire I have desired, etc. This may mean, I have earnestly desired, but am not able, etc. (JThS ix. 569). My next Passover meal will be the Messianic banquet. If we can so interpret the words, they confirm the Fourth Gospel's contention that Jesus suffered on the 14th of Nisan, about the time when the Paschal lambs were slain for the Passover meal in the evening, which began the 15th of Nisan. Jesus-' meal was therefore not a Passover, but took place on the preceding evening (beginning of 14th Nisan; cf. p. 653).
Luke 22:20. the new covenant in my blood: cf. Jeremiah 31:31; Exodus 24:8. The wine symbolises the self-sacrifice of Jesus, which effects and seals the new covenant.