Joyful Moments in Christ

This Bible study lesson is for people who are learning English (ELL or ESL students). It is made for advanced beginner and intermediate English learners. Children who speak English or adults who prefer easy English may also enjoy it and learn from it.

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Lesson Icebreaker Question

What is a special meal you enjoy with your family or friends? What food do you like to eat at that meal?

Lesson Highlight

In this lesson, we will learn about a special meal Jesus shared with his friends. We will hear about how he wanted to help them remember him. We will also talk about what it means to love and stay faithful to our friends.

Vocabulary List (GNT)

1. Apostles — The twelve men Jesus chose to follow and learn from him.
2. Body — A person’s whole self, made of flesh and bones.
3. Bread — A kind of food made from flour and water, usually baked.
4. Carry — To hold something and take it somewhere.
5. Covenant — A strong promise made by God to his people.
6. Cup — A small bowl or glass used for drinking.
7. Die — To stop living.
8. Drink — To take liquid into the mouth and swallow it.
9. Festival — A happy time when people gather to celebrate something special.
10. Furnished Room — A room that already has tables, chairs, and other things needed.
11. Kingdom of God — God’s perfect place where he is King and everything is good and right. It is a real place in heaven, and it also lives in the hearts of people who love and follow him.
12. Meal — Food eaten at one time, like lunch or dinner.
13. Memory — Remembering something from the past.
14. Owner — A person who has something and it belongs to them.
15. Passover — A special Jewish holiday to remember when God saved his people in Egypt.
16. Pour — To make liquid flow from one container to another.
17. Prepare — To get something ready to use or do.
18. Room — A space inside a building with walls, a floor, and a ceiling.
19. Sealed — Made strong and sure so no one can break it.
20. Share — To let someone else use or have something with you.
21. Suffer — To feel pain or be hurt.
22. Table — A flat piece of furniture where people sit to eat.
23. Terrible — Very bad and sad.
24. The Son of Man — A name Jesus used to talk about himself.
25. Unleavened Bread — Flat bread made without yeast, so it does not rise.
26. Wine — A drink made from grapes.

Summary of the Passage

This passage takes place during a very important time for the Jewish people called the Festival of Unleavened Bread. At this festival, families eat a special meal called the Passover meal. This meal helps them remember how God saved their people long ago. Jesus wanted to eat this meal with his disciples before something very sad happened to him.

Jesus sent two of his friends, Peter and John, to get the meal ready. He told them to follow a man carrying water and go to his house. Inside, there would be a big room upstairs. Everything would be ready there for the meal. Peter and John did what Jesus said, and it happened just as he told them.

Later, Jesus sat down with all his disciples to eat. He told them he had waited a long time to eat this meal with them. He took a cup of wine and some bread, gave thanks to God, and shared them with his friends. He explained that the bread was like his body, and the cup of wine was like his blood. Both were a promise to use his body and blood to save them. He asked them to remember him when they ate and drank together in the future.

This passage teaches us that Jesus loves his people and wants them to remember him. It also shows that Jesus knew one of his friends would betray him, but he still shared this special meal with love and care.

Read The Passage

Jesus Prepares to Eat the Passover Meal
7 The day came during the Festival of Unleavened Bread when the lambs for the Passover meal were to be killed.
8 Jesus sent Peter and John with these instructions: “Go and get the Passover meal ready for us to eat.”
9 “Where do you want us to get it ready?” they asked him.
10-11 He answered, “As you go into the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house: ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the room where my disciples and I will eat the Passover meal?’
12 He will show you a large furnished room upstairs, where you will get everything ready.”
13 They went off and found everything just as Jesus had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
The Lord’s Supper
14 When the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table with the apostles.
15 He said to them, “I have wanted so much to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer!
16 For I tell you, I will never eat it until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God.”
17 Then Jesus took a cup, gave thanks to God, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves.
18 I tell you that from now on I will not drink this wine until the Kingdom of God comes.”
19 Then he took a piece of bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.”
20 In the same way, he gave them the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is God’s new covenant sealed with my blood, which is poured out for you.
21 “But, look! The one who betrays me is here at the table with me!
22 The Son of Man will die as God has decided, but how terrible for that man who betrays him!”
23 Then they began to ask among themselves which one of them it could be who was going to do this.

Luke 22:7-23 (GNT)

Most English learners should use the New International Reader’s Version (NIRV) or the Good News Translation (GNT) because they are easy to read. If you want to try something harder, you can read one of the other Bible versions:

• Very Easy: New International Reader’s Version: Luke 22:7-23 (NIRV)
• Easy: Good News Translation: Luke 22:7-23 (GNT)
• Medium: New Living Translation: Luke 22:7-23 (NLT)
• Hard: New International Version: Luke 22:7-23 (NIV)
• Very Hard: English Standard Version: Luke 22:7-23 (ESV)

Comprehension Questions

1. What festival was happening at this time?
2. What meal were Jesus and his friends going to eat?
3. Who did Jesus send to get the meal ready?
4. What did Jesus tell Peter and John to look for in the city?
5. Where would the meal be prepared?
6. Who sat at the table with Jesus?
7. What did Jesus do with the cup?
8. What did Jesus do with the bread?
9. What did Jesus say the bread and the cup would help his friends remember?
10. What did Jesus tell his friends would happen soon?
11. How did the disciples feel about hearing one of them would betray Jesus?

Application Questions

1. Why do you think Jesus wanted to eat this special meal with his friends?
2. How do you feel when you share food with people you care about?
3. What can you do to remember the people who love you and care for you?
4. How can we show love and kindness to people, even when it is hard?

Theological Insights

1. Jesus loves his people and wants to be close to them.
2. Jesus is the one who saves his people, just like God saved his people long ago.
3. Jesus made a promise with his people, and his death was part of God’s good plan to save them.
4. Even though people can betray and hurt others, Jesus still shows love and care.
5. God’s plan cannot be stopped, even when people do bad things.

Closing Prayer

Dear Father, thank you for Jesus and the love he showed his friends. Help us to remember him and show kindness to others. Thank you for your promises that never change. Amen.

ELL Resources for the Gospel of Luke

More ELL Resources

You can find more Bible lessons for English learners on the main ELL page.

Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.