Luke 22:14

‘And when the hour was come, he sat down (reclined), and the apostles with him.’

The lack of any preparatory words with reference to His arrival (compare Mark 14:17) suggests that Luke intends us to see a deeper significance in ‘when the hour was come’ than simply as a reference to the time of the usual Passover meal, or the time that Jesus had fixed. It rather suggests that solemn hour that had to come when Jesus would begin His preparations for certain death. We must remember that to Luke this is now at the end of His prophetic ‘journeying towards Jerusalem’ to die as a true prophet (Luke 13:33; Luke 18:31). And now He had come to that hour. Compare here also John 13:1. From this moment on His course was set. This solemnity would seem to be confirmed by the next verse.

There is an indication of firm courage behind the words here. Death was approaching, but He would carry on as normal. He was prepared for what would come, and was able to relax in the face of it. The Rabbis said that one reason why the Passover had to be celebrated in a reclining position was as an expression of joy and rest. It was in order to reveal that all was well. Symbolically at least it indicated that, unlike at the first Passover, there was no longer any need to be ready to move on. And yet Jesus was well aware that His hour was come and that this night He would commence the path of suffering that would end in a cruel death. But in spite of that He was quite ready to recline among His disciples.