Luke continued to imply Jesus' authority in his account of the events that these verses introduce. The hour in view is the hour at which Jesus had determined to eat the Passover meal with His disciples. Luke probably called the Twelve "apostles"here because what took place in the upper room was foundational for the church, and the apostles were its leaders (Eph. 2:20).
These verses record Jesus' introduction to what followed and are similar to the welcoming words of a host before his guests begin their meal. This is the seventh of nine meal scenes that Luke recorded in his Gospel (cf. 5:29-32; 7:36-50; 9:12-17; 10:38-42; 11:37-54; 14:1-24; 22:14-20; 24:28-32; 24:36-42).
22:15 Jesus' great desire (Gr. epithymia epethymesa, lit. "with desire I have desired") to eat this meal with the Twelve was due to the teaching that He would give them. It also arose from the fact that this would be His last fellowship meal with them.
22:16 Jesus announced that He would not eat (a strong negative statement in Greek: ou me phago) another Passover meal until what the Passover anticipated, namely His own sacrificial death, had transpired (cf. 9:31).
"When His kingdom would arrive, the Passover would be fulfilled for God would have brought His people safely into their rest."472
He would eat with them again next in the kingdom, specifically at the messianic banquet at the beginning of the kingdom. This announcement probably contributed to the apostles' expectation that the kingdom would begin very soon (cf. Acts 1:6).
There were four times that participants in the Passover meal drank together, commonly referred to as four cups. This may have been the first of the four. If it was, Jesus evidently did not participate in the drinking of the following three cups (v. 18).473The other Gospel writers did not refer to the first cup, so this may have been the third cup, the so-called cup of redemption. This view assumes that Jesus did participate in the drinking of the first and second cups, which would have been normal. "From now on"or "again"(v. 18) could mean either after this cup or after this Passover. I favor the view that Jesus was referring to the cup, not the Passover, and that this was the third cup. Luke rearranged the order of events in the upper room considerably as comparison with the other Gospels seems to indicate. Matthew and Mark have Jesus saying what Luke recorded in these verses just after what Luke recorded in verse 20.
Jesus continued to lead by giving thanks to God and then encouraging the apostles to partake. His action was similar to making a toast. However, His announcement that He would not drink the fruit of the vine again until He did so with His guests in the kingdom was not customary. It reinforced His previous statement that the kingdom would come. Obviously Jesus was stressing the certainty of the kingdom's coming. This was necessary since His impending arrest and death would cause the apostles to question whether it would come.
