The order of the Last Supper varies slightly among the Gospels. Matthew and Mark mention that a disciple will betray Jesus before the communion service, while Luke describes the communion service first, followed by the announcement of the betrayer. In John, after the foot-washing ceremony, Jesus reveals that one of the disciples will betray Him, and Judas leaves. Both Luke and John mention that after this event, Peter will deny Jesus three times.
If the story had been written following the order of each Gospel tradition, it might have been easier to develop the narrative. However, as mentioned earlier, this novel assumes that all biblical content is presented in chronological order. Therefore, it depicts one communion at the beginning, such as when Jesus called the disciples by the Sea of Galilee, and another communion after Jesus mentioned that one of the disciples would betray Him and Judas Iscariot left.
Of course, this was probably just a single event, but the repeated expression might carry its own significance. This is similar to the event where Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” (John 21:15–17, WEB), or the three visions of unclean food in a vessel (Acts 10:9–16, WEB), both of which are important themes.
