Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 22:17

"And he received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:" — Luke 22:17 (ASV)

Take this, and divide it among yourselves.—The cup was probably the first of the three cups of wine, or wine mingled with water, which Jewish custom had added to the ritual of the Passover. Since it was a distinct act from that of Luke 22:20, it is natural to infer that it had a distinct symbolic meaning.

Considering that wine is partly the symbol and partly the antithesis of spiritual energy in its highest form (Acts 2:13; Ephesians 5:18), and considering the reappearance in Acts 2:3 of the same somewhat exceptional word for “divide,” used to describe the tongues as “parted, or divided, or distributed” (“cloven” is a mistranslation), we may see in this cup the symbol of the bestowal of the spiritual powers which each of the disciples was to receive. These powers were given according to the gift of the self-same Spirit, who divideth to every man severally as He will (the Greek word in 1 Corinthians 12:11 is, however, different, though expressing the same thought). This is just as the second cup was the pledge of a yet closer fellowship with His own divine life.