Maundy Thursday: What Happened At The Last Supper?

As the Gospels tell it, Jesus went into the final evening of his life aware that he would die soon. How could anyone in his circumstances have expected anything else? His recent words and deeds gave the ruling authorities little choice.

Assassination or execution certainly awaited him. The only unknowns were when, and by what means.

As the Gospels also remember it, on this night -- "Maundy Thursday" in Christian tradition -- Jesus prepared his followers for life without him. The biblical accounts make important contributions to how Christians have understood both the death of Jesus and his living, continuing relevance.

The Last Supper

In three of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), the centerpiece of the story is a meal Jesus shares with his followers. Remembered as "The Last Supper," it provides the basis for a meal Christians share as part of worship (known, variously, as The Lord's Supper, Communion, or the Eucharist). Several elements of this event stand out on Maundy Thursday:

• Jesus' instructions to his disciples concerning the meal's location and preparation have a mysterious quality. The clandestine arrangements fit the volatility of the situation. Jesus is a wanted man. The meal transpires with risk in the air.
• The Gospels describe it as a Passover meal. Jesus interprets parts of the supper (shared bread and a shared cup of wine) in light of himself, as elements of his own body. He does not declare Passover observations obsolete. Rather, he suggests that the Passover setting contributes additional significance to his coming death. Is God about to accomplish a new kind of deliverance?
• "This is my body," he tells them, passing a loaf of bread around the table. Then the cup circulates; "This is my blood." He interprets the cup as a sign of a "covenant" -- a promise to his followers. The words recall an earlier covenant's ratification in Exodus 24:8. Somehow a new promise is being forged, and the blood Jesus will shed at the hands of the state confirms it. When Christians partake in bread and wine during communion services, they express their participation in this divinely-made promise. They express Jesus' ultimate solidarity with his people, a solidarity enunciated by his tortured, demolished body.
• As many Christian liturgies remind us, all this happens "on the night he was betrayed." As symbolized in the meal, Jesus gives himself to his followers even though one of them will soon ensure his downfall. Someone, he announces, will hand him over to the authorities. Yet that person, Judas Iscariot, remains welcome at the meal. Jesus hosts his betrayer.
• Jesus hosts his deserters, too. Sometime after the meal he informs Peter, the most prominent disciple, that he will publicly deny Jesus three times before dawn. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus tells the group, "You will all become deserters."
• After the meal, under cover of darkness, they depart together for the Mount of Olives, just outside of Jerusalem proper. Jesus' arrest followed soon after. Within just a few hours he was on his way to crucifixion, as Friday morning dawned.

The Foot-Washing And The New Commandment

The Gospel according to John offers a much longer, and much different account of Jesus' last night. It includes no extended description of the meal. And, oh, is Jesus talkative. The end of chapter 13 and the four subsequent chapters include a long speech in which he gives final instructions to his followers and offers a prayer. But it's the activity described just before this speech gets rolling that gains notice in Christians' observations of Maundy Thursday.

First, in a gesture of hospitality, Jesus washes his disciples' (including Judas's) feet. Such a chore was usually a servant's responsibility, but here Jesus performs it as the host. The point goes beyond tenderness and selflessness. Jesus says foot-washing indicates a person's "share" with him. In washing their feet, Jesus welcomes his followers into intimate fellowship with him. He expresses their belonging.

When Christians include foot-washings in their Maundy Thursday observances, they express the same thing. Through the rite they declare they belong to God in a relationship of profound intimacy. As a result, they belong also to one another.

When Jesus washes his followers' feet, he shapes their outlook on his impending death, his resurrection, and his return to God. He prompts them to see these events as an expression of love and a gift. Why a gift? Because all of it results in people's (renewed) intimacy with God and in their ongoing connection to Jesus.

Second, after dismissing Judas, Jesus begins his speech: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." Maundy Thursday gets its name from this utterance, as the Latin term for "commandment" is mandatum.

The commandment isn't exactly "new" as in "original." It's not as though no one else had previously thought that loving one another might be a good thing for people to try. Rather, Jesus asserts that love now becomes a way for people to experience the intimacy Jesus shares with God and promises to others. Jesus sees his destiny as itself rooted in a "commandment" from God (John 10:18) and as a concrete expression of God's love for the world (John 3:16). Loving the other -- committing oneself wholly to serve the other -- thus forms the appropriate way of life for those who have been brought near to God.

The Outcome

Strong emotions swirl through these scenes in the Gospels and in Maundy Thursday worship services. For many Christians, the evening calls for serious introspection. Yet maybe the most dominant emotion is a sorrowful gratitude. It flows from Jesus' interactions with his followers; as death looms, he gives himself to them. He gives himself still.

In the Gospels, all this occurs "on the night he was betrayed." Jesus offers deep solidarity with his followers, precisely in the face of their disappointing fallibilities, which get laid bare just hours after the supper.

All this still occurs on that night. Although his followers' fallibilities have continued throughout every generation, nevertheless Maundy Thursday offers a chance to know that Jesus still commits himself wholeheartedly to us.

 

 

 

Comments

[Iolo Oloi]

11:07 AM on 04/08/2012

Look for/Google “poem of the man god 598 last supper” for an even more detailed Last Supper.

[ManuOB1]

01:31 PM on 04/06/2012

The Last Supper took place during a time of uncertainty, fear and disintegration. Everything the disciples believed, hoped and cherished was crumbling around them. And things were about to get a lot worse. We Christians would do well to recall this at our next Eucharist or Lord's Supper service.

[Debra Martinez]

08:26 PM on 04/06/2012

very sweet....

[Debra Martinez]

09:38 AM on 04/06/2012

Matthew L. Skinner.

He doesn't know anything about the Last Supper.To say that Jesus "He does not declare Passover observations obsolete. Rather, he suggests that the Passover setting contributes additional significance to his coming death."

Luke 22:19 Also, he took a loaf,gave thanks,broke it,and gave it to them saying:' This means my body which is to be given in YOUR behalf. KEEP DOING THIS IN REMEMEBERANCE OF ME."

Here you can see he wanted his disciples his loyal ones to KEEP DOING THIS IN REMEBERANCE OF HIM.
So, here you can see that this evening meal was very important to Jesus Christ and to his sacrifice to all of humanity.
Rom 6:23 the wages of sin is death ,but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus
The Almighty God Jehovah gave us a perfect gift, Jesus .A body that was sinless and thru the curse of the ground on thier account (Adam and Eve). Jesus came forth on in our behalf for mankind to delivered us from that curse.
John 3:16 For God loved the so much that he GAVE his only begotten-Son , in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be distroyed but have everlasting life.

[YeOldeSnark]

01:12 AM on 04/06/2012

There are scholars who argue the Last Supper was not a Passover Seder and there are those who would further argue it never even occurred. Just another piece of fiction to add to a Book filled with fictional characters and events, e.g. the Resurrection, the murder of the Holy Innocents, the parting of the Red Sea, Moses and the Burning Bush, etc.

[DrJon]

08:59 PM on 04/05/2012

Sushi? Hummus?

[3in1]

05:42 PM on 04/05/2012

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. The best is yet to come. ISHI

[Mr Anonymous]

08:11 PM on 04/05/2012

What, when did I die?

[Debra Martinez]

08:40 PM on 04/06/2012

Jesus evidently was born in the month of Ethanim (september-October)of the year 2 B.C.E, was baptized about the same time of the year 29 C.E., and died 3:oopm on Friday, The 14th day of spring month of Nisan (march-April),33C.E. The basis for these dates is as folllow:
Jesus was born approxely six months after the birth of relative John(the Baptizer), during the rule of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus (31 B.C.E.-14 C.E.) and the Syrian governorship of Quirinius , and toward the close of the reign of herod the Great over Judea_Matthew 2:1,13: 20-22; Luke 1:24-31, 36:2:1,2,7

[YeOldeSnark]

01:12 AM on 04/06/2012

Yep, just keep hanging in there.

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

05:32 PM on 04/05/2012

My belief is that Jesus was the last Hasmonean (a son of Alexander or Aristobulous) and therefore had a legitimate claim to the High Priesthood. I think he tried to arrange a clandestine meeting with the Temple elite, and set Judas to arrange a meeting. But instead of showing up they informed on him to the Romans who sent a detachment of soldiers to arrest him. After that, there was no going back.

Afterwards the followers made up all these stories about how Jesus knew beforehand he would be executed, and so on, but in reality he was hoping to become a recognized Exarch (Ruler) under the Romans, freeing Jerusalem from the presence of Roman soldiers in the city, and thereby avoiding conflict. But the Temple elite were quislings who preferred to keep their wealth and power even if it meant the destruction of their religion.

[ladycrisperfst]

07:23 PM on 04/05/2012

Of course, Jesus knew he was going to die and the hour. He was there when the world was made. Who do you think God was talking to in this scripture? (Genesis 1:26 King James Version - And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.)
These scriptures confirm the fact that Jesus was there and sent to earth. John 1 (King James Version) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
This scripture is the first declaration to man of Jesus virgin birth and death in Genesis 3:15 (King James Version) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The only thing Jesus does not know is the day and the time of His return for the His Church.

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

10:09 PM on 04/05/2012

Actually, El was talking to the other Gods and Goddesses. El is the old Mesopotamian High God. Oh is the feminine suffix. Im is the plural suffix. Elohim is the collective plural meaning "The Gods and Goddesses". "Let us make man in our image ....male and female."

Genesis is a heavily reworked collection of Mesopotamian myths and fables. It is just about as relevant as the Iliad or the Odyssey or the Epic of Gilgamesh (which contains the earliest version of the Flood story) The Gospel of John is fiction from beginning to end. It differs greatly from the other gospels because they have some grounding in reality and it has none. Sorry, to burst your bubble but I deal in facts when it comes to history, not n myths and fables.

[lefty81]

10:01 AM on 04/07/2012

What? You've never read the Bible have you.............

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

06:56 PM on 04/07/2012

I have. I have also read Hesiod's "Theogony", the "Enuma Elish", the "Avestas", the "Tao te Ching" and most of the other great religiuos works of the world, not once, but several times over. I see no reason to prefer any one of them over the rest.

Religions are founded on myths and fables, not on history.

[DrHopeful]

04:07 PM on 04/05/2012

The fourth gospel, in addition to not mentioning the Eucharist, says the Last Supper took place before the Passover.

[az0th]

04:05 AM on 04/06/2012

Right. John's doctrinal ideas are considerably different from the Synoptics.

[Karl Wilder]

03:53 PM on 04/05/2012

That's like saying what really happened when Orsis was betrayed by Seth? Jesus is fiction based on old pagan gods. Nothing really happened as the event never happened.

[CyndiSimpson]

09:26 PM on 04/05/2012

Karl, many, many Christians have no interest or stake in believing that the stories in the Bible are literally or historically true. As with many sacred texts, the Christian and Hebrew Bibles are stories whose examination may have important meaning for those who choose to study them. Stories may be "fiction" yet bring a powerful impact.
I don't see your (or anyone else's) disrespectful dismissal of the potential worth of sacred stories as having any point. Interestingly, none of the folks who engage in such disrespectful dismissal are ever to be seen responding to articles discussing the Hebrew Bible from a Jewish perspective. I wonder why not? Certainly, I'm not promoting such activity, but more noticing that folks who have nothing useful to say, either critically or supportively, only bring their rudeness to the fore when it comes to articles about the Christian Bible.
Why the disrespect? After people have made comments like yours over and over and over....about "sky gods," "fiction," "pagan gods," or whatever - what is the point? We've all seen those comments - by the dozen. What purpose does it serve? If you're not interested in discussing the Christian story.....maybe it would be better for you not to read the articles or make any of your brief and fatuous comments.

[YeOldeSnark]

01:14 AM on 04/06/2012

a powerful impact? Like being hit by a train. Only difference is you feel the pain and you know it's real.

[Karl Wilder]

12:12 PM on 04/06/2012

The point is to give perspective to those who may not know they are fictional and based on previous tales. You see the author of the article stated these things as if they were facts. Gullible people reading the articles may believe them as facts and thus be vulnerable to the 7th day Adventists who whatever religion may next knock on their door. By letting people know these are old myths (old myths can have value, by Jupiter's balls they can) nonetheless they must always be presented and recognized as myth and story.

[Robert Kilbourne]

11:12 PM on 04/06/2012

But they did. Rather you would have others believe that your fairy tale is true. the truth in God's word is accurate. Don't believe, your choice. Don't believe in Jesus, again your choice. For those who have seen the Bible proven true, you have nothing and never will. To bad that you love the lie above the truth. Your choice effects you. The Bible effects millions with the truth about God and his son, Jesus. The facts that Jesus lived and died a described in the Bible are clear and accurate. Even worldly scholars admit he lived and died. You have nothing.

[Enock Zamora]

03:48 PM on 04/05/2012

'The Aquarian Age Gospel of Jesus is a revealing book of the complete life of Jesus and the Last Supper including the 'Lost Years of Jesus' and the Sermon on the Mound and the introduction by Miriam which in Greek means Mary: http://reluctant-messenger.com/aquarian_gospel.htm

[Rabbi420]

03:09 PM on 04/05/2012

So if it really was a Passover meal, then it would NOT have been "bread", but actually Matzah, right?!?

I wonder who found the Afikomen?!?

[Redgriffin]

04:59 PM on 04/05/2012

Bread is a generic term because Bread was anything that fit a general description Flour,Wheat , Corn, Barley or whatever, salt and maybe yeast is you could get it. Hardtack, Matzoh, Cornbread could be found in any house, Soldiers at Hard Bread and soft bread,what we buy today in stores or bakeries, was for the Winter Camps. So if in the Gospels say bread it means bread in The Sermon it is the only place that says Loaves that is some sort of soft bread but the Last Supper as a passover meal would have had Matzoh.

[ldeedee]

01:25 PM on 04/05/2012

Repeat that the day you appear before Jesus for judgement.

[blohrd3]

02:03 PM on 04/05/2012

We will appear before Jesus at judgement? I wasn't aware of this fact. Would you please cite chapter(s). Thanks in advance.

[Billy Fritts]

06:21 PM on 04/05/2012

blohrd3 )) I will answer that for you --2 corinthians--chap--5 --verse 10--For we must all appear befor the judgement seat of Christ--That every one may receive the things done in his body- according to that he hath done-Wheather it be good or bad---

[suebeedue]

07:47 PM on 04/05/2012

Matthew 25: 31-46

[YeOldeSnark]

01:17 AM on 04/06/2012

There's nothing to repeat on the day you end up in the same primordial soup from which you came. There was no judgment before you were born. There will be no judgment after you're gone. End of story.

[Robert Kilbourne]

11:26 PM on 04/06/2012

I didn't come from any soup. Neither did anyone else. As the saying goes- From dust to dust. We came from the ground and we go back to the ground. that is what the Bible teaches. All of mankind goes into the grave, Hebrew word sheol. That is the common grave of mankind. After Jesus resurrection a select few after their death would go to heaven with a purpose for them there. The rest of mankind awaits in the grave for the resurrection to the earth.

The simple message in the Bible is clear to anyone that wants it. I would gather from your comments though that you don't. That is to bad as that is the promise. the resurrection is up to God. and if you di, you might end up back on earth with the rest of mankind. Wonder what you will believe then?

[Hank007]

01:18 PM on 04/05/2012

A guy who could walk on water and change water into wine would certainly also know when, how, and by whom he would be killed. And it's funny to see 'scholars' talk about all this as though it actually happened, without a shred of evidence.

[simon Bar]

02:47 PM on 04/05/2012

yeah, according to the gospels which are written by someone who wrote according to Peter paul etc.

People talk about this as if it really happened.

analogy--------Did Santa and the Elves have enough time to get all the presents ready for delivery to all the xian homes. ??

[montanadan]

03:19 PM on 04/05/2012

By the time you told us that the gospels were attributed to Peter paul etc, I could tell you didn't know what you were talking about and saved myself the trouble of reading the rest. It's one thing to disparage faith, but at the very least have a working knowledge of the basics.

[wsmith3023]

05:40 PM on 04/05/2012

Santa is the antiChrist. He is the exact opposite of Jesus Christ.
The gift that Jesus Christ gives according to the Bible is free to everyone. There are no prerequisites. One doesn't have to be good for goodness sake to get a present. The Bible states that believers and unbelievers receive god's blessings. As a matter of fact, no one can earn any favor with god as they do with Santa Claus. This is according to the Bible, not the religions called "Democrats and Republicans." Both the Democrats and Republicans are the real Bible Thumpers. It is good rhetoric. It would be bad for them if we asked them relevent questions. But, we are happy being entertained in this presidential election time.

[suebeedue]

07:48 PM on 04/05/2012

Of course their is evidence-- even if you reject it.

[Pfalz prophet]

01:00 PM on 04/05/2012

I am badly distracted by alterego55's comments. Imagine that Christ said or intended, "eat this as though it were my body" and "drink this as though it were my blood". The message is we clear, we should treat others as though they were holy, sanctified. How different life would be, were we all to honor and respect each other instead of killing, robbing or abusing each other! Even cannibals understood their essential connectedness to the tribes they warred against.

[wsmith3023]

05:46 PM on 04/05/2012

Christ said that This IS my body and blood. Christ IS the sacraficial lamb. Christ doesn't say eat each other. Christ says that we are to wash everybody else's feet when we go to a restaurant. We should be eveyone else's waitress and not accept any gratutity. Maybe today, we could just remind everyone to wash their hands to prevent diseases like they did 6000 years ago instead of religiously Believing that an insurance company will save their life if they get sick.

[Jody Dobis]

12:56 PM on 04/05/2012

How did the teachings of Christ go so very bad in the opposite direction in this time and place? While the last supper continues more or less in the same tradition as before, it seems that it has no lasting value for large swathes of Christians in the US. If it had lasting meaning, we would not see the conflicts we have in both our political and business cultures. The teachings of Christ are very difficult and cumbersome to follow as we can expect. However, we seem to have given upon on even trying to accomplish a minority of his teachings in favor of greed, hypocracy and a whole host of actions that lead to a less enlightened life. In my opinion, the Christianity of Christ has been high jacked and manipulated to coincide with a so-called Christian life style and value system that has nothing in common with it/s origin. There should be more to Christianity than a belief in Christ and the asking for forgiveness of our sins towards humanity.

[wsmith3023]

05:53 PM on 04/05/2012

Christ's only teaching are to love everyone else even better than you do yourself. And don't expect thanks or return on your deeds. And don't expect to go to "heaven" for doing good deeds. The Bible says that no one can believe in Christ and No one can ask for forgiveness..."lest anyone boast." It is a totally free gift. No strings attached.
Politicians are the ones that muddle the water. Politicians are the preachers that everyone goes to to learn about the religions of the world. This happened in the Dark Ages and it is happening today.

[YeOldeSnark]

01:19 AM on 04/06/2012

Religion is a form of entertainment and a narcotic designed to make you feel good. You came from slime and you will surely be returning to it.

[WESmith]

03:23 PM on 04/06/2012

I have heard of ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, but I never heard that the reverse also happens. Is that Avolution? When we die our bodies return to "dust." More than likely we have all eaten other human's bodies and blood during that last dust storm.
The two largest religions in the US today are the Democrats and the Republicans. They each have many disciples and many prosthelytizers. There is no entertainment. There is no feel good. These politicians want our body and blood. Maybe that is where the narcotic comes in. We are oblivious to reality.

[DianaLynn1967]

01:59 AM on 05/19/2012

"You came from slime and you will surely be returning to it." Speak for yourself, sweetie!