The Last Supper

When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. Then he said to them, “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But look, the hand of the one betraying me is at the table with me. For the Son of Man will go away as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”

So they began to argue among themselves which of them it could be who was going to do it.

Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest. But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them have themselves called ‘Benefactors.’ It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving. For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves. You are those who stood by me in my trials. I bestow on you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. And you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Luke 22:14-30 (CSB)

The Jewish passover meal was and is a meal practiced by the Jewish people all over the world as a way of remembering the actions that God did for them in helping them to escape Egypt. The type of memory that the Passover represents is anamnesis, which is an active memory that lives as if the event was happening in the present. The memory of the event is recounted as the ritual meal is shared, and was proscribed by God during the Exodus as an event that all generations should participate in. Fitting that Jesus would use the Passover, within which the blood of a lamb was remembered to have saved the Jewish people from death, and apply a similar anamnesis event for himself, asking his disciples (and Church) to repeat a similar action on behalf of what he was doing for them.

What we know about the development of the theology of this text is that, as the Gospels are written some time after Jesus’ death, it is far likelier that this was written in response to a present reality of the Eucharist being such a central reality within the nascent church. It’s not that he never said or did this, but that the Gospel writers were well aware that the church already had a fuller understanding of what they were doing, through the ritual behavior, than that which needed to be explained in this text. Meaning, the Gospel writers didn’t assume this was just a sweet moment between Jesus and his disciples, but understood well that it was the institution of an action that they were to continue, together and that was alive and well at the time the Gospel texts were being inked.

Celebrating the Eucharist (Greek for Thanksgiving) is a central component of the New Testament texts, especially within John’s Gospel, and some of Paul’s Epistles, and the writers assumed its presence (Acts 2:42). Although we won’t touch it, in Luke’s own Gospel the Road to Emmaus story (Luke 24:13-35) is largely of the revelation of God that comes from the breaking of bread and sharing of wine (ritual Eucharistic meal) that the church was experiencing as these Gospels were being written. 

The implication and importance of communion is obviously far too big of a topic for a small email, other than to say that we might take note of the ritualized anamnesis within it: Whereas the Jewish people would recognize the blood of the lamb of the Seder meal as their salvation from death, the active memory In the Eucharist, that is the active memory of Jesus’ sacrifice, is brought forward as if it were currently happening for and with us in the moment. The blood of the lamb of the Seder is a type of foreshadowing of something much larger experienced in Christ. A different kind of lamb that would do a much larger saving from death. And this action would also develop its own memorial meal. And not one of merely ritualized symbolism, but the very real action of saving us in the present as we take part in the body and blood of the lamb of God. Paul will warn of the power of the Eucharist, and to not take it lightly. 

So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats, and drinks judgment on himself. (1 Corinthians 11:27-39)

Similarly John will say we must eat his flesh and drink his wine if we want to live (John 6:53-58). It’s not symbolism or metaphor, as we see in the next part of the passage, but a real call to the Eucharist.

I’ll touch on the imagery of servanthood that Jesus concludes with tomorrow, as it will be related to the foot washing that he participates in. More importantly, we see how deeply the disciples miss what is going on here. How often we miss what God is doing in our own lives, and yet we continue to gather, continue to participate, and continue to trust knowing that it is not in our understanding, but in his saving blood that we are being led out of our own sin sick wilderness into his salvation for us. And, as the early Christians realized, it is in this gathering, and the ritual repetition of this sacrament that we actually learn to discover the very thing that Jesus is trying to show us. 

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