Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LAST SUPPER

The term “Last Supper” (rather than “Lord’s Supper”) broadens the focus from just the eucharistic words and actions to the entire meal, which John and Luke portray as also the context for Jesus’ farewell address. The Last Supper, Jesus’ final meal with his disciples before his death (1 Cor. 11:23-25; Mark 14:17-26; Matt. 26:20-30; Luke 22:14-38; John 13–17; cf. John 6:51-58), is so momentous a moment in Jesus’ life, and so pivotal to beliefs and practices of most Christian denominations, that its various biblical accounts have generated frequent and sometime heated scholarly exchanges, not a few along denominational lines.

Questions regarding the Last Supper range widely. Some are narrowly textual and exegetical matters, such as how the differing versions of the Supper are related, or whether the long or the short manuscript reading of the Lukan account of the institution of the eucharist is original. Others are historical questions, e.g., whether or not the Last Supper was a Passover meal, or how much of the account goes back to the historical Jesus. Others are more theological, interpretive, and sacramental questions: the relationship between the Last Supper and the sacrifice of the Cross; its relationship to the eucharist; the meaning of the words,“This is my body,” “This is my blood” (or variants).

One hotly debated question has been whether the Last Supper was a Passover meal (as implied in some of the Synoptic accounts) or held on the day of preparation before the Passover (as claimed in the Gospel of John). Proposed solutions such as the use of an alternate sectarian calendar have not prevailed. There is a consensus that the Supper was Thursday evening on the night that Jesus was betrayed, that he died on Friday before the sabbath, and that the account of the discovery of the empty tomb dated that event to Sunday morning after the sabbath as the new Christian “Lord’s Day.” There is also a growing agreement not to focus on the discrepancy of whether the Last Supper historically was or was not a Passover meal, since in any case all accounts treat the meal in the context of the Passover season with Passover allusions and references. These Passover resonances contribute to the NT picture of Jesus as the Lamb of God who was slain for human sins (John and Revelation), and of Jesus as the bread of life. They contribute to the Last Supper as reflecting this context of a new covenant for salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice and by eating his flesh and drinking his blood (John 6:53-58; 1 Cor. 11:26-27).

Also widely discussed are the relationships of the Last Supper to the sacrifice of the Cross, the eucharist, Jesus’ historical practice of eating with sinners, and early Christian agápē meals. Although related to Jesus’ meals shared with sinners and to Christian agápē meals, the Last Supper has a distinctive significance beyond them as a final action and gift of Jesus to his disciples with particular reference to his death for them and to the eucharist.

Form of the Accounts

The eucharistic institution narratives have survived in two basic forms: one represented in Mark and Matthew, and the other in Paul’s 1 Corinthians and Luke, with important allusions in John 6:51-58. There is no consensus on which of the two main forms is prior, or whether only the Pauline form, or also the Markan, is liturgically shaped. The most plausible solution is to argue that historical remembrances of Jesus’ words and actions are needed to explain the origin of the various NT accounts of the Last Supper and treatments of eucharist, but these NT accounts have generally come down to us in language that has, to varying extents, been influenced by and corresponds to liturgical eucharistic formulations.

Frequent special questions about the Lukan version are the anomalous cup-bread-cup sequence of the longer manuscript form (Luke 22:17-20), as well as the authenticity of vv. 19b-20. With the growing awareness that Luke uses a farewell address structure, this sequence finds a natural explanation. The first cup belongs to the farewell’s notice of impending death: “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” The bread and (second) cup sequence is properly eucharistic: “This is my body, which is given for you; do this in memory of me”; “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:17-20).

Regarding John 13–17, much discussion centers on the relationship of the footwashing sign to the absence of an institution narrative in that Last Supper account. Nevertheless, while debating how much of the Bread of Life discourse in John 6 is eucharistic, most scholars agree that John 6:51-58 deals with the eucharist and has resonances with the “words of institution” present in the Synoptic and Pauline Last Supper accounts.

Meaning

From the perspective of the Christian churches, the most critical questions about NT treatments of the Last Supper concern its meaning and its relationship to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and to later sacramental eucharistic practices. Debates about the meaning of “This is my body,” “This is my blood,” have tended to follow denominational lines: Catholics, Orthodox, and some others read them in conjunction with John 6:51-58; 1 Cor. 11:23-29 as expressing the real presence of Jesus in the eucharist. Believers are to eat his flesh and drink his blood sacramentally and worthily. Others stress the lack in Jesus’ original Aramaic of the linking verb “is.” They emphasize parabolic or symbolic dimensions of these words, and their relationship to prophetic acted signs (such as when Ezekiel burnt one third of his hair, cut one third in pieces, and scattered one third, and then declared, “This is Jerusalem” [Ezek. 5:1-5]).

To the fundamental words about the bread and wine or cup, both the Markan and Pauline versions attach mention of at least one being “for you.” Expressions like “new covenant in my blood” and “poured out for you” connote atoning significance and allude to a sacrifice (on the Cross) that saves or liberates sinners, not from an earthly “Egypt” but from Satan, “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30). Besides discussions on how the Last Supper is related to the once-for-all atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, closely related questions concern the Last Supper’s relationship to the new covenant, to the institution of the eucharist, and to priestly ordination (especially in “Do this in memory of me”), and to the eschatological expectation in “You proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26).

On the one hand, the several versions of the Last Supper provide multiple attestation of its basis in the life of the earthly Jesus. On the other, their variety attests for salvation (in relation to the Cross) and for on-going church life (in the eucharist). Many controversies remain over specifics of the various NT texts and their historical and theological significance. But a canonical approach to them in light of the Passover and of the Servant giving his life for “many” (Isa. 53:11-12), in relation to the many NT interpretations, and to other early Christian documents and the attested eucharistic practices, reflections, and beliefs of the churches, can unpack the richness and centrality of the NT treatments of the Last Supper for Christians of all times.

Bibliography. N. A. Beck, “The Last Supper as an Efficacious Symbolic Act,” JBL 89 (1970): 192-98; R. J. Daly, “The Eucharist and Redemption: The Last Supper and Jesus’ Understanding of His Death,” BTB 11 (1981): 21-27; J. Jeremias, The Eucharistic Words of Jesus (Philadelphia, 1990); W. S. Kurz, Farewell Addresses in the New Testament (Collegeville, 1990); I. H. Marshall, Last Supper and Lord’s Supper (Grand Rapids, 1981); J. Meier, “The Eucharist at the Last Supper: Did It Happen?” TD 42 (1995): 335-51; D. Wenham, “How Jesus Understood the Last Supper: A Parable in Action,” Themelios 20/2 (1995): 11-16.

William S. Kurz, S.J.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LAST SUPPER

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)