Holy Thursday
Last Supper
Jesus Washes the Feet of the Disciples
Jesus performs for his disciples the service of a slave when he “rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and tied a towel around himself.Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him” (John 13:4-5).
“Unlike Adam who had tried to grasp divinity for himself, Christ moves in the opposite direction, coming down from his divinity into humanity, taking the form of a servant and becoming obedient even to death on a cross (Philippians 2:7-8) – all this is rendered visible in a single gesture. Jesus represents the whole of his saving ministry in one symbolic act. He divests himself of his divine splendor; he, as it were, kneels down before us; he washes and dries our soiled feet, in order to make us fit to sit at table for God’s wedding feast. When we read in the Book of Revelation the paradoxical statement that the redeemed have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14), the meaning is that Jesus’ love “to the end” is what cleanses us, washes us. The gesture of washing feet expresses precisely this: it is the servant-love of Jesus that draws us out of our pride and makes us fit for God, makes us “clean”.… If man is to enter God’s presence, to have fellowship with God, he must be “clean”. Yet the more he moves into the light the more he senses how defiled he is, how much he stands in need of cleansing.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, pg. 56- 57)
Pope Benedict XVI
Examines the Last Supper and the Jewish Passover
Each Lent I re-read the gospels pertaining to Holy Week. And each year, the Lord peels back another layer giving me just a little more “insight” into these events. We cannot fully understand the Pascal mystery but by the grace of God bits and pieces are revealed which strengthen and deepen our faith.
In his book, Jesus of Nazareth - Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrectionm, Pope Benedict XVI discusses the “difference” in the dating of the Last Supper between the Synoptic Gospels and John. Making reference to the continued dispute between some scholars as to if Jesus was truly celebrating the Jewish Passover at the Last Supper.
The Synoptic’ note that preparations for Last Supper took place on or around the first day of the Unleavened Bread (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7) The Navarre Bible commentary on Matthew 26:17 states that “In Jesus’ time the Passover supper was held on the first day of the weeklong feast of Unleavened Bread,” making the Last Supper in the Gospel of Matthew the Passover meal.
The Gospel of John opens chapter 13 with “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (John 13:1) In the next verse we are at supper when Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, with verse 1 leading us to draw the conclusion that the Last Supper when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples was not a Passover meal.
Furthermore the following day at the trial in front of Pilate, John refers to this day as “the day of Preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour,” (John 19:14) when Jesus was condemned to die. The sixth hour was about midday, the hour the Passover lambs began to be slaughtered at the Temple for the meal that night. John is making the connection that the old perpetual sacrifice of the lambs in the Temple was being replaced with the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) With Jesus being sentenced to die in John gospel on the Day of Preparation, this would suggest that the Last Supper took place the previous evening, the day before the Passover meal.
Many attempts have been made to reconcile the chronologies of the Synoptic Gospel’s and John. One solution states that the Jews at the time of Jesus celebrated two Passover meals. Another speaks of two difference calendars observed by different sects within the Jewish community at the time. Or possibly the term “Passover” was a figure of speech that referred to every day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
The Navarre Bible’s commentary on the 19th chapter of John states, “The fact that Jesus was sentenced on the Preparation day suggests that in holding the Last Supper the previous evening, Jesus and his disciples may have been using a calendar, adhered to by some Jews, which put the Passover day one day earlier than the day specified by the calendar in general use.”
What is to be concluded? Pope Benedict XVI covers all of these attempts to reconcile the date of the Last Supper in detail in his book Jesus of Nazareth Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection. He does so to “offer insight into the complexity of the Jewish world at the time of Jesus, a world that we can reconstruct only to a limited degree, despite all the knowledge of sources now available to us.” (Jesus of Nazareth Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, pg 111-112)
So was the Last Supper the Passover? “One thing emerges clearly from the entire tradition: essentially, this farewell meal was not the old Passover, but the new one….It was Jesus’ Passover. And in this sense he both did and did not celebrate the Passover: The old rituals could not be carried out…he had given himself, and thus he had truly celebrated the Passover with them. The old was not abolished; it was simply brought to its full meaning.” (p. 114)
The death and Resurrection of Christ is the celebration of the new Passover, the Passover that endures, that Passover that covers all sin, past, present and future. “Jesus’ Last Supper – which includes not only a prophecy, but a real anticipation of the Cross and Resurrection in the Eucharistic gifts – was regarded as a Passover: as His Passover. And so it was.” (p. 115)
Jewish Passover
and the
Catholic Eucharist
Part Two
Holy Thursday: The Last Supper: The Eucharist
April 1, 2010
April 21, 2011
April 5, 2012 March 28, 2013 April 17, 2014 April 2, 2015 March 24, 2016 April 13, 2017 April 29, 2018 April 18, 2019 April 9, 2020 April 1, 2021 April 6, 2023
I have read these gospel passages of the Last Supper many times, but after studying the Pesach I read the gospel with a different insight. I noticed something about the Last Supper meal that I never paid attention to before, the relevance of the four cups of wine.
On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus and His Apostles will celebrate the Passover Meal. But it will be different than any other Passover. As Jesus said, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:15-16)
Dr. Scott Hahn does an amazing job of explaining the relevance of the four cups of wine consumed during the Passover meal and why Jesus and the Apostles on the night of the Last Supper left the Passover meal before consuming the 4th cup.
The rest of this blog post is sparked by my obsessive compulsive nature. It is my research on the four cups of wine, the Passover meal and my Catholic faith.
The Preparation
“Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” (Matthew 26:17, Mark 14:12, Luke 22:7-8) It is clear that the Spring Feasts of Passover (Exodus 12-13; Lev 23:4-5 Num 28:16; Deut 16:1-7) and of Unleavened Bread, the seven days following Passover (Exodus 12-13; Lev 23:6-8; Num 28:17-25; Deut 16:8) were very important to Jesus and his disciples.
In the time of Jesus, the unblemished lamb for the Passover meal was sacrificed in the temple of Jerusalem and the meal took place in someone’s home. Time consuming preparations had to be made. The home had to be free of leaven, side dishes had to be prepared, along with bitter herbs, unleavened bread and four goblets of wine mixed with water had to be available for all who would be present.
Jesus sent Peter and John in to Jerusalem where they would meet “a man carrying a jar of water…[they were to] follow him into the house which he enters.” (Luke 22:10, Mark 14:13) Luke goes on to describe this place as a large upper room that was furnished. It was this place the disciples were to prepare for the Passover meal.
The First Cup of Wine: Sanctification
From my study of the Passover meal, I knew that four cups of wine would be consumed in a traditional order. The first cup, of sanctification and blessing would be poured at the beginning of the celebration, before the washing of the hands and dipping of the bitter herbs. I found no mention of this cup in any of the four gospels, but knew that it must have been consumed before the commencing the celebration.
The Washing of the Feet
John’s Gospel is the only Gospel to record Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, a service normally performed by slaves. Peter does not understand, at first, why Jesus would humble himself this way. Jesus models for his disciples that he “came not to be served but to serve,” and that this service consisted of “[giving] his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
“When he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?...If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:12-15) Jesus’ entire life was an example of doing for others and service. Furthermore the Lord promises us that if we imitate him we will be blessed. “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (John 13:17)
Bitterness and Betrayal
“When in the evening, he sat at table with the twelve disciples; and as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me…..He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me.” (Matthew 26:20-23; Mark 14:17-20) “Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Is it I, Master?” He said to him, “You have said so.” (Matthew 26:25)
The Four Questions
Just as it is a tradition for the eldest or leader at the Passover meal to answer four questions explaining how Moses led his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land, the Gospel of John shows four of Jesus’ disciples asking him questions about salvation and eternal life.
The first question came from Simon Peter, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now; but you shall follow afterward.” (John 13:36)
The second question from Thomas, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” (John 14:5-6)
The third question was asked by Philip, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?” (John 14:8-10)
The fourth question is from Judas (not Iscariot), “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:22-23)
The Second Cup of Wine: The Cup of Judgment
The people who wrote the Gospels knew the ritual of the Passover Meal. Again I did not find this cup mentioned but I know it was poured right before the tenth plague was announced during the maggid, or telling of the Exodus story. Then Psalm 112 and 113 the Little Hallel would be sung and the cup of wine consumed. This would all be done before proceeding to the main meal.
The Seder Meal
In the Gospel and Matthew and Mark we jump right from the preparation to “While they were eating.” (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22) From my new understanding of the Passover meal this would mean that they had already drunk the first and second cup of wine, recited the story of Exodus and sang the Hallel Psalms 112 and 113.
The Gospel of Luke is similar proceeding straight from the preparation to the cryptic words Jesus spoke as “he sat at table,” “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:15)
The Third Cup: The Cup of Blessing
Once the meal is concluded a third cup of wine was poured, grace after the meal recited and the cup consumed in a reclining position followed by the singing of the Great Hallel Psalms 114-118. But this night it was different, Jesus made some startling changes in the traditional Passover. It was at this moment that Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist which would serve as a memorial of Christ’s Passover.
Just as the Exodus events were made real and present to the Jews every time they participated in the Passover meal, the sacrifice that Jesus was about to endure for us at the Crucifixion, would be made real and present every time Eucharist was celebrated at the Holy Mass.
Institution of the Eucharist from Matthew and Mark
“Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Matthew 26:26-30, Mark 14:22-26)
Institution of the Eucharist from Luke
“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:15-20)
After the drinking of the third cup a fourth cup would be poured and consumed signifying the climax of the Passover, bringing it to completion. But this Passover is clearly different, after they drink the third cup of blessing, Matthew and Mark record that they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives. Did they forget to drink the fourth cup? It would be like a priest skipping over the words of consecration at Mass.
Looking at the passage from Matthew and Mark when Jesus says “I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom,” (Matthew 26:29) has Jesus consciously omitted drinking the fourth cup and still completed the Passover meal? Or is it that this Passover meal, Jesus' Last Supper is still to be completed?
