Looking deeper into the Last Supper

Today's Gospel reading comes from Mark 14:12-16, 22-26.

12 On the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, [Jesus] disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? 13 He sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him.

14 Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?" 15 Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there." 16 The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

22 While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body." 23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. 25 Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." 26 Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

One major difference between Catholics and other Christian sects is our celebration of the Holy Mass where we partake of the Holy Eucharist. It is in this particular Gospel that we are all given the idea that Jesus himself becomes the unblemished Passover lamb, to be eaten just like in the days of Moses because Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.

Indeed, the Last Supper was actually a celebration of the Passover, the biggest celebration by the Jews as it reminds them of the day when they were liberated from the cruel hands of the Pharaoh. You can read the whole story about the Passover ritual in Exodus chapter 12.

Just to cite a few Jewish prescriptions for the Passover, families must procure a lamb, which must be a year-old male and unblemished. You shall keep the lamb until the 14th day of the month and with everyone present, it shall be slaughtered on the evening twilight.

The blood of the lamb shall be applied on the two doorposts and lintel of every house that partakes of the lamb and that same night by using a hyssop branch. They shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole and none of its bones must be broken. None of it must be kept beyond the next morning. Whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned. After doing this ritual, the Lord led Israel out of Egypt and out of bondage of the Pharaoh. This was his covenant with Israel as we read in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, in John 6: 47-51 Jesus taught his disciples, "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven, whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

Please don't think that the disciples of Jesus embraced this teaching without murmuring. They even asked themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" But Jesus insisted saying in John 6: 53-54, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day."

We've all been taught that the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament and as we read the passage in Exodus of the Passover, we learn that it brought salvation to the Israelites from slavery. But in becoming the Passover lamb himself, our Lord Jesus Christ presents us with the blood of the New Covenant, which would be shed for all. He is a living Sacrifice!

So what did our Lord Jesus mean when after he offered his body and his blood, he then told his disciples, "Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." Actually, the Passover meal has many parts, like the cup of blessing (Kedosh) or the cup of thanks, but Jesus himself is the cup of sacrifice where he would only drink from the vine when he drinks it in the kingdom of God. This happened while he was hanging on the cross and cried out, "I thirst" and he was offered gall and vinegar to drink… placed on a hyssop branch.

This is why at the end of his life on earth, Jesus said, "It is finished" meaning, the New Passover has begun with his sacrifice on the cross.

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