Who is Jesus the Christ?
A Study of Early Gnostic and Orthodox Christianity
An Adult Sunday School Class by Tim Bryan and Bill Stroop
CLASS
4, MARCH 28, 2004:
Jesus' Last Day: The Last Supper
Up to this point, we have been discussing how the Early Church and rival groups of Gnostics viewed the person of Jesus. In a very real sense, the writers of the Gospels, the Epistles, and the Gnostic literature all wrestled with the same things: "Who is Jesus?" "What does Jesus mean to me?" "What does Jesus have to do with salvation?" Given that we are marching toward passion week, Good Friday, and Easter, it seems appropriate to look to our sacred texts to see what Jesus might have said about who he was. That is one of the purposes of today's class. The second purpose of today's class is to look at the Last Supper for what it says about the salvific action of Jesus. In other words, what does Jesus' life and death have to do with our salvation, or justification before God?
Canonical Sources
The Last Supper contains what we now call the "words of institution" that are prayed by the priest during the Eucharistic celebration. Some people call these words the "words of consecration." From the NRSV translation of the canonical Gospels, these words are as shown below.
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Matthew 26:26-29
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Mark 14:22-25
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Luke 22:15-20
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| 26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured our for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." | 22 While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” | 15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 Then he took a loaf of 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.” 20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. |
Another source for the words of institution is Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians:
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1 Cor 11:23-26
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| 23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. |
Non-Canonical Sources
Another source of Christian information is the Didache (see Class 2). The Didache probably dates from from 80-100 C.E., although it might be earlier (ca. 60). It is a manual of sorts that ordered Church life and liturgy, and it was very popular during the early period of the Church. It contains two parts, the "Way of Life" and the "Way of Death." The Didache was considered for inclusion as part of the canon (Bible), but it was eventually excluded. The Didache contains formularies for Eucharistic celebrations. Its words of institution are as follows:
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Didache 9:1-5
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| 1 Concerning the eucharist, this is how you are to conduct it: 2 First, concerning the cup, "We thank you, our Father, for the sacred vine of David, your child, whom you made known to us through Jesus, your child. To you be glory forever." 3 Then concerning the fragments [of bread]: "We thank you, our Father, for the life and knowledge that you made known to us through Jesus, your child. To you be glory forever. 4 Just as this loaf was scattered upon the mountains but was gathered into a unity, so your church should be gathered from the ends of the earth into your domain. Yours is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever." 5 No one is to eat or drink from your eucharist except those baptized in the name of the Lord. Recall what the Lord said about this: "Don't throw what is sacred to the dogs." |
Interpretations
In its work a few years ago, the Jesus Seminar concluded that "the diversity in the recorded words of Jesus in the various sources presents a serious problem for those wishing to recover the actual words of Jesus. It is very likely the case that during the course of meals with his disciples Jesus engaged in some symbolic acts. He probably made use of bread or fish and wine. In spite of this probability, the actual accounts of the last meal Jesus ate with his disciples in Jerusalem are so overlaid with Christianizing elements that it is difficult - if not impossible - to recover the actual event; the words Jesus spoke on that occasion are beyond recovery."[1]
Nonetheless, if we are to understand who Jesus was (is) and what Jesus means to us for salvation, we need to try to make sense of the scriptural accounts of the Last Supper since that event forms the basis of one of the two primary sacraments of the Church.
The Markan account. The disciples in Mark are clueless to much of what Jesus is about, and the Last Supper is one place where Jesus straightens them out. They didn't understand what Jesus meant about "bread" in Jesus' earlier teachings (see 6:52 and 8:14-21), so in Mark 14, Jesus just tells them that the bread and wine are his body and blood. The disciples will ritually participate in Jesus' death by eating the bread and drinking the wine.
The Matthean Account. Matthew, writing and for to Jewish Christians interprets the cup of wine as the atoning sacrifice akin to the blood sacrifices made at the Temple every day. Jesus' death, like that of a sacrificial animal at the Temple, provides a very typical Christian understanding of Jesus' death.
The Lukan and Pauline Accounts. It is in Luke that we hear echoes of the Passover meal (absent from the other Gospels). There are two references to the cup in this story, and it is believed by some scholars that the author of Luke conflated two separate stories into one. There are similarities between Luke's narrative and Paul's letter (see above), but scholars do not believe that the two are dependent on each other. Rather, it is thought that the two arose independently, and reflect a common understanding of what was meant by the symbolism of the Eucharist; namely, that Jesus was the substitutionary sacrifice for the human race.
Although it is beyond the scope of this class to discuss atonement theories, it is clear that the synoptic Gospel accounts (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) share an understanding that Jesus' death was central to salvation, and that reenactment of Jesus' Last Supper is how we both memorialize and participate in Jesus' sacrificial death. In that regard, the sacrificial language of our Rite I, Eucharistic Prayer I and the prayer of humble access are worth recalling:
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From Rite I, Eucharistic Prayer I
(BCP, page 334) |
From Rite I, Prayer of Humble Access
(BCP, page 337) |
| All glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou, of thy tender mercy, didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there, by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again. | We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen. |
In his essay, "What Jesus did at the Last Supper," Bruce Chilton, the Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College and Rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, provides a less personally sacrificial view of Jesus' words at the Last Supper.[2] Chilton believes that Jesus had celebrated table fellowship in order to symbolize the kingdom to come. But, his last meal became his last because he was arrested on account of his earlier cleasning of the Temple, which enraged the already worried and angry Temple authorities. What was scandalous about his form of table fellowship, Chilton argues, was that Jesus' cleansing of the Temple was an attempt to occupy the Temple and change the policies and procedures of Temple sacrificial worship, because, in part, it had become too burdensome and harmful to some (recall the widow giving her last two mites to the Temple, thus condemning her to death).
Chilton writes,
"His occupation of the Temple having failed, Jesus said over the wine, 'This is my blood,' and over the bread, 'this is my flesh.' In the context of his confrontation with the Temple authorities, Jesus' words can have only one meaning. He cannot have meant, 'Here are my personal body and blood;' that interpretation makes sense only at a later stage in the development of Christianity. Jesus' point was that, in the absence of a Temple permitting his view of purity to be practiced,* wine would be his blood of sacrifice, and bread would be his flesh of sacrifice! When he said 'This is my blood, this is my flesh.' he meant that these - the wine and the bread - were his substitute sacrifices, replacing the blood and flesh of animals being sacrificed at the Temple. In Aramaic, 'blood' (dema) and 'flesh' (bisra, which may also be rendered as 'body,' [and was rendered as 'body' (soma) when the text was composed in Greek) are words that can have a sacrificial meaning; in the contact of Jesus' speech at the Last Supper, that is their most natural meaning."[3]
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* According to Chilton, Jesus' view of purity was that any son or daughter of Israel could approach the Temple and offer worship. He believed that all people of Israel were fit to offer purely of their own.[4]
Chilton traces the development of the words of institution through the two groups that influenced the later church: Peter's group (the Petrines) and the followers of James (the Jamesians). The Petrines were active in Jerusalem, Galilee, and Syria, whereas the Jamesians were most prominent in Jerusalem. The Jamesians were more conservative than the Petrines, and, insisted that the Church be under control of practicing Jews, not teachers like Paul who were willing to depart from traditional Judaism. The association of the Last Supper with Passover was theologically motivated by the Jamesians who wanted to limit participation to Jews (remember that only circumcised males could participate in a Seder). Paul, who never accepted such limitations adopted the Petrine understanding of the Eucharist, and inserted "new covenant" into the words of institution to indicate his theological view of the breadth of the kingdom of which Jesus spoke.
Sacrificial Atonement
The Gospels, composed well after the events they describe, were based on earlier traditions - some of which were probably oral, and may have also been written. They reflect community understandings of what was meant by the Eucharist, but also reflected individual (or community) interpretations that later became normative. The passion narratives, which focus on Jesus' death, are an example. The focus of the Last Supper on Jesus' sacrifice, and the passion narratives themselves focusing on Jesus' death together form the basis of meaning. The association of Jesus' death with the Last Supper assured that the wine would be linked to Jesus' blood - especially for the non-Jewish, Hellenistic members of the earliest Churches (i.e., those expected to be unfamiliar with Jewish sacrificial Temple practices).
The Sacrificial Mystery of the Gospel of John
John's gospel, written about one or two generations or so after the synoptic gospels extends the theology of Jesus as the sacrifice for the world. In John, the eating of Jesus' flesh and the drinking of Jesus' blood become conditions of eternal life:
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.” 41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. (Jn 6:35-57)
Thus, the Johannine gospel makes the Eucharist into a mystery: When we consume the bread and wine in the context of the Eucharistic celebration, we are joined to the divine flesh and blood of Jesus Christ who offered himself to death, and who was raised in triumph. The mystery hinges on the faith of the believer, and the link between Jesus and the believer is emphatic.
The person of Jesus is heavily influenced by what vantage point we take. Let's look at what salvation might mean depending on whether we concentrate on the Jesus before or after the crucifixion.
1. A pre-crucifixion view of Jesus might focus on his miracles, healings, teachings, and other actions that he did while he walked among us. Salvation from this perspective might be viewed as something that involves action on our parts to mimic Jesus' behavior. How does this view pertain to those who lived before Jesus' time? How does this perspective influence your view of the meaning of the Eucharistic celebration?
2. If Jesus' self-giving death on the cross is the focus, then his death becomes the atoning sacrifice for everyone. What about those people who lived before Jesus' time? How does this perspective influence your view of the meaning of the Eucharistic celebration?
3. If we have a post-resurrection point of view (hardly inescapable), then perhaps the triumph of Jesus over death is the salvific event. How does this perspective influence your view of the meaning of the Eucharistic celebration?
[1] Funk, Robert W., Roy W. Hoover and The Jesus Seminar. The Five Gospels. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1993), 388.
[2] Chilton, Bruce. "What Jesus Did At The Last Supper." Jesus: The Last Day. (Washington, D.C.: The Biblical Archeological Society, 2003), 1-22.
[3] Chilton, 16.
[4] Chilton, 14.