Mark 14 - The Last Supper

The Last Supper

The next day, on Holy Thursday, Jesus' disciples ask him where they should go to eat the Passover feast. Passover is the celebration of God passing over the houses of the Israelite slaves but killing the firstborn son of every Egyptian house in Exodus 12:29 during the Ten Plagues. It was celebrated in tandem with the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Mark says this is on the first day of the Feast and the day they sacrificed the Passover lamb. The lamb was killed on the fourteenth day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, making Jesus' death the following day on the fifteenth, Passover. Mark states that the lamb was sacrificed on the first day of the feast, having the dinner on the same day as the sacrifice of the lamb. This would be correct from our modern notion of a day beginning at Midnight, but the Jewish day began at sundown and so the Passover dinner from their point of view occurred the day after the sacrifice. Either Mark is using a non-Jewish reckoning of time (Kilgallen 264) or is using his method of double time chronology, such as 1:32, where two temporally separated events are sandwiched together. (Brown et al. 625) All the Synoptic Gospels agree with Mark on this chronology. John 19:14 however has Jesus' death occur during the slaughter of the Passover lamb, making his death the fourteenth and thus the Last Supper on the thirteenth and so not the Passover meal.

He tells two unnamed disciples to go to the "city" although Mark does not state which one, Jerusalem or its surrounding suburbs such as Bethany. According to tradition the Last Supper took place in the Room of the Last Supper on Mount Zion just outside Jerusalem. This was an area with a large Essene community, which has led some scholars to speculate about a link between Jesus and that group. (Kilgallen 265)

Jesus tells them they will be met by "a man carrying a jar of water" (13) and that he will lead them to another man's house. They are to ask the house's owner where "the teacher" has a guest room and that the man will show them the upper room in the house and that is where they are to have dinner. They do as he said and everything happens as he said it would and they "...prepared the Passover." (16) This episode shows Jesus' power over the situation. The owner of the house seems to know Jesus as "teacher", perhaps indicating an unnamed disciple (student).

Jesus and the Twelve Apostles arrive. Mark says it was evening. As the new Jewish day began at sundown, this is now the Passover and this is the Passover meal. This is the day of Jesus' death, Good Friday. Jesus tells the group that one of the Apostles eating dinner with him will betray him. The Apostles are saddened and all of them say one at a time that it is not them. "'It is one of the Twelve,' he replied, 'one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.'" (20-21) In Mark Jesus does not say who will be the betrayer. According to Matthew Judas denied it was him, to which Jesus replied that Judas is indeed the one he is talking about. According to John Jesus gave Judas some bread as a signal that Judas was the betrayer and that Judas was possessed by Satan and that Jesus told him to leave to go and betray him.

No passage of the Old Testament speaks of the Son of Man's suffering, so Jesus might be saying his death is somehow the glory predicted for the Son of Man. Jesus also predicted his betrayal in Mark 9:31 and 10:33 By predicting this Jesus says that Judas' betrayal is preordained, but that he will be punished for his behavior nevertheless. This has raised issues of determinism and the justice of God. If Judas had no choice in what he was to do, why should he be punished? What exactly his punishment is not stated, and it does not say in any of the Gospels if Judas is in hell. Both John and Luke have Judas possessed by Satan. The recently released, and still largely unstudied, Gospel of Judas also has Judas betray Jesus to the priests for payment but has this as much more of the divine plan.

Later Jesus takes some bread and divides it up and gives thanks and gives the pieces to the disciples. He tells them "Take it; this is my body." (22) He then does the same with a cup of wine and passes it around to everyone. "'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,' he said to them. 'I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.'" (24-25)

This might be related to Isaiah 53:12 in his description of the suffering servant. The original covenant was a blood sacrifice Moses made to God to seal God's deal with the Israelites before Moses went up to receive the Ten Commandments in Exodus 24:8. Blood was a symbol of life in the Jewish culture. (Kilgallen 267) Jesus does not state that the bread and wine are like him, but are his body and blood. Jesus is asking his disciples to take part in his sacrificial death. (Brown et al. 626) (See also Transubstantiation) Mark uses the term hyper pollōn (for many), based on the Hebrew of Isaiah 53:12 with "many" being all people, not just the disciples (Brown et al. 626). This episode in contrasted with the predictions of his betrayal and Peter's denial's, showing the sacrificial nature of his offering. Taking Jesus' body as food shows him as sustainer and a source of strength. (Kilgallen 266) (See also John 6:48-66) They then sing a song and leave and return to the Mount of Olives. The singing of hymns on Passover was a way of giving thanks. (Kilgallen 268) According to Luke Jesus told everyone to take a purse, a bag, and two swords with them (see also But to bring a sword).

During the Passover meal the wine was usually consumed during the eating of the bread but here it occurs after. This might indicate this is not the official Passover dinner and more in line with John's chronology (Brown et al. 626), although Jesus could have easily altered this for his purposes here.

Mark then flashes back to the meal and says that Jesus had predicted his abandonment by the Apostles. "'You will all fall away,' Jesus told them, 'for it is written: 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.'" (27-28) This is what the man dressed in white tells the two Marys when they find him in Jesus' opened tomb in Mark 16:7. The writing that Jesus is quoting is Zechariah 13:7.

Peter then says he will not leave Jesus even if all the others do. Jesus tells him that on this very night Peter will disown Jesus three times before the rooster crows in the morning twice. Peter denies it and says he will follow Jesus even if it means his own death and the other Apostles do the same.

Mark only has the straightforward, unexplained, eucharistic session sandwiched between two predictions of betrayal. This simplicity might indicate Mark's audience already knew the story of the Last Supper in greater detail than Mark relates. (Miller 47) Matthew has almost the same details, but Luke and John give longer accounts of the meal.

John has the longest account of the Last Supper in chapters 13-14. John also has Jesus' predictions of his betrayal and Peter's denials but no eucharistic ritual and has Jesus washing his disciples feet and much more of what he told them at dinner. John then has a lengthy prayer and discourse after the dinner in John 15, 16, and 17.

Paul also gives a description of the Last Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, stating that Jesus gave bread as his body and wine as his blood on the night he was betrayed. This is one of the few details of Jesus' life, apart from his crucifixion and resurrection, that Paul gives in his letters.