“Take and eat; this is my body”
The Last Supper and the Institution of the Eucharist is one of the most important events in the life of Jesus. He completes the old covenant and starts the new covenant. He begins the process of his Passion. His body and blood that were to be nailed on the cross were first to be broken for the apostles and for the salvation of souls. As the Second Vatican Council stated, "At the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us". [1]
When did Jesus have the Last Supper? “On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread” [2] This was during the celebration of the Passover.
How was this upper room prepared in advanced? The Scriptures do not tell us in detail how and who prepared the upper room for the Lord’s Supper. We do know it was a particular man that knew Jesus and was on of His followers
Why did Jesus start the evening off with “One of you will betray me”? Remember before the Lord’s Supper, they were already eating. They were probably already talking and conversing with one another. Jesus knew Judas’ heart and was hoping to show him the errors of his way. At every Mass, during the Penitential Act, we are invited to change our ways as the Priest says, “Brethren (brothers and sisters), let us acknowledge our sins, that we may prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.” [3]
Why did Jesus use bread and wine for the Last Supper? It was the feast of Unleavened Bread. In a larger sense, Jesus was using bread and wine for many purposes. These were the most common things around a table for people to eat. He was also following the true priestly sacrifice that had been done all the way back from the time of the first priest, Melchizedek. In Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek, being a priest, offered sacrifice under the form of bread and wine. Also, in Psalm 110, it was predicted that the coming Christ would be a priest “after the order of Melchizedek”. This would mean offering of the same sacrifice, bread and wine. He was becoming actual food that will sustain ever lasting life for those that eat it. Jesus was preparing and giving us an unending and bloodless sacrifice.
Did Jesus really mean the bread was his body? What about those who say he meant it figuratively? Jesus truly meant every word he said, “This is my body...this is my blood of the covenant” [4] Looking at the original text, even the dialect shows he was not speaking figuratively but literally. It is the same manner in which Jesus spoke in John’s Gospel before the Last Supper when he said, “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. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” [5] The Last Supper is the fulfillment of what He was saying to everyone in the Bread of Life discourse. Remember that many of his followers left him after hearing these words. If He had only been speaking figuratively, why would He have let them go instead of explaining that they had misunderstood Him? In fact, they had understood him perfectly, that He meant exactly what He said, and it was too much for them to believe.
St. Paul wrote, “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.” [6] St. Paul goes on to say that if you do not examine your soul properly and are not in a state of grace you can be found guilty of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. [7] St. Paul is showing us that during the Mass, when the priest consecrates the hosts and the wine they become the body and blood of Christ. If it were just a symbol of Jesus and still just bread and wine, why would St. Paul write about a punishment so harshly when receiving Holy Communion? He would not have said this unless it was something more than just bread and wine. It is literally the body and blood of Christ, the same sacrifice that Jesus made over 2,000 years ago, and the same Christ who died on the cross for us.
Do Catholics believe every Mass is a representation of the Last Supper? The Church teaches the Mass is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary. The Catholic Church does not teach the Mass is a re-crucifixion of Christ He does notsuffer and die again and again in the Mass. However, the Mass is not just a memorial service. John A. O’Brien, writing in The Faith of Millions, said, "The manner in which the sacrifices are offered is alone different: On the cross Christ really shed his blood and was really slain; in the Mass, however, there is no real shedding of blood, no real death; but the separate consecration of the bread and of the wine symbolizes the separation of the body and blood of Christ and thus symbolizes his death upon the cross. The Mass is the renewal and perpetuation of the sacrifice of the cross in the sense that it offers [Jesus] anew to God . . . and thus commemorates the sacrifice of the cross, reenacts it symbolically and mystically, and applies the fruits of Christ’s death upon the cross to individual human souls. All the efficacy of the Mass is derived, therefore, from the sacrifice of Calvary". [8]
Does the Church believe Christ dies over and over again at every Mass?No. The Catholic Church specifically says Christ does not die again—his death is once for all. [9] During the Mass, the priest says, “The mystery of Faith” and the people continue, acclaiming, “We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again” In the Mass of Creation, Mass part it is sung, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” We don’t say, “Christ died again, Christ is risen again, and Christ will come again”. In the Sacred Chant, “Mortem Tuam” from the Missa de Angelis, the English translation is “Death of Thine we announce. O Lord, and Thy Resurrection we confess, until you come again.” We know in our announcement and confession that Jesus Death and Resurrection is “once and for all.” For all people and for all time. Through his intercessory ministry in heaven and through the Mass, Jesus continues to offer himself to his Father as a living sacrifice, and he does so in what the Church specifically states is "an unbloody manner"—one that does not involve a new crucifixion. This unbloody sacrifice or pure offering was prophesized in the Book of Malachi. “For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name is great among the nations; and everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name, and a pure offering.” [10]
Why did Jesus say “Do this in remembrance of me”? This text is found in the Gospel of Luke. [11] Jesus was ordering His apostles to be the new priesthood, the ones which would stand in for Christ to offer the sacrifice to God the Father. The sacrifice was the memorial of the body, blood, soul, and divinity of His son, Jesus Christ. “The Mass and the Eucharist is a remembrance, a memorial offering we present to God to plead the merits of Christ on the cross.” [12]
What did Jesus mean by “the blood of the new covenant”?God kept his covenant alive from the time of Abraham, Moses, David, and to Jesus. At the Last Supper, Jesus, with his body and blood, creates a new covenant. This new covenant is not just with a specific person, group, or nation but with the whole world. His blood was the new blood that was shed for sacrifice.
In the Mass we hear, “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.” [13] In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist cries out upon seeing Jesus, “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” [14] Why was Jesus called “Lamb of God”?To understand this we must look to the Old Testament and the Passover. During the ten plagues of Egypt, God the Father, along with Moses as His mouthpiece, tried to convince pharaoh to release the Israelites. Pharaoh refused, and faced the last plague, the death of every first born. God the Father instructed Moses to bring everyone together and slaughter a year old, unblemished lamb. They were then instructed to sprinkle the blood on their doorframe, and then eat the flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. [15]
We should now see the connection here with Jesus, on the night He was to be betrayed He offers unleavened bread as His body and His blood on the feast of the Passover. His death became the new Passover. His blood is the new Covenant with God the Father. He is the eternal sacrificial Lamb that was unblemished or without sin.
The Last Supper was the final supper for Jesus on this earth, but the sacrifice that He started that night still continues to this day. The sacrifice in the Mass is Jesus’ complete surrender to the will of the Father that everything might be accomplished, and we can still continue to gain the merits and graces of the cross.
[1] Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47
[2] Matthew 26:17
[3] Order of the Mass I
[4] Matthew 26:26,27
[5] John 6:53-56
[6] 1 Cor. 11:26
[7] 1 Cor. 11:27-29
[8] The Faith of Millions pg. 306
[9] http://www.catholic.com/library/Institution_of_the_Mass.asp
[10] Malachi 1:11
[11] Luke 22:19
[12] http://www.catholic.com/library/Institution_of_the_Mass.asp
[13] Communion Rite: Agnus Dei
[14] Jn 1:29
[15] Exodus 12:12