Day 41~ The Last Supper

During the late 15th century, Leonardo Da Vinci did a particular painting; it was the painting of a man sitting at a table in an enclosed room, and laid out on the table before him was a feast. The man looked quite at peace, however, the men sitting around him looked a lot less peaceful, in fact, they were in a bit of an uproar. 

If this painting rings a bell, you'll be happy to know that you've probably seen it lots of times because there are perhaps hundreds of thousands of replicas of this painting all over the world. They can be found in churches and even households. 

Yes, this painting is none other than 'The Last Supper' as told in John 13:21, and this painting still basks in the refectory (dining room) of the church, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, in northern Italy.

Today, our reflection, can be found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26 verses 17-30. It encompasses two stories, the first of which is entitled; 'Jesus Eats the Passover Meal with his Diciples.'

Before we get into this one, let's just take some time to understand the history of this celebration called 'The Passover Festival.'

This festival is a Jewish one and it is basically a spring festival in honor of the Israellites freedom from Egyptian slavery during Moses' time.

'So why do they call it passover?'

Well, if we remember, during the time of Moses, when the Pharoah refused to let God's people go, God had sent ten plagues on Egypt, one of which was sending the Angel of death to pass over Egypt and kill the firstborn son of every family there. 

The reason why the celebration is called 'Passover' is due to the exclusion of the Israellites from the death of their firstborn sons. 

Now back to our main text, in summary this passage speaks of Jesus' last Passover meal with his diciples, however, during this meal Jesus informs the diciples that one of them would betray him. 

The painting I referred to above by Leonardo Da Vinci depicts the reaction of the diciples to this news.

Each of them in turn says, "Surely, Lord, you don't mean me?"

To which Jesus replies, "One who dips his bread in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man will die as the Scriptures say he will, but how terrible for that man who will betray the Son of Man! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born!"

Judas then spoke up, "Surely, Teacher, you don't mean me?"

And Jesus replied, "So you say."

Of course, Judas was the traitor.

Moving on to the second story, this one is entitled; 'The Lord's Supper' and it goes thusly;

'While they were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to his diciples. 

"Take and eat it," he said; "this is my body."

Then he took the cup, gave thanks to God, and gave it to them. "Drink it, all of you," he said; "this is my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink this wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in my Father's Kingdom."

Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.'

This passage relates a story retold generation after generation, Jesus' last supper with his diciples. This is what we commemerate everytime we take communion, remembering that he sacrificed his body, which is represented by the bread, and shed his blood, which is represented by the wine, in order to forgive all our sins. If you truely understand the magnitude of this sacrifice; this sacrifice which was made thousands of years ago which still holds for us even today and for who knows how many generations to come, you will realize that silver and gold may fade, the things we most treasure may fail us, but God's love for humanity will never fade or fail us.

Now on Holy Thursday, Churches all over the world will gather together and memorialize The Last Supper so if you didn't before, now you understand it's significance.