Luke 22:14-23

2. The Supper: Luke 22:14-23.

There are three elements which form the material of this narrative in the three Syn.: 1 st. The expression of the personal feelings of Jesus. With this Luke begins, and Matthew and Mark close. 2 d. The institution of the Holy Supper. It forms the centre of the narrative in the three Syn. 3 d. The disclosure of the betrayal, and the indication of the traitor. With this Luke ends, and Matthew and Mark begin. It is easy to see how deeply the facts themselves were impressed on the memory of the witnesses, but how secondary the interest was which tradition attached to chronological order. The myth, on the contrary, would have created the whole of a piece, and the result would be wholly different. Luke's order appears preferable. It is natural for Jesus to begin by giving utterance to His personal impressions, Luke 22:15-18. With the painful feeling of approaching separation there is connected, by an easily understood bond, the institution of the Holy Supper, that sign which is in a way to perpetuate Christ's visible presence in the midst of His own after His departure, Luke 22:19-20. Finally, the view of the close communion contracted by this solemn act between the disciples, causes the feeling of the contrast between them and Judas, so agonizing to Him, to break forth into expression. Such is the connection of the third part. It is far from probable, as it seems to us, that Jesus began by speaking of this last subject (Matthew and Mark). John omits the first two elements. The first was not essential to his narrative. The second, the institution of the Holy Supper, was sufficiently well known from tradition. We have, in our Commentaire sur l'évangile de Jean, placed this latter event at the time indicated by Luke 13:2 in that Gospel (δείπνου γενομένου). The feet-washing which followed necessarily coincides with the indication of the traitor in Luke, and with the subsequent conversation, Luke 22:24 et seq.; and the two accounts thus meet in the common point, the prediction of Peter's denial (Luke, Luke 22:31; John, Luke 22:38).

As in what follows there are repeated allusions to the rites of the Paschal Supper, we must rapidly trace the outlines of that Supper as it was celebrated in our Saviour's time. First step: After prayer, the father of the house sent round a cup full of wine (according to others, each one had his cup), with this invocation: “Blessed be Thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who hast created the fruit of the vine!” Next there were passed from one to another the bitter herbs (a sort of salad), which recalled to mind the sufferings of the Egyptian bondage. These were eaten after being dipped in a reddish sweet sauce (Charoseth), made of almonds, nuts, figs, and other fruits; commemorating, it is said, by its colour the hard labour of brick-making imposed on the Israelites, and by its taste, the divine alleviations which Jehovah mingles with the miseries of His people.

Second step: The father circulates a second cup, and then explains, probably in a more or less fixed liturgical form, the meaning of the feast, and of the rites by which it is distinguished.

Third step: The father takes two unleavened loaves (cakes), breaks one of them, and places the pieces of it on the other. Then, uttering a thanksgiving, he takes one of the pieces, dips it in the sauce, and eats it, taking with it a piece of the Paschal lamb, along with bitter herbs. Each one follows his example. This is the feast properly so called. The lamb forms the principal dish. The conversation is free. It closes with the distribution of a third cup, called the cup of blessing, because it was accompanied with the giving of thanks by the father of the house.

Fourth step: The father distributes a fourth cup; then the Hallel is sung (Psalms 113-118). Sometimes the father added a fifth cup, which was accompanied with the singing of the great Hallel (Psalms 120-127; according to others, 135-137; according to Delitzsch, Psa 130:6).

Must it be held, with Langen, that Jesus began by celebrating the entire Jewish ceremony, in order to connect with it thereafter the Christian Holy Supper; or did He transform, as He went along, the Jewish Supper in such a way as to convert it into the sacred Supper of the N. T.? This second view seems to us the only tenable one. For, 1. It was during the course of the feast, ἐσθιόντων αὐτῶν (Matthew and Mark), and not after the feast (as Luke says in speaking of the only cup), that the bread of the Holy Supper must have been distributed. 2. The singing of the hymn spoken of by Mark and Matthew can only be that of the Hallel, and it followed the institution of the Holy Supper.