Luke 22:7-38

II. The Last Supper: Luke 22:7-38.

We find ourselves here face to face with a difficulty which, since the second century of the Church, has arrested the attentive readers of the Scriptures. As it was on the 14th Nisan, in the afternoon, that the Paschal lamb was sacrificed, that it might be eaten the evening of the same day, it has been customary to take the time designated by the words, Luke 22:7, Then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed (comp. Matthew and Mark), as falling on the morning of that 14th day; from which it would follow that the Supper, related Luke 22:14 et seq., took place the evening between the 14th and 15th. This view seems to be confirmed by the parallels Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12, where the disciples (not Jesus, as in Luke) take the initiative in the steps needed for the Supper. If such was the fact, it appeared that the apostles could not have been occupied with the matter till the morning of the 14th. But thereby the explanation came into conflict with John, who seems to say in a considerable number of passages that Jesus was crucified on the afternoon of the 14th, at the time when they were slaying the lamb in the temple, which necessarily supposes that the last Supper of Jesus with His disciples took place the evening between the 13th and 14th, the eve before that on which Israel celebrated the Paschal Supper, and not the evening between the 14th and 15th. This seeming contradiction does not bear on the day of the week on which Jesus was crucified. According to our four Gospels, this day was indisputably Friday. The difference relates merely to the day of the month, but on that very account, also, to the relation between the last Supper of Jesus at which He instituted the Eucharist, and the Paschal feast of that year. Many commentators

Wieseler, Hofmann, Lichtenstein, Tholuck, Riggenbach think that they can identify the meaning of John's passages with the idea which at first sight appears to be that of the synoptical narrative; Jesus, according to John as according to the Syn., celebrated His last Supper on the evening of the 14th, and instituted the Holy Supper while celebrating the Passover conjointly with the whole people. We have explained in our Commentaire sur l'évangile de Jean the reasons which appear to us to render this solution impossible. The arguments advanced since then by the learned Catholic theologian Langen, and by the eminent philologist Bäumlein, have not changed our conviction. The meaning which presents itself first to the mind on reading John's Gospel, is and remains the only possible one, exegetically speaking. But it may and should be asked in return, What is the true meaning of the synoptical narrative, and its relation to John's account thus understood? Such is the point which we proceed to examine as we study more closely the text of Luke.