By Sr. Linda Straub, CSJ
Most Christians believe that on the night before His death Jesus gathered with his disciples to eat the Passover meal. But there is debate whether Jesus was eating a Passover meal or another Jewish ritual meal on the night before he died. Three gospels say it was the Passover but John's gospel states that Passover was on the day he died. No matter if it was the actual day of Passover it was the Paschal season and what is clear is that the early Christians saw a direct connection between the Last Supper and Passover.
Two important ritual elements that begin and conclude the meal, bread and wine, are found in all the Jewish religious meals; at Passover the bread is unleavened. It is particularly in the Passover seder that we discover the importance of remembrance (anamnesis). The purpose of anamnesis is not simply to recall the past events where in God acted on our behalf but through the act of remembering, in the context of blessing, to insert the assembly once more into the "power stream" of Adonai's continuous call to the people Israel. There will be nothing surprising then, in Jesus command to his disciples to "do this" in anamnesis of him. This is not just a recalling what he did but actually to make the event present again. Each time we celebrate Eucharist the last supper is made present to us again.
Look at the sheet on the comparison of the Passover meal and the last supper. Notice in both ritual an initial cup is blessed. Then there is a blessing of the bread, the meal and then thanksgiving over the second cup. When Jesus blessed the bread he said: "This is my body. Do this in memory of me." After the meal he blessed the cup and said, "this cup is the new covenant in my blood".
I would like to share with you the meaning of what Jesus did that night for those who believe in him. Jesus transformed the bread and wine into his body and blood. When we gather at Eucharist and the priest blesses the bread and the wine it becomes the real presence of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. The technical name given to this action is transubstantiation. This explanation of the real presence of Jesus in the form of bread and wine was first used in medieval times, by St. Thomas Aquinas. Using Aristotelian terms, how he described transubstantiation was the accidents, the physical properties are the same, the essence has changed. It still looks like bread and wine, taste like bread and wine but it is substantially different.
Let me give you an example. If you have a loaf of bread and let it sit out on the counter for a few weeks it gets really hard. After a month it is solid. Let's say you use it as a doorstop to keep the door open. Is it still bread? Can you eat it? It still looks like bread and under a microscope it would have the properties of bread but it is no longer edible. In fact it has been changed essentially. The being-ness of the thing is different. This is a rough comparison to what happens to the bread and wine at mass. The community remembers what happened on the night before Jesus died, they give thanks, they call upon the Holy Spirit to bless the bread and the priests prays the words Jesus said, "This is my body, this is my blood." Through this action the bread and wine is transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. This is a matter of faith. There is no explanation outside of faith and the word of Jesus. For Catholics this is most significant, for although the bread and wine retain their physical forms, they have truly become Jesus' body and blood, nourishing us to live as his disciples. And having received Jesus' very body and blood into ourselves we are to be Jesus for the world, we are to go forth and live his message of unifying love.
How does the last supper relate to Passover? For Jews the Passover is a celebration of the Exodus. It is a feast of liberation, rejoicing in God's wondrous acts on their behalf that set them free from slavery. Christians celebrate Jesus' passing through death to the new life every year in the great three days we call Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. This is the closest Christian parallel to Passover. The meaning of the Passover meal and meaning of the Eucharistic meal are related. Our God is a God of freedom and life. Both Christians and Jews celebrate God’s saving love and thus commit themselves to imitating that love. That's the deepest meaning of both Passover and Eucharist.
