Ch. 58, The Last Supper
“Son of Man: Urantia,” 2nd edition
The Last Supper
The day before when Philip had asked about the Passover preparations he was speaking about the normal Passover super that was going to be held the next evening, Friday. It was the custom to start preparing for that meal by noon of the preceding day, and since the Jews believed the day began at sunset this meant that Saturday’s Passover supper would be eaten Friday night before midnight. So the apostles were unsure what Jesus was planning when he told them they were going to celebrate the Passover a day early. Some of the apostles thought this was because he knew that he was going to be arrested before the normal Friday dinner was held, and others thought that this was just a special occasion and they would then have another supper on Friday night like everyone else.
The apostles knew that Jesus had celebrated other Passovers without the lamb, and that he did not participate in the barbaric Jewish custom of killing animals to please God. They would not have been surprised even if the lamb was not on the table during the normal Passover supper, so they thought nothing about there being no lamb for this dinner. After the apostles were welcomed into the house by John Mark’s mother and father, the apostles went upstairs while Jesus stayed behind to talk with the Mark family. No servants were available to serve them because Jesus wanted to celebrate this dinner alone with his apostles.
The Desire for Preference
When John Mark showed the apostles the large comfortable room upstairs for their dinner, it was completely furnished for the supper and they could see that the wine, water, bread, and herbs were all sitting ready on one end of the table. Except for the end where the wine and bread were placed, this long table was surrounded by thirteen recliners just like there would be in a well-to-do Jewish household celebrating the Passover. Right inside the door the apostles noticed basins, towels, and pitchers of water for washing their dusty feet. As soon as John Mark left and went back downstairs, each of the twelve began to wonder who was going to wash their feet while at the same time deciding that it was not going to be him to act as the servant for the others. As they stood there debating in their hearts, they looked at the seats around the table and noticed that the host’s seat was set up higher with one seat to its right. The other eleven seats were set to the left around the table until the last one was opposite the seat immediately to Jesus’ left, the seat of highest honor.
They were all expecting Jesus to come in at any moment, and each of them was wondering if they should seat themselves or wait for him to assign their seats. As they stood there unsure what to do, Judas moved over and stood by the seat of honor to Jesus’ left, indicating that he intended to sit there as the preferred guest. Then John Zebedee claimed the second preferred seat, the one to Jesus’ right. This of course made the rest of the apostles angry and they started arguing. Simon Peter was so enraged at John and Judas for assuming the best seats that he marched all the way around the table to the last least preferred seat directly across from the seat of honor claimed by Judas, to Jesus’ left. Peter was not only protesting against John and Judas assuming the seats of honor, but he was also hoping that Jesus would notice him in the least preferred seat and then tell either John or Judas to give up their seat of honor in preference for him. With the highest and the lowest seats taken, the rest of the apostles chose their places. They were seated in their recliners around this U-shaped table in the following order: to the right of the Master, John; to the left, Judas, Simon Zelotes, Matthew, James Zebedee, Andrew, the Alpheus twins, Philip, Nathaniel, Thomas, and Simon Peter.
Here they were gathered together to celebrate—at least in spirit—a holiday that pre-dated Moses and referred to the times when their fathers were slaves in Egypt. This supper was their last rendezvous with Jesus, and even in such a solemn setting under Judas’ leadership the apostles were once more led into their old weakness of craving honor and preference. They were still arguing when Jesus appeared in the doorway. He hesitated for a moment as a look of disappointment slowly crept over his face. Without saying anything, he went to his seat and did nothing to change their seating arrangement. They were now ready to begin the supper except that their feet were still dirty and they were in anything but good spirits. When Jesus arrived they had been saying some pretty bad things about one another, not to mention what some of them who were better at holding their tongues were actually thinking.
Beginning the Supper
Everyone was silent for a few moments after Jesus took his seat. Then Jesus looked around at them, smiled, and relieved the tension. He said “I have much desired to eat this Passover with you. I wanted to dine with you once more before I suffered, and realizing that my hour has arrived I arranged to have this supper with you tonight because as far as tomorrow is concerned we are all in the hands of the Father whose will I have come to do. I will not eat with you again until you sit down with me in the kingdom that my Father will give me when I have finished what he sent me to do in this world.”
After the wine and the water had been mixed, James Alpheus brought the cup to Jesus who held it up while he offered thanks. Then Jesus said “Take this cup and divide it among yourselves, and when you drink realize that I will not again drink the fruit of the vine with you because this is our last supper. When we sit down again in this manner, it will be in the kingdom to come.”
Jesus knew that his hour had arrived: that he was to return to the Father and his work on Earth was almost finished. Jesus had revealed his love on Earth and shown the Father’s mercy to humanity; he had completed what he had come into the world to do, up to and including receiving all power and authority in heaven and on Earth. Likewise, he knew that Judas Iscariot was committed to deliver him that night into his enemies’ hands. He knew that this traitorous betrayal was Judas’ work, but that it also pleased Satan, Lucifer, and Caligastia, the prince of darkness. Jesus feared none of those who sought his spiritual overthrow any more than he feared those who wanted to bring about his physical death. Jesus had but one anxiety, and that was for the safety and salvation of his chosen followers. So with the full knowledge that the Father had put all things under his authority, Jesus now prepared to enact the parable of brotherly love.
Washing the Apostles’ Feet
After drinking the first cup of the Passover, it was the Jewish custom for the host to then get up from the table and wash his hands. Later on in the meal and after the second cup, all of the guests would likewise get up and wash their hands. Since the apostles knew that Jesus never observed these rites of ceremonial hand washing they were curious to know what he intended to do when, after they had drunk the first cup, he got up from the table and silently walked over to near the door where the basins, towels, and water pitchers had been placed. Their curiosity grew into astonishment as they saw Jesus take off his outer robe, gird himself with a towel, and begin to pour water into one of the foot basins. Imagine these twelve men’s amazement—men who had so recently refused to wash one another’s feet and who had engaged in such unseemly arguments about positions of honor at the table—when they saw Jesus make his way around the end of the table to the lowest seat of the feast where Simon Peter reclined and kneeling down with the attitude of a servant prepared to wash Simon’s feet. As Jesus knelt, all twelve went to their feet as one man; even the traitorous Judas so far forgot his infamy for a moment that he stood up with his fellow apostles expressing respect, surprise, and utter amazement.
There Simon Peter stood looking down into the upturned face of his Master. Jesus said nothing: it was not necessary that he should speak. His attitude plainly revealed that he was intent on washing Simon Peter’s feet. Regardless of his frailties of the flesh, Peter loved the Master. This Galilean fisherman was the first human being to wholeheartedly believe in Jesus’ divinity, and to make a full and public confession of that belief. Peter had never since doubted the divine nature of Jesus. Since Peter so revered and honored Jesus in his heart, it was not strange that his soul resented the thought of Jesus kneeling there before him in the attitude of a menial servant and proposing to wash his feet as would a slave.
After a few moments of this unsettling embarrassment and when Peter had collected his wits enough to address Jesus, he spoke the heart-felt feelings of all of his brother apostles saying “Master, do you intend to wash my feet?”
Then looking up into Peter’s face Jesus said “You may not understand what I am about to do, but later you will know the meaning of all of these things.”
Then Simon Peter drew a long breath and said “Master, you will never wash my feet!” as each of the other apostles nodded their approval of Peter’s firm declaration to refuse to allow Jesus to humble himself before them.
The dramatic appeal of this unusual scene at first touched even Judas Iscariot’s heart, but when his conceited intellect passed judgment on the spectacle he concluded that this gesture of humility was just one more episode proving that Jesus would never qualify as Israel’s deliverer, and that he had made no mistake in his decision to desert the Master’s cause.
As they all stood there amazed and breathless, Jesus said “Peter, I am telling you that if I do not wash your feet you will have no part with me in what I am about to do.”
When Peter heard this declaration, along with the fact that Jesus continued kneeling at his feet, he made one of those decisions of blind acceptance complying with the wish of the one he loved and respected. As it dawned on Simon Peter that attached to this act of service was something significant in determining one’s future with the Master’s work, he not only became reconciled to allowing Jesus to wash his feet but in his characteristically impulsive way said “Then Master, wash not only my feet but also my hands and my head.”
Before washing Peter’s feet Jesus said “He who is already clean needs to only have his feet washed. You who sit with me tonight are clean, but not all. Still, the dust of your feet should have been washed away before you sat down to eat with me. Besides, I would perform this service for you as a parable to illustrate the meaning of a new commandment that I will soon give to you.”
Apostle by apostle, Jesus went around the table in silence washing the feet of his twelve, including Judas. When Jesus was done he put his cloak back on and returned to his place as host, and after looking over his bewildered apostles Jesus said “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Master and you are right because I am. If then the Master has washed your feet, why was it that you were unwilling to wash one another’s feet? What lesson should you learn from this parable where the Master so willingly does that service that his friends were unwilling to do for one another? It is true when I say to you, servants are not greater than their masters; neither are those who are sent greater than they who send them. You have seen the way of service in my life among you, and blessed are you who will have the gracious courage to also serve. But why are you so slow to learn that the secret of nobility in the spiritual kingdom is not like the methods of power in the material world?’
“When I came into this room tonight you were not content to just proudly refuse to wash one another’s feet, but you also fell into arguing among yourselves about who should have the places of honor at my table. Such honors the Pharisees and the children of this world want, but it should not be so among the ambassadors of the heavenly kingdom. Do you not know that there can be no place of honor at my table? Do you not understand that I love each of you as I love the others? Do you not know that the place nearest me as people regard such honors can mean nothing concerning your standing in the kingdom of heaven? You know that the kings of the gentiles have lordship over their subjects while those who exercise this authority are sometimes called benefactors. But it will not be so in the kingdom of heaven. He who would be great among you, let him become like the younger; while he who would be chief, let him be like the one who serves. Who is the greater, those who sit to eat or those who serve? Is it not commonly regarded that those who sit to eat are the greater? But you will see that I am among you as the one who serves. If you are willing to become fellow servants with me in doing the Father’s will, in the kingdom to come you will sit with me in power still doing the Father’s will in future glory.” When Jesus had finished speaking, the Alpheus twins brought the wine and bread with bitter herbs and dried fruit paste for the next course of the Last Supper.
Last Words to the Betrayer
For the first few minutes the apostles ate in silence, but because of Jesus’ cheerful attitude they were soon talking and before long the meal was proceeding as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. In the middle of this second course of the meal, Jesus looking at each of his apostles in turn said “I have told you how much I desired to have this supper with you, and knowing how the evil forces of darkness have conspired to bring about the death of the Son of Man, I decided to eat this supper with you in this secret chamber and a day in advance of the Passover because I will not be with you by this time tomorrow night. I have repeatedly told you that I must return to the Father. Now my hour has come, but it was not required that one of you should betray me into the hands of my enemies.”
The twelve apostles had already been robbed of much of their self-confidence and self-assertiveness after Jesus’ scolding and the parable of the feet washing. Now they were rattled and asking each other, “Is it me?” When they had all voiced this question, Jesus said “While it is necessary that I go to the Father, it was not required that one of you should become a traitor to fulfill the Father’s will. This is the coming to fruit of the concealed evil in the heart of one who failed to love the truth with his whole soul. How deceitful is the intellectual pride that precedes the spiritual downfall! My friend of many years who even now eats my bread will be willing to betray me, even as he now dips his hand with me in the dish.”
Again they all began to ask “Is it me?”
When Judas, sitting to the left of Jesus, again asked “Is it me?” Jesus after dipping the bread in the dish of herbs handed it to Judas and said “You have said.”
But the others did not hear Jesus speaking to Judas. John, who reclined on Jesus’ right hand, leaned over and asked him “Who is it? We should know who it is that has proved untrue to his trust.”
Jesus replied “I have already told you, even he to whom I gave the sop.” But it was so natural for the host to give a sop to the person sitting next to him on the left, that none of them took notice of this even though Jesus had spoken plainly. But Judas was painfully conscious of the meaning of Jesus’ words associated with his act, and he was afraid in case his friends were also now aware that he was the betrayer.
Peter leaned over the table and to John said “Ask him who it is, or if he has told you, tell me who the betrayer is.”
Jesus brought their whisperings to an end saying “I am sad that this evil came to pass, and I hoped even up to this hour that the power of truth would triumph over the deceptions of evil, but such victories are not won without the sincere love of truth. I would not have told you about these things at this, our last supper, but I want to warn you of these sorrows and prepare you for what is now on us. I have told you this because I want you to recall after I have gone that I knew all about these evil plots, and that I warned you beforehand of my betrayal. I do all of this only so that you will be strengthened for the trials and temptations that are just ahead.”
Jesus then leaned over toward Judas and said “What you have decided to do, do quickly.” Judas immediately stood up from the table and left the room going out into the night to do what he had set his mind to accomplish. When the other apostles saw Judas leave they assumed he had gone on an errand for the Master because they all thought that he was still carrying the money bag. Jesus now knew that nothing could be done to keep Judas from turning traitor. He started with twelve, now he had eleven. He had chosen six of these apostles, and although Judas was among those nominated by them he still accepted him and had up to this hour done everything possible to save and bless him, just like he had worked for the peace and salvation of the others.
This supper with its soft touches and tender episodes was Jesus’ last appeal to the deserting Judas, but it was no use. Warnings, once love is dead, even when said in the most kindly spirit and given in the most tactful manner as a rule only intensify hatred and fire the evil determination to carry out one’s own selfish projects to the end.
Establishing the Remembrance Supper
After Jesus was brought the third cup of wine, the cup of blessing, he stood up from the couch and taking the cup in his hands blessed it saying “Take this cup all of you and drink from it. This will be the cup of my remembrance. This is the cup blessing a new dispensation of grace and truth; it will be to you the emblem of the ministry and bestowal of the divine Spirit of Truth. I will not drink this cup again with you until I drink in new form with you in the Father’s eternal kingdom.”
The apostles all sensed that something out of the ordinary was happening as they drank from the cup of blessing in deep reverence and perfect silence. The old Passover commemorated the emergence of their fathers from a state of racial slavery into individual freedom. Now Jesus was instituting a new remembrance supper as a symbol of the new dispensation where the enslaved individual emerges from the bondage of selfishness and ceremonialism into the spiritual joy of the fellowship and brotherhood of the liberated faith sons of the living God.
Jesus then took the bread, and after offering gratitude he broke it into pieces and told the apostles to pass it around saying “Take this bread of remembrance and eat it. I have told you that I am the bread of life, and this bread of life is the united life of the Father and the Son in one gift. The word of the Father as revealed in the Son is indeed the bread of life.” When they had eaten from the bread of remembrance—the symbol of the living word of truth incarnated in the likeness of mortal flesh—they all sat down.
In establishing this remembrance supper, Jesus, as was always his habit, resorted to symbols and parables. He used symbols to teach certain elevated spiritual truths so that it was difficult for those coming later to attach definite meanings to his words: he tried to prevent later generations from crystallizing his teaching and binding down his spiritual meanings with the dead chains of dogma and tradition. In establishing the only ceremony associated with his whole life mission, Jesus took immense pains to suggest his meanings rather than commit himself to precise definitions. He did not want to destroy the individual’s concept of divine communion by establishing a precise form; neither did he want to limit the believer’s spiritual imagination by formally cramping it. Instead, he tried to set humanity’s reborn soul free on the joyous wings of a new and living spiritual liberty.
Regardless of Jesus’ effort to establish this new remembrance ceremony, those who followed after him saw to it that his expressed desire was prevented. His simple spiritual symbolism that last night in the flesh has been reduced to precise interpretations and subjected to the almost mathematical precision of a set formula. Of all of Jesus’ teachings, none have become more tradition bound.
This remembrance supper when eaten by those who are God-knowing and Son-believing needs no childish symbolism misinterpreting the meaning of divine presence because on all such occasions, Jesus is present. The remembrance supper is the believer’s symbolic rendezvous with Michael, and when you become spirit-conscious the Son is actually present and his spirit fraternizes with the indwelling fragment of his Father.
Jesus continued speaking and said “When you do these things recall the life I have lived on Earth, and rejoice that I am to continue to live on Earth with you and to serve through you. As individuals, do not fight among yourselves as to who will be the most famous. All of you act like friends. When the kingdom grows to include large groups of believers, in the same way refrain from contending for fame or seeking preferred status between such groups.” This mighty occasion took place in the upper room of a friend’s house. There was nothing of sacred about either the supper or the building; the remembrance supper was established without church authority.
After Jesus had established the remembrance supper, he said “As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me. When you do remember me first look back on my life in the flesh, recall that I was once with you, and then by faith understand that you will all sometime eat with me in the Father’s eternal kingdom. This is the new Passover that I leave with you: my love for you; the word of eternal truth, the memory of my bestowal life, and the outpouring of my Spirit of Truth on all flesh.”
They ended this celebration of the old but bloodless Passover inaugurating the new supper of the remembrance by singing the one hundred and eighteenth Psalm.