PAPER 179
THE LAST SUPPER
179:0.1
DURING the afternoon of this Thursday, when Philip
reminded the Master about the approaching Passover
and inquired concerning his plans for its
celebration, he had in mind the Passover supper
which was due to be eaten on the evening of the next
day, Friday. It was the custom to begin the
preparations for the celebration of the Passover not
later than noon of the preceding day. And since the
Jews reckoned the day as beginning at sunset, this
meant that Saturday's Passover supper would be eaten
on Friday night, sometime before the midnight hour.
179:0.2
The apostles were, therefore, entirely at a loss to
understand the Master's announcement that they would
celebrate the Passover one day early. They thought,
at least some of them did, that he knew he would be
placed under arrest before the time of the Passover
supper on Friday night and was therefore calling
them together for a special supper on this Thursday
evening. Others thought that this was merely a
special occasion which was to precede the regular
Passover celebration.
179:0.3
The apostles knew that Jesus had celebrated other
Passovers without the lamb; they knew that he did
not personally participate in any sacrificial
service of the Jewish system. He had many times
partaken of the paschal lamb as a guest, but always,
when he was the host, no lamb was served. It would
not have been a great surprise to the apostles to
have seen the lamb omitted even on Passover night,
and since this supper was given one day earlier,
they thought nothing of its absence.
179:0.4
After receiving the greetings of welcome extended by
the father and mother of John Mark, the apostles
went immediately to the upper chamber while Jesus
lingered behind to talk with the Mark family.
179:0.5
It had been understood beforehand that the Master
was to celebrate this occasion alone with his twelve
apostles; therefore no servants were provided to
wait upon them.
1. THE DESIRE FOR PREFERENCE
179:1.1
When the apostles had been shown upstairs by John
Mark, they beheld a large and commodious chamber,
which was completely furnished for the supper, and
observed that the bread, wine, water, and herbs were
all in readiness on one end of the table. Except for
the end on which rested the bread and wine, this
long table was surrounded by thirteen reclining
couches, just such as would be provided for the
celebration of the Passover in a well-to-do Jewish
household.
179:1.2
As the twelve entered this upper chamber, they
noticed, just inside the door, the pitchers of
water, the basins, and towels for laving their dusty
feet; and since no servant had been provided to
render this service, the apostles began to look at
one another as soon as John Mark had left them, and
each began to think within himself, Who shall wash
our feet? And each likewise thought that it would
not be he who would thus seem to act as the servant
of the others.
179:1.3
As they stood there, debating in their hearts, they
surveyed the seating arrangement of the table,
taking note of the higher divan of the host with one
couch on the right and eleven arranged around the
table on up to opposite this second seat of honor on
the host's right.
179:1.4
They expected the Master to arrive any moment, but
they were in a quandary as to whether they should
seat themselves or await his coming and depend on
him to assign them their places. While they
hesitated, Judas stepped over to the seat of honor,
at the left of the host, and signified that he
intended there to recline as the preferred guest.
This act of Judas immediately stirred up a heated
dispute among the other apostles. Judas had no
sooner seized the seat of honor than John Zebedee
laid claim to the next preferred seat, the one on
the right of the host. Simon Peter was so enraged at
this assumption of choice positions by Judas and
John that, as the other angry apostles looked on, he
marched clear around the table and took his place on
the lowest couch, the end of the seating order and
just opposite to that chosen by John Zebedee. Since
others had seized the high seats, Peter thought to
choose the lowest, and he did this, not merely in
protest against the unseemly pride of his brethren,
but with the hope that Jesus, when he should come
and see him in the place of least honor, would call
him up to a higher one, thus displacing one who had
presumed to honor himself.
179:1.5
With the highest and the lowest positions thus
occupied, the rest of the apostles chose places,
some near Judas and some near Peter, until all were
located. They were seated about the U-shaped table
on these reclining divans in the following order: on
the right of the Master, John; on the left, Judas,
Simon Zelotes, Matthew, James Zebedee, Andrew, the
Alpheus twins, Philip, Nathaniel, Thomas, and Simon
Peter.
179:1.6
They are gathered together to celebrate, at least in
spirit, an institution which antedated even Moses
and referred to the times when their fathers were
slaves in Egypt. This supper is their last
rendezvous with Jesus, and even in such a solemn
setting, under the leadership of Judas the apostles
are led once more to give way to their old
predilection for honor, preference, and personal
exaltation.
179:1.7
They were still engaged in voicing angry
recriminations when the Master appeared in the
doorway, where he hesitated a moment as a look of
disappointment slowly crept over his face. Without
comment he went to his place, and he did not disturb
their seating arrangement.
179:1.8
They were now ready to begin the supper, except that
their feet were still unwashed, and they were in
anything but a pleasant frame of mind. When the
Master arrived, they were still engaged in making
uncomplimentary remarks about one another, to say
nothing of the thoughts of some who had sufficient
emotional control to refrain from publicly
expressing their feelings.
2. BEGINNING THE SUPPER
179:2.1
For a few moments after the Master had gone to his
place, not a word was spoken. Jesus looked them all
over and, relieving the tension with a smile, said:
"I have greatly desired to eat this Passover with
you. I wanted to eat with you once more before I
suffered, and realizing that my hour has come, I
arranged to have this supper with you tonight, for,
as concerns the morrow, we are all in the hands of
the Father, whose will I have come to execute. I
shall not again eat with you until you sit down with
me in the kingdom which my Father will give me when
I have finished that for which he sent me into this
world."
179:2.2
After the wine and the water had been mixed, they
brought the cup to Jesus, who, when he had received
it from the hand of Thaddeus, held it while he
offered thanks. And when he had finished offering
thanks, he said: "Take this cup and divide it among
yourselves and, when you partake of it, realize that
I shall not again drink with you the fruit of the
vine since this is our last supper. When we sit down
again in this manner, it will be in the kingdom to
come."
179:2.3
Jesus began thus to talk to his apostles because he
knew that his hour had come. He understood that the
time had come when he was to return to the Father,
and that his work on earth was almost finished. The
Master knew he had revealed the Father's love on
earth and had shown forth his mercy to mankind, and
that he had completed that for which he came into
the world, even to the receiving of all power and
authority in heaven and on earth. Likewise, he knew
Judas Iscariot had fully made up his mind to deliver
him that night into the hands of his enemies. He
fully realized that this traitorous betrayal was the
work of Judas, but that it also pleased Lucifer,
Satan, and Caligastia the prince of darkness. But he
feared none of those who sought his spiritual
overthrow any more than he feared those who sought
to accomplish his physical death. The Master had but
one anxiety, and that was for the safety and
salvation of his chosen followers. And so, with the
full knowledge that the Father had put all things
under his authority, the Master now prepared to
enact the parable of brotherly love.
3. WASHING THE APOSTLES' FEET
179:3.1
After drinking the first cup of the Passover, it was
the Jewish custom for the host to arise from the
table and wash his hands. Later on in the meal and
after the second cup, all of the guests likewise
rose up and washed their hands. Since the apostles
knew that their Master never observed these rites of
ceremonial hand washing, they were very curious to
know what he intended to do when, after they had
partaken of this first cup, he arose from the table
and silently made his way over to near the door,
where the water pitchers, basins, and towels had
been placed. And their curiosity grew into
astonishment as they saw the Master remove his outer
garment, gird himself with a towel, and begin to
pour water into one of the foot basins. Imagine the
amazement of these twelve men, who had so recently
refused to wash one another's feet, and who had
engaged in such unseemly disputes about positions of
honor at the table, when they saw him make his way
around the unoccupied end of the table to the lowest
seat of the feast, where Simon Peter reclined, and,
kneeling down in the attitude of a servant, make
ready to wash Simon's feet. As the Master knelt, all
twelve arose as one man to their feet; even the
traitorous Judas so far forgot his infamy for a
moment as to arise with his fellow apostles in this
expression of surprise, respect, and utter
amazement.
179:3.2
There stood Simon Peter, 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 minded to wash Simon
Peter's feet. Notwithstanding his frailties of the
flesh, Peter loved the Master. This Galilean
fisherman was the first human being wholeheartedly
to believe in the divinity of Jesus and to make full
and public confession of that belief. And Peter had
never since really doubted the divine nature of the
Master. 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. When Peter presently
collected his wits sufficiently to address the
Master, he spoke the heart feelings of all his
fellow apostles.
179:3.3
After a few moments of this great embarrassment,
Peter said, "Master, do you really mean to wash my
feet?" And then, looking up into Peter's face, Jesus
said: "You may not fully understand what I am about
to do, but hereafter you will know the meaning of
all these things." Then Simon Peter, drawing a long
breath, said, "Master, you shall never wash my
feet!" And each of the apostles nodded their
approval of Peter's firm declaration of refusal to
allow Jesus thus to humble himself before them.
179:3.4
The dramatic appeal of this unusual scene at first
touched the heart of even Judas Iscariot; but when
his vainglorious intellect passed judgment upon the
spectacle, he concluded that this gesture of
humility was just one more episode which
conclusively proved that Jesus would never qualify
as Israel's deliverer, and that he had made no
mistake in the decision to desert the Master's
cause.
179:3.5
As they all stood there in breathless amazement,
Jesus said: "Peter, I declare that, if I do not wash
your feet, you will have no part with me in that
which I am about to perform." When Peter heard this
declaration, coupled with the fact that Jesus
continued kneeling there at his feet, he made one of
those decisions of blind acquiescence in compliance
with the wish of one whom he respected and loved. As
it began to dawn on Simon Peter that there was
attached to this proposed enactment of service some
signification that determined one's future
connection with the Master's work, he not only
became reconciled to the thought of allowing Jesus
to wash his feet but, in his characteristic and
impetuous manner, said: "Then, Master, wash not my
feet only but also my hands and my head."
179:3.6
As the Master made ready to begin washing Peter's
feet, he said: "He who is already clean needs only
to have his feet washed. You who sit with me tonight
are clean -- but not all. But the dust of your feet
should have been washed away before you sat down at
meat with me. And besides, I would perform this
service for you as a parable to illustrate the
meaning of a new commandment which I will presently
give you."
179:3.7
In like manner the Master went around the table, in
silence, washing the feet of his twelve apostles,
not even passing by Judas. When Jesus had finished
washing the feet of the twelve, he donned his cloak,
returned to his place as host, and after looking
over his bewildered apostles, said:
179:3.8
"Do you really understand what I have done to you?
You call me Master, and you say well, for so 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
in which the Master so willingly does that service
which his brethren were unwilling to do for one
another? Verily, verily, I say to you: A servant is
not greater than his master; neither is one who is
sent greater than he who sends him. You have seen
the way of service in my life among you, and blessed
are you who will have the gracious courage so to
serve. But why are you so slow to learn that the
secret of greatness in the spiritual kingdom is not
like the methods of power in the material world?
179:3.9
"When I came into this chamber tonight, you were not
content proudly to refuse to wash one another's
feet, but you must also fall to disputing among
yourselves as to who should have the places of honor
at my table. Such honors the Pharisees and the
children of this world seek, but it should not be so
among the ambassadors of the heavenly kingdom. Do
you not know that there can be no place of
preferment at my table? Do you not understand that I
love each of you as I do the others? Do you not know
that the place nearest me, as men 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 shall not be so
in the kingdom of heaven. He who would be great
among you, let him become as the younger; while he
who would be chief, let him become as one who
serves. Who is the greater, he who sits at meat, or
he who serves? Is it not commonly regarded that he
who sits at meat is the greater? But you will
observe that I am among you as 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
shall sit with me in power, still doing the Father's
will in future glory."
179:3.10
When Jesus had finished speaking, the Alpheus twins
brought on the bread and wine, with the bitter herbs
and the paste of dried fruits, for the next course
of the Last Supper.
4. LAST WORDS TO THE BETRAYER
179:4.1
For some minutes the apostles ate in silence, but
under the influence of the Master's cheerful
demeanor they were soon drawn into conversation, and
ere long the meal was proceeding as if nothing out
of the ordinary had occurred to interfere with the
good cheer and social accord of this extraordinary
occasion. After some time had elapsed, in about the
middle of this second course of the meal, Jesus,
looking them over, 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
determined to eat this supper with you in this
secret chamber and a day in advance of the Passover
since I will not be with you by this time tomorrow
night. I have repeatedly told you that I must return
to the Father. Now has my hour come, but it was not
required that one of you should betray me into the
hands of my enemies."
179:4.2
When the twelve heard this, having already been
robbed of much of their self-assertiveness and
self-confidence by the parable of the feet washing
and the Master's subsequent discourse, they began to
look at one another while in disconcerted tones they
hesitatingly inquired, "Is it I?" And when they had
all so inquired, 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."
179:4.3
And when Jesus had thus spoken, they all began again
to ask, "Is it I?" And as Judas, sitting on the left
of his Master, again asked, "Is it I?" Jesus,
dipping the bread in the dish of herbs, handed it to
Judas, saying, "You have said." But the others did
not hear Jesus speak to Judas. John, who reclined on
Jesus' right hand, leaned over and asked the Master:
"Who is it? We should know who it is that has proved
untrue to his trust." Jesus answered: "Already have
I told you, even he to whom I gave the sop." But it
was so natural for the host to give a sop to the one
who sat next to him on the left that none of them
took notice of this, even though the Master had so
plainly spoken. But Judas was painfully conscious of
the meaning of the Master's words associated with
his act, and he became fearful lest his brethren
were likewise now aware that he was the betrayer.
179:4.4
Peter was highly excited by what had been said, and
leaning forward over the table, he addressed John,
"Ask him who it is, or if he has told you, tell me
who is the betrayer."
179:4.5
Jesus brought their whisperings to an end by saying:
"I sorrow that this evil should have come to pass
and hoped even up to this hour that the power of
truth might triumph over the deceptions of evil, but
such victories are not won without the faith of the
sincere love of truth. I would not have told you
these things at this, our last supper, but I desire
to warn you of these sorrows and so prepare you for
what is now upon us. I have told you of this because
I desire that you should recall, after I have gone,
that I knew about all these evil plottings, and that
I forewarned you of my betrayal. And I do all this
only that you may be strengthened for the
temptations and trials which are just ahead."
179:4.6
When Jesus had thus spoken, leaning over toward
Judas, he said: "What you have decided to do, do
quickly." And when Judas heard these words, he arose
from the table and hastily left the room, going out
into the night to do what he had set his mind to
accomplish. When the other apostles saw Judas hasten
off after Jesus had spoken to him, they thought he
had gone to procure something additional for the
supper or to do some other errand for the Master
since they supposed he still carried the bag.
179:4.7
Jesus now knew that nothing could be done to keep
Judas from turning traitor. He started with twelve
-- now he had eleven. He chose six of these
apostles, and though Judas was among those nominated
by his first-chosen apostles, still the Master
accepted him and had, up to this very hour, done
everything possible to sanctify and save him, even
as he had wrought for the peace and salvation of the
others.
179:4.8
This supper, with its tender episodes and softening
touches, was Jesus' last appeal to the deserting
Judas, but it was of no avail. Warning, even when
administered in the most tactful manner and conveyed
in the most kindly spirit, as a rule, only
intensifies hatred and fires the evil determination
to carry out to the full one's own selfish projects,
when love is once really dead.
5. ESTABLISHING THE REMEMBRANCE SUPPER
179:5.1
As they brought Jesus the third cup of wine, the
"cup of blessing," he arose from the couch and,
taking the cup in his hands, blessed it, saying:
"Take this cup, all of you, and drink of it. This
shall be the cup of my remembrance. This is the cup
of the blessing of a new dispensation of grace and
truth. This shall be to you the emblem of the
bestowal and ministry of the divine Spirit of Truth.
And I will not again drink this cup with you until I
drink in new form with you in the Father's eternal
kingdom."
179:5.2
The apostles all sensed that something out of the
ordinary was transpiring as they drank of this cup
of blessing in profound reverence and perfect
silence. The old Passover commemorated the emergence
of their fathers from a state of racial slavery into
individual freedom; now the Master was instituting a
new remembrance supper as a symbol of the new
dispensation wherein the enslaved individual emerges
from the bondage of ceremonialism and selfishness
into the spiritual joy of the brotherhood and
fellowship of the liberated faith sons of the living
God.
179:5.3
When they had finished drinking this new cup of
remembrance, the Master took up the bread and, after
giving thanks, broke it in pieces and, directing
them to pass it around, said: "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 partaken of
the bread of remembrance, the symbol of the living
word of truth incarnated in the likeness of mortal
flesh, they all sat down.
179:5.4
In instituting this remembrance supper, the Master,
as was always his habit, resorted to parables and
symbols. He employed symbols because he wanted to
teach certain great spiritual truths in such a
manner as to make it difficult for his successors to
attach precise interpretations and definite meanings
to his words. In this way he sought to prevent
successive generations from crystallizing his
teaching and binding down his spiritual meanings by
the dead chains of tradition and dogma. In the
establishment of the only ceremony or sacrament
associated with his whole life mission, Jesus took
great pains to suggest his meanings rather than to
commit himself to precise definitions. He did not
wish to destroy the individual's concept of divine
communion by establishing a precise form; neither
did he desire to limit the believer's spiritual
imagination by formally cramping it. He rather
sought to set man's reborn soul free upon the joyous
wings of a new and living spiritual liberty.
179:5.5
Notwithstanding the Master's effort thus to
establish this new sacrament of the remembrance,
those who followed after him in the intervening
centuries saw to it that his express desire was
effectively thwarted in that his simple spiritual
symbolism of 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 Jesus' teachings none have become more
tradition-standardized.
179:5.6
This supper of remembrance, when it is partaken of
by those who are Son-believing and God-knowing, does
not need to have associated with its symbolism any
of man's puerile misinterpretations regarding the
meaning of the divine presence, for upon all such
occasions the Master is really present. The
remembrance supper is the believer's symbolic
rendezvous with Michael. When you become thus
spirit-conscious, the Son is actually present, and
his spirit fraternizes with the indwelling fragment
of his Father.
179:5.7
After they had engaged in meditation for a few
moments, Jesus continued speaking: "When you do
these things, recall the life I have lived on earth
among you and rejoice that I am to continue to live
on earth with you and to serve through you. As
individuals, contend not among yourselves as to who
shall be greatest. Be you all as brethren. And when
the kingdom grows to embrace large groups of
believers, likewise should you refrain from
contending for greatness or seeking preferment
between such groups."
179:5.8
And this mighty occasion took place in the upper
chamber of a friend. There was nothing of sacred
form or of ceremonial consecration about either the
supper or the building. The remembrance supper was
established without ecclesiastical sanction.
179:5.9
When Jesus had thus established the supper of the
remembrance, he said to the twelve: "And as often as
you do this, do it in remembrance of me. And when
you do remember me, first look back upon my life in
the flesh, recall that I was once with you, and
then, by faith, discern that you shall all some time
sup with me in the Father's eternal kingdom. This is
the new Passover which I leave with you, even the
memory of my bestowal life, the word of eternal
truth; and of my love for you, the outpouring of my
Spirit of Truth upon all flesh."
179:5.10
And they ended this celebration of the old but
bloodless Passover in connection with the
inauguration of the new supper of the remembrance,
by singing, all together, the one hundred and
eighteenth Psalm.
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