THE LAST SUPPER -- WHEN WAS IT?

   CHRISTIANS mark Jesus Christ’s Last Supper on “Maundy Thursday,” but new research suggests it took place on Wednesday before his crucifixion

Jesus perhaps ate the Last Supper on the night before the regular Jewish Passover meal. A theory, proposed in the 1960s by French Biblical scholar Annie Jaubert, is that Jesus and his disciples were adhering to the calendar of the rebellious Pharisee sect, which celebrated the start of Passover a day earlier than the rest of the Jews.

Passover, like all Jewish holidays and regular Jewish days, starts and ends at sundown, and is tied to the phases of the sun and the moon. Passover always falls on the same date on the Jewish calendar. Like all Jewish holidays, Passover occurs at different times each year on the secular calendar. 

BEFORE ANCIENT JEWS fled Egypt, their firstborn children were “passed over” and spared from death, thus giving the holiday the name “Passover.” Passover lambs eaten in Egypt foreshadow Jesus, our Passover Lamb. The Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan. The 15th day begins in the evening at sunset, after the 14th day, and the seder meal is eaten that evening. On the year that Jesus died, the Feast of Unleavened Bread began on Passover, sources say. It usually begins the day after Passover, lasts 7 days, and is observed because the Israelites needed to flee Egypt and did not have time for the bread to rise, so it was made without leaven (also known as yeast).

JOHN places the Last Supper on the day before Passover. Quoting from John 18:28, slate.com says, “the dastardly Jews who hand Jesus over to Pontius Pilate refrain from entering the impure palace as ‘they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.’” If Jesus was already in their hands and they still had the Passover meal ahead of them, the Last Supper must have happened on the day before Passover. 

Jesus appeared to treat the Last Supper as a “passover” meal — but the following evening was the actual night for the Passover meal, says BibleHub.com.

COMMENTARY from the “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges” says this:

“The events of the Passover are full of difficulty for the harmonist [those trying to bring the four Gospels together in agreement]. It is however almost certain that the ‘Last Supper’ was not the paschal [Passover] meal, but was partaken of on the 14th, that is after sunset on the 13th of Nisan. It is quite certain, from John 18:28, that Jesus was crucified on the preparation, and although the synoptic narratives [Matthew, Mark, and Luke] seem at first sight to disagree with this, it is probably only the want of a complete knowledge of the facts that creates the apparent discrepancy.”

(The following is largely from the ESV of the Bible.)

THAT EVENING during the Last Supper, Jesus reclined at the table with the twelve. As they ate, he said, “One of you will betray me.” In sorrow, they said to him one after the other, “Is it I, Lord?” Judas said, “Is it I, Rabbi?” Jesus said to him, “You have said so.” 

Luke implies that Judas ate the Lord’s Supper, but others imply he left before the supper was shared. Jesus took bread, blessed, broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” About the cup, he said, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  

They sang a hymn and went to the Mount of Olives. Jesus said, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 

PETER SAID he would never fall away. Jesus told Peter that before the rooster crowed, he would deny Jesus three times. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said to his men, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter, James, and John and “began to be sorrowful.” Jesus went a little farther and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 

RETURNING, he found the three sleeping and said to Peter, “Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” For the second time, he went and prayed about “the cup” he must “drink,” and again came and found them sleeping. He went and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. “Then he came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” 

JUDAS CAME with a large crowd armed with swords and clubs. They came from the chief priests and the elders. Judas told them, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” Judas came to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.

A WOMAN ANOINTS JESUS ON WEDNESDAY BEFORE HIS CRUCIFIXION

-- Illustration from a Bible Dictionary

  TUESDAY: As Jesus leaves the Temple on Tuesday before his crucifixion, the disciples want to show him the Temple buildings. “Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down,” Jesus says (Matt. 24:2 ESV). (In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the Temple.)

After Jesus takes a seat on the Mount of Olives (with the Temple in view), the disciples ask about the end times and when Jesus will return. In Matthew 24, he tells of the Temple’s destruction and the end times. He says he will leave earth and many of the disciples will be persecuted and killed, but the gospel will be preached everywhere. Be prepared, because none know exactly when Jesus will return.

Jesus tells the parable of the ten virgins and of the talents. A parable is “a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual truth.” He then tells of the Judgment of the Nations when he will “place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.” Jesus finishes the lessons and says to the disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

The chief priests and Jewish elders meet in the palace of the high priest, Caiaphas, and plot to arrest Jesus and kill him. They want to be sneaky about the arrest and do not desire to do this during the Passover Feast because it may cause a riot. Jesus returns to Bethany to spend the night with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. 

WEDNESDAY: Jesus rests. That evening, he and his friends eat supper in the house of Simon, a man the Lord had healed from leprosy. At the supper, a woman approaches Jesus with an alabaster flask of expensive perfume. She pours it on his head as he reclines at the table.   

The disciples observe and are indignant. They say, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”

Jesus says, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.” He says poor people will always exist but the disciples will not always have him there in a physical body. 

“ In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial,” Jesus says. “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

THREE WOMEN: All four gospels tell about women anointing Jesus with a costly jars of perfume, gotquestions.org says. “Matthew and Mark relate the same event but do not give the woman’s name; Luke tells of a different woman, also not named, on an earlier occasion. In yet another event, the woman in John is identified as Mary of Bethany (John 11:2), sister to Martha and Lazarus.”

IN MATTHEW, an unnamed woman with an alabaster flask of expensive ointment pours it on Jesus’ head as he reclines at the table. This happened two days before Passover at Simon the leper’s home (Matt. 26:6-7). 

IN MARK, we hear about an anonymous woman with an alabaster box. She interrupts a meal in Simon the leper’s home to anoint Jesus’ head with costly perfume (Mark 14:3-9) — sort of the way they anointed Old Testament kings.

IN LUKE, we are told of a different anointing by a woman “who is a sinner” — this lady is NOT Mary the sister of Lazarus. This happens in Simon the Pharisee’s home about a year before Jesus dies. This lady anoints Jesus’ feet. Then Jesus tells a parable about forgiveness (Luke 7:39-50).

IN JOHN, Lazarus’ sister Mary is the woman who anoints Jesus with a high-priced perfume at a dinner in Bethany, gotquestions.org says. The story is similar to those in the other gospels, although this anointing takes place six days before Passover. On this occasion, “Mary took a 12-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair.” Judas is named as the one who objects to the “waste” (John 12:1-8).

So, three women are recorded as anointing Jesus. Two anointings happen during Passover Week and are linked with Jesus’ death and burial. Messiah means “anointed one” in Hebrew. Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, also meaning “anointed one.” 

JUDAS: After that dinner on Wednesday, Judas goes to the chief priests and says, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” They pay him 30 pieces of silver “and from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray Jesus.”

Other disciples called Jesus “Lord,” but Judas never used this title for Jesus and instead called him “Rabbi,” which acknowledged Jesus as nothing more than a teacher, sources say.

“Though Jesus knew ahead of time that Judas would betray him, it does not mean God caused Judas to do it,” Pastor Don Stewart says. “Judas acted on his own accord. He was not just a pawn or puppet in God’s hands. … When Jesus talked about dying, Judas realized the kingdom was not going to come immediately. Therefore, he gained what he could by betraying Jesus.”

BEFORE THE CRUCIFIXION: SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY

 
  On the Sabbath (Saturday) before his crucifixion on Friday, Jesus reached Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem, and stayed in Bethany with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Crowds hurried there — some to see Jesus; others to see Lazarus who had been raised from the dead a few weeks before.

ON PALM SUNDAY, Jesus walked from Bethany with his disciples and admirers. He neared Jerusalem, coming to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives. Jesus told two disciples where to find the donkey he would ride into Jerusalem (Matt. 21). 

Jesus fulfilled Zechariah’s prophecy: “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden” (Zechariah 9:9 ESV).

Mark and Luke mention the donkey but not the colt. Jesus perhaps rode the donkey first and the young colt later. Matthew recorded the fulfillment of prophecy. Mark and Luke pointed only to Jesus’ kingly status by riding on a colt.

Folk waved palm fronds as Jesus entered Jerusalem. Jewish leaders grew angrier when people called Jesus the Messiah. Jesus and his disciples spent the night in Bethany. 

MONDAY: Jesus returned to Jerusalem on Monday. Along the way, he cursed a fig tree because it had leaves but failed to bear fruit. Real faith is more than outward appearance and will produce godly fruit. Perhaps the fig tree represented Israel’s spiritually dead religious leaders.

CLEANING HOUSE: Arriving at the Temple, Jesus drove out buyers, sellers, and money-changers in his second cleansing of the Temple.

“He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of thieves.’”

Some Gentiles of Bethsaida sought out their friends Philip and Andrew (disciples), wanting to see Jesus. Philip and Andrew brought the Greeks to Jesus, who was happy to meet them. He told them, “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified.” Jesus compared himself to a grain of wheat that must be planted before it yields a harvest. 

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24 NIV). Jesus and his disciples spent the night in Bethany.

TUESDAY: Passing the withered fig tree on their way, Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem, where some members of the Sanhedrin questioned Jesus about his authority chase out buyers and sellers from the Temple. 

(The term "Sanhedrin" is from a Greek word meaning “assembly” or “council,” sources say. The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel, made up of 70 men and the high priest. These leaders later turned Jesus over to Roman authorities to be tried and crucified. The Sanhedrin had no legal authority to put someone to death. They had to appeal to their Roman rulers who could carry out the death penalty.)

ONE QUESTION: “And when Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’” 

Jesus answered cleverly.

“I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things,” he said. “The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” 

Uh-oh. They were at a loss to answer. They privately discussed it: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’” 

“Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things,” Jesus said.

CAESAR’S COIN: As Jesus taught the crowds, the Pharisees joined with the Herodians to try to trick Jesus. Herodians were Jews who sympathized with the Roman government and Greek social customs Herod had introduced. 

“Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” they asked Jesus. 

“Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax,” Jesus said. 

They brought him a denarius, a standard Roman silver coin worth about $2.60 in U.S. precious metal value in 2021. Jesus said to them as they looked at the coin, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”

“Caesar’s,” they said.

“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” he said to them

They marveled and went away. But Jesus knew his death was near.

Listen to Him!

   “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asked his disciples (Matt. 16:13). This was before Jesus’ transfiguration (“a change of form or appearance”).

The disciples replied, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” 

“But whom say ye that I am?” Jesus said.

Peter replied, “Thous art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

Jesus said Peter was blessed “for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which art in heaven.”

SPURGEON’S VIEW: Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “I never loved God till I saw him in Christ. … I could never have any familiarity with God till I saw his familiarity with me in the person of his Son. I never understood how I could be God’s son till I understood how God’s Son became a man. I never saw how I could be a partaker of the divine nature till I saw how his Son became a partaker of the human nature. … Oh, beloved, do you delight in Jesus Christ? Is he all your salvation and all your desire? Do you adore him, do you consecrate yourself to his honor, do you wish to live for him, and to die for him? Then be sure that you belong to him, for it is the mark of the children of God that they love God in Christ Jesus.”

JESUS REVEALED: Jesus told his disciples he must go to Jerusalem and suffer, be killed, and be raised. Peter rebuked Jesus, saying that should not happen to Jesus. 

“Get thee behind me Satan,” Jesus said. Peter was “an offense” because of “not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts” (ISV).

TAKE UP CROSSES: “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? … For the Son of Man is going to come … and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. … There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom’” (Matt. 16:24-28 ESV).

SIX DAYS LATER: After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother into a high mountain (Matt. 17:1). (Mount Tabor is 1800 ft. above sea level; most ancient scholars agree is the site of the Transfiguration.) Jesus was transfigured before them; his face shown like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus.

PETER’S MISTAKE: Peter told Jesus it was good to be there, and if need be, he would make three tents (tabernacles), one each for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Writer Valerie Riese tells us why Peter had this idea:    

The Greek word translated as “tents” refers to the type of shelter the Hebrews called sukkah (pronounced ‘sook-kah’), Riese says. “Strong’s Concordance” defines a “sukkah” as a rude or temporary shelter. A sukkah was a small booth or tabernacle made with roofs of willows, palm trees, and other leafy trees (Lev. 23:40). Similar to our tents today, sukkot (plural for sukkah) were easy to pack up and rebuild in a new location, so they were the standard dwelling of Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years. Peter was also familiar with a more elaborate dwelling, the tabernacle of the Lord that traveled the desert along with the Israelites.

Why did Peter suggests a sukkah for each of the three? God gave Moses instructions for three Jewish Festivals, Riese says. The Festival of Booths is detailed in Leviticus 23:33-44. Every year, the Israelites built sukkot to remember how God sustained them during the Exodus. Peter lived in a sukkah for a week every year during the Festival of Booths, known as Sukkot, as Jews do each year as one of the three Pilgrimage Festivals. He learned to go without most conveniences of life to rely on God, as his ancestors did, and was reminded of their years of wandering in the wilderness. 

Peter knew a sukkah was a place to meet with God, so it seemed appropriate to accommodate God’s glory as he’d always done. He was trying to worship God. There are only three recorded instances of people hearing God’s audible voice in the New Testament. One of them was God speaking to Peter to tell him to listen to Jesus. God didn’t need a tabernacle to speak to his people anymore!  

While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, and from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”