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.