Did Jesus give the bread and wine to the disciples before he consecrated them?

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“…He broke the bread, gave it to His disciples, and said…”
“…He took the cup… gave the cup to His disciples, and said…”

Did Jesus give the bread and wine to his disciples before he said the words of consecration?

Come to think of it, that’s the way tthey do it in my non-denominational church: They pass out the elements to the congregation. The pastor holds up his bread, reads the “words of institution”, and then everyone eats their bread. Then he holds up his cup, reads the “words of institution”, and everyone drinks their juice. (Yes, I know they’re not validly consecrated.)

I once visited my aunt’s Church of Christ, where the elements were distributed and consumed, but nobody read any “words of instution”. I wouldn’t even call that “communion”! Yet I understand that it fulfills their “Sunday obligation”.
 
[BIBLEDRB]Matt 26:26-27[/BIBLEDRB][BIBLEDRB]Mark 14:22-23[/BIBLEDRB][BIBLEDRB]Luke 22:17-20[/BIBLEDRB]

As you see, Jesus said a blessing or “gave thanks” prior to distributing to the Apostles. We don’t know for certain the exact blessing he said (though we could guess it was a standard blessing for the Passover meal). Also, since Jesus is God, He isn’t limited by our modern rubrics concerning the institution.

The Gospels highlight what Jesus did that diverged from their tradition. When a priest today recites Jesus’ words, we are brought to that timeless moment to share at the same table.
 
since the Apostles are the Apostles, the bread could be consecrated in their hands
 
bsaucer said:
Did Jesus give the bread and wine to his disciples before he said the words of consecration?
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Since there is at least one Rite (Chaldean) which doesn’t use the words of consecration, there is a debate as to when exactly the bread and wine actually becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. It appears that the entire canon must be read and the priest to consume the Body and Blood for any validity. People’s communion does not count to establish validity.
 
We need to be careful not to be overly analytical about the Last Supper.

The Mass is a participation in the Last Supper, not the other way around. There wasn’t a single moment of consecration, in the way we think of it at Mass.

Remember that the offering of His body and blood was not just a particular moment – it began during supper, but was completed by His death on the cross.

Sometimes people get similarly hung up on what sort of bread Jesus used. Was it leavened or unleavened, etc. It was probably most similar to Shmura Matzah, I would guess.

The “chalice” was probably just a regular passover cup. Fancier than a regular cup, but not different from the utensils used for a typical seder service.

There may have been bitter herbs present, salt water, and so forth.

The passover seder was transformed by Jesus that night, as He took the place of the lamb for all eternity.

God bless,
 
SonCatcher said:
So true. He did institute the priesthood simultaneously.
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To be really nitpicky about it, it seems to me (without any particular knowledge of the Church’s position on the matter) that the command “Do this in memory of me” was when the Apostles were first charged with their priestly duties - a sentence or so after the words of institution. And since they were not uttering these words, I don’t think we can say they were concelebrating.
 
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