SPLIT: Gospel accounts of Last Supper

[George_C]

St. John said The Last Supper was before Passover, the Synoptic Gospels say it was during; why the
discrepency?

I don’t know. I have to side with the John account because I’m not certain the Last Supper was an actual Passover seder. There are three reasons:

1. There is no mention of lamb or bitter herbs, both of which are absolutely required in a true Passover meal.
2. In a true Passover meal, the wine is blessed first, then the bread. Luke has this order; Matthew is the reverse. It’s not mentioned in John and Mark.
3. Participants in a true Passover seder include men, women, and children. The Gospels don’t mention anyone but Jesus and the Apostles. Although, and correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t think the Gospels are in agreement about the specific number of Apostles.

My guess is that Jesus called for the special meal because He knew it would be His last and He wouldn’t be alive for the actual Passover meal.

 

[George_C]

You know, I’m wondering if the accounts in the Synoptic Gospels and the John account weren’t two different events.

Just thinking out loud…

 

[palmas85]

I don’t know. I have to side with the John account because I’m not certain the Last Supper was an actual Passover seder. There are three reasons:

1. There is no mention of lamb or bitter herbs, both of which are absolutely required in a true Passover meal.
2. In a true Passover meal, the wine is blessed first, then the bread. Luke has this order; Matthew is the reverse. It’s not mentioned in John and Mark.
3. Participants in a true Passover seder include men, women, and children. The Gospels don’t mention anyone but Jesus and the Apostles. Although, and correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t think the Gospels are in agreement about the specific number of Apostles.

My guess is that Jesus called for the special meal because He knew it would be His last and He wouldn’t be alive for the actual Passover meal.

I always thought that the writers just didn’t mention the parts of the meal that to them were not important. There was no real reason for them to explain everything because they were writing for an audience who knew what happened at these meals.

 

[Jean_Anthony]

abc

 

[Nita]

The following is from Pope Benedict’s Holy Thursday 2007 sermon from L’Osservatore 4/11/07 issue.
Quote:

…There is an apparent discrepancy in the Evangelists’ accounts, between John’s Gospel on the one hand, and what on the other Mathew, Mark and Luke tell us.

According to John, Jesus died on the Cross at the very moment when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in the temple. The death of Jesus and the sacrifice of the lambs coincided. However, this means that He must have died the day before Easter and could not, therefore, have celebrated the Passover meal in person–this , at any rate, is how it appears.

According to the three Synoptic Gospels, the Last Supper of Jesus was instead a Passover meal into whose traditional form He integrated the innovation of the gift of His Body and Blood.

This contradiction seemed unsolvable until a few years ago. The majority of exegetes were of the opinion that John was reluctant to tell us the true historical date of Jesus’ death, but rather chose a symbolic date to highlight the deeper truth: Jesus is the new true Lamb who poured out His Blood for us all.

In the meantime, the discovery of the [Dead Sea] Scrolls at Qumran has led us to a possible and convincing solution which, although is not yet accepted by everyone, is a highly plausible hypotheses. We can now say that John’s account is historically precise.

Jesus truly shed His blood on the eve of Easter at the time of the immolation of the lambs.

In all likelihood, however, he celebrated the Passover with his disciples in accordance with the Qumran calendar, hence, at least one day earlier**; He celebrated it without a lamb, like the Qumran community which did not recognize Herod’s temple and was waiting for the new temple.**

Consequently, Jesus celebrated the Passover without a lamb–no, not without a lamb: instead of the lamb He gave Himself, His Body and His Blood. Thus, he anticipated his death in a manner consistent with his words: “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (Jn 10:18).

Nita