The Last Supper was a symbolic act, like the triumphal entry and Jesus’ act in the Temple.192 Whether the specific act of breaking bread foreshadowed Jesus’ death is difficult to decide; it was customary for the head of the household (or group)193 to break bread so he could distribute it (Mk 6:41; 8:6, 19-20).194 Interpreting the elements of the Passover feast (the bread, bitter herbs, etc.) was a standard Passover practice,195 but instead of using standard explanations Jesus interprets two elements (the two elements representative of food and drink in blessings at Jewish meals) in a strikingly new way.196
Because this tradition is thus very early, whatever information it preserves therefore likely tells us much about Jesus’ view of his mission.197 Jesus elsewhere spoke of the martyrs’ blood inviting judgment (Matt 23:35//Lk 11:51). But because Jesus invites his followers to share in this act, he may also play on the atoning value of martyrs’ deaths (especially attested in 4 Maccabees). Yet Jesus’ death appears as more than that of a mere martyr in this earliest tradition, whether as the climactic basis of judgment198 or as the single martyr whose death his followers should commemorate. The probable allusions to Is 52-53 in Jesus’ language here199 tell us a great deal about how Jesus viewed his own death.
Even more probably, many of Jesus’ words (such as “flesh,” “blood,” “poured out”) suggest sacrificial terminology,200 especially since crucifixion itself technically required no blood.201 The “blood of the covenant” refers to Ex 24:8, where blood was shed to establish God’s covenant with Israel (just as most covenants in Israel’s history required the shedding of blood).202 Whether Paul’s “new covenant” midrashically interprets the “blood of the covenant” allusion to Ex 24:8 in light of Jer 31:31,203 or the most likely textual tradition in Mark and Matthew suppresses “new” to heighten the Exodus allusion, this “covenant” must be a new or renewed one, a prophetic image current in Jesus’ day.204 That Jesus intended his death as sacrificial in some sense fits the evidence from Jesus’ life for his intended martyrdom205 (we discuss Jewish sacrificial martyr theology below).
When Jesus claims that the bread “is” his body he is not claiming any biochemical connection between the two. Presumably he means that the bread “represents” or stands for his body in some sense;206 the disciples presumably would have understood his words here no more literally than they would have taken the normal interpretation of Passover elements, some of which may have been in widespread use this early: “This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate when they came from the land of Egypt.”207 (By no stretch of the imagination did anyone suppose that they were re-eating the very bread the Israelites had eaten in the wilderness.)208 Those who ate of this bread participated by commemoration in Jesus’ affliction in the same manner that those who ate the Passover commemorated in the deliverance of their ancestors.209 The language of Passover celebration assumed the participation of current generations in the exodus event.210
Jesus probably followed Passover practice regarding the cup as well. According to tradition, the head of the household, who had been reclining, would now sit up to bless God for the bread before the meal; after the meal, Jesus probably interprets the third or fourth cup.211 If later codified customs continued earlier basic practice, as is probable in the case of an annual festal tradition, Jesus may have lifted the cup with both hands, holding it in his right hand about a handbreadth above the table.212 But after partaking of this cup, Jesus utters what resembles a traditional vow of abstention (promising God to abstain from something for a specified period of time),213 in this case vowing not to drink wine until the coming of his reign.214 Many Jewish people viewed the kingdom as a banquet (Is 25:6),215 so Jesus is apparently promising not to drink wine again until his kingdom. 1 Cor 11:26 (which says that the Lord’s Supper declares his death “until he comes”) recalls this eschatological significance in the Lord’s Supper, related to the implications of future redemption many Jewish people saw in the Passover.216
After what was normally a few hours of discussion,217 here perhaps abbreviated, the household would sing the remaining hymns of the Hallel, undoubtedly the “hymn” to which the text refers (Mk 14:26),218 antiphonally if they could.219 As we have noted, the Hallel included lines relevant to the passion narrative like, “The stone rejected by the builders has become the chief cornerstone” (Ps 118:22); “O save . . . blessed is the one who comes in YHWH’s name” (Ps 118:25-26).
