The Saints | Modern Sacred Art & Minimalist Catholic Decor — The Last Supper

A Passover meal reframed

Luke's Gospel identifies the Last Supper explicitly as a Passover meal, the annual commemoration of Israel's deliverance from slavery in Egypt. At that meal, Jesus set the ancient feast in an entirely new context: "And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you'" (Luke 22:19-20, NIV). The Passover's deliverance finds a new meaning here, sealed not in the blood of a sacrificial lamb but in Jesus's own.

A tradition Paul says he received directly

The earliest written account of this moment doesn't come from the Gospels at all — it comes from Paul's letter to the Corinthians, written years before any Gospel was composed. Paul is explicit about where he got it: "For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me'" (1 Corinthians 11:23-25, NIV).

A command meant to be repeated

"Do this in remembrance of me" isn't phrased as a single instruction for that one evening. The underlying Greek carries the sense of an ongoing, repeated act — something the community was meant to keep doing, again and again, specifically so it would remain mindful of Jesus and what his death meant. Paul makes that continuing purpose explicit: "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26, NIV).

A new covenant sealed like the old one

The invocation of covenant language is deliberate. Israel's old covenant, at Sinai, had been sealed with the blood of sacrificed animals. By describing the cup as "the new covenant in my blood," Jesus draws a direct parallel — announcing a covenant that both fulfills and supersedes the old one, sealed not with an animal's blood but with his own, at a meal that had, for centuries, already been about deliverance.

Trivia

What did Jesus say when he instituted the Eucharist?

"This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me" and "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:19-20, NIV).

How does Paul's account in 1 Corinthians describe the same moment?

"The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me'" (1 Corinthians 11:23-24, NIV) — an account Paul says he received directly from the Lord.

What meal was the Last Supper, and why does that matter?

It was a Passover meal, commemorating Israel's deliverance from slavery in Egypt; Jesus reframes that ancient deliverance in the context of a new covenant sealed in his own blood, echoing how the old covenant, too, had been sealed with blood.

What does 'do this in remembrance of me' mean?

The Greek phrasing carries the sense of a repeated ritual re-enactment intended to keep the community continually mindful of Jesus and the significance of his death, not a single one-time instruction.