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May 18, 2004, Tuesday, Sixth Week of Easter

Was the Last Supper a Passover Feast?

This simple question is probably the most disputed “calendar” question in the New Testament.

In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Last Supper was clearly a Passover meal.

But in John’s Gospel, it occurred on the day before the Passover meal. When Jesus is on trial before Pilate, John’s Gospel reads:

”[Pilate] brought Jesus out and seated him on the judge’s bench in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon.” (19:13-14)

If this chronology is accurate, then the Passover meal would have been celebrated after sunset on the day Jesus died.

The last meal Jesus had with his disciples certainly was in the atmosphere of Passover. This feast was the reason why they came to Jerusalem. And, certain, the day before Passover would have special meaning. Some say this is why Matthew, Mark and Luke refer to it as a Passover meal.

John, on the other hand, has Jesus condemned to death at noon on the day before Passover – the very time when the priest began to slaughter the paschal lambs in the Temple area.

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On this date, Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was born in 1920.

May 18, 2004, Tuesday, Sixth Week of Easter

Jesus said to his disciples: “Now I am going to the one who sent me…But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (Jn 16:5-11)

When Jesus says, “It is better for you that I go.” He is talking about his dying/rising/ascension. But why wouldn’t they be just as well off if Jesus stayed? Because it is the Spirit that is the source of divine life in human beings, and it is the Risen Jesus who will send the Spirit upon them. (In John’s Gospel, that is the very first thing the Risen Lord does when he appears to them on Easter morning: “He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

So, it’s true. It is better for us that Jesus dies.

Let’s turn that around. Is it better for me that I die?

It’s not a matter of seeing this life as useless. It’s a question of how I look at death…putting death in perspective.

Could I say (and mean it): “Ultimately, it is better for me that I die?”

A lot of the truths of my faith come together when I seriously ask myself that question.

This isn’t a matter of being morose. Just the opposite. It’s a matter of a deeper faith and most of all, hope.

Is it better for me that I die? It’s a different way of looking at death. Is it ever!

Spend some time with the Risen Lord.