Editorial July 17, 1909 Issue

THE LAST SUPPER

Annie M. Knott

The last supper of Jesus with his disciples has been a favorite theme of artists and theologians, and around it have centered many of the dogmas of creedal Christianity. That it was a momentous occasion appears certain, from the fact that it is mentioned in the four Gospels, although John's account differs considerably from that of the other evangelists. He is the only one who mentions the washing of the disciples' feet, which followed the supper. Only Luke, who was not present on this occasion, has the statement, "This do in remembrance of me;" while John, who was present, lays great emphasis upon the admonition, "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." Several Christian sects have insisted upon the literal fulfilment of this behest, as the greater number of the others have upon the commemoration of the last supper. The question today with many sincere Christians is, What have been the fruits in either case?

There are many devout thinkers, as well as Christian Scientists, who fail to find in the Gospel accounts of the last supper any hint of an intention on the part of Christ Jesus to make of the "remembrance," mentioned by Luke, a material rite. Did not Jesus seize upon everything which appealed to thought and make it an object–lesson for those who were seeking the truth? Did he not tell Peter and John that they were to become "fishers of men"? To the woman of whom he asked a drink, he told in immortal words of the "living water;" to others he pointed from their ordinary food to the "bread of life;" thus, too, the lessons of sower and seed, springtime and harvest, but never once did he fail to direct thought away from the material to the spiritual.

There are perhaps few who read the story of the last supper who pause to consider that at that time Jesus and his followers were excommunicate from the church of their fathers, for the reason that he had put to shame mere doctrines and beliefs, rites and ceremonies, by his demonstrations of the power of Truth to save from sin, sickness, and death. The priests said, "If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him." At the yearly passover every household within the pale of the church had a lamb, killed for them by the priest, but Jesus and his followers were without the pale, so they could have no paschal lamb, nothing but the bread and wine which constituted the evening meal of the common people, yet what an occasion he made it! As our revered Leader says, "Their bread indeed came down from heaven;" and the wine was "the inspiration of Love, the draught our Master drank and commended to his followers" (Science and Health, pp. 33, 35). Christ Jesus did indeed bid his followers eat of his flesh—but how? Here are his words: "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." That this bread "giveth life unto the world," Christian Scientists are proving daily in their own healing and in that of others, and they know that the demand of Truth is that every thought, word, and deed should be consecrated so as to be a perpetual "remembrance" of the Master's holy mission.

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