Mel Gibson’s Passion movie

Backstory: the last supper


image
 The last supper

On the night of his arrest, the day before he was crucified, Jesus ate a last meal with his disciples, in which they shared bread and wine. As he gave his friends the bread, he told them, "This is my body, broken for you," and as he gave them the cup of wine, he said, "This is my blood, poured out for you." You can find one account of this final meal in Luke 22:14-23.

There's something about the birth of new life that inevitably involves tearing or breaking through one thing, to get to something much better.

It's a universal truth we celebrate several times a year, as we punch through the chocolate shell of our Easter Eggs to find the sweets inside, or rip apart the Christmas wrapping paper to get at the gift.

For the Jewish people, the Passover meal marks a similar kind of celebration. In the meal, they remember the time, long ago, when they were kept as slaves of the ancient Egyptians. And they celebrate their release from slavery, when the walls of their prison in Egypt were cracked open and God led them out to freedom.

The Passover meal was the "last supper" which Jesus and his friends ate, in a scene which is still re-enacted in every corner of the world on a daily basis. This is the meal he chose, to explain to them that he was about to die, and to try and give them some sense that he was dying for a reason.

To be honest, they didn't really get it at the time.

They didn't really get that he was going to die, that this was the last supper they would eat together before he was killed, buried, and reappeared with a new body, that looked similar, but could walk through walls and disappear into thin air.

But then – who could have anticipated that?

image
 This is my body

Back to the top
Bookmark this page: del.icio.us Favicon  Digg Favicon  Facebook Favicon  Reddit Favicon  StumbleUpon Favicon  Technorati Favicon

Search rejesus

About this module

Find out the back story and what happens next in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ movie. What impact did it have on you?

‘The Passion’, for all its intensity, marks only a few hours in the life Jesus. Each of the flashbacks in the movie are windows onto some of the context, that made the execution of one man an event which continues to shape history.

This module was written by Mark Stafford.

Categories: Creativity, Reviews, Sound & vision,

Module contents

arrow The Passion of the Christ

arrow Backstory: caught in adultery

arrow Backstory: the story of Veronica

arrow Backstory: Herod wants a miracle

arrow Backstory: the last supper

arrow Backstory: the humanity of Jesus

arrow Backstory: Jesus and the Devil

arrow What happened next

Related modules

Categories

arrow Art & image

arrow Articles

arrow Biographical

arrow Downloads

arrow Experiential

arrow How to

arrow Interactive

arrow Interviews

arrow Poetry

arrow Reviews

arrow Seasonal

arrow Sound & vision

Latest Blog posts

Alternative Parables: #1 - The Excuse

His legs were gone, his lungs burned, but Bernbaum somehow summoned the energy to reached out for the top of… more

Rev works a sitcom miracle

Some of the best moments of watching BBC Two's Rev the past few weeks have been the kitchen… more

TV Review: Rev.

The BBC's latest sit-com, Rev., has been pulling in praise from religious and non-religious… more

Life as we know it

Most visitors: 249 on 29/11/2009
Here now: 34
Last comment: 27/08 at 10:52 pm
Total comments: 322

Newsletter

Sign up to keep up to date.

prayer christian auschwitz faith text message artist timeline foodball interaction simon taylor quotable christmas pdf poor office amen photo veronica slum global warming abolitionist interview photographer jerusalem celtic mother teresa sayings bishop forgiveness poverty quiz animation course clouds workplace happiness war nun golf friar mark poet exercise nature plants cross astrophysicist freedom saint theology
© copyright
rejesus 2002 to 2010
Powered by ExpressionEngine
Design by Embody