Title: Last Supper
Last Supper
Matthew 26:17-28
2011. 4. 17 Palm Sunday Holy Communion
Today's text is the scene where Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples the night before his crucifixion. It must have been a very sad atmosphere.
It was past 4:30 PM by the end of last week's event. At the Aju Museum of Art, located at 195 Hwaam-dong, Yuseong-gu, until 6 p.m. for 10 months from June 21 last year, Italian murals such as Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael (frescoes painted with paint before they dry) ), I went to the apre-graphy exhibition that the Rachari family drew with a new image reproduction technique for 300 years. 45 minutes before closing, I heard a moving explanation from Rev. Jaeheung Lee, chairman of the museum.
Michelangelo painted the creation of the heavens and the earth and the history of the Bible while living on an 18-meter ceiling for three years each. Paintings that can only be seen on cathedrals, ceilings, and walls of monasteries were painted with a new technique, and I was able to see as many as 51 paintings in the museum.
Among them, I was particularly favored by the scene of the Last Supper. These are Beato Angelico's 1440 painting in the Monastery of San Marco, by Domenico Ghirlandallo, and the famous Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'.
Let's look at Da Vinci's work backwards. This work is believed to have been painted in 1459-1497. As we well know, Da Vinci depicts the reaction of the twelve disciples after the fall of the words “one of you will betray me” as in Matthew 26:20-25. This painting, as we know it, is in the dining room of the Cathedral of Santa Maria delle Grazia in Milan. Da Vinci is also a genius painting talent, but in order to study the face of Christ and especially the head of Peter, he invested all the money he gave to paint and conducted anatomy experiments and skull research on 300 corpses. In particular, it is a masterpiece painted over many years in search of the face of Judas Iscariot, and there is an episode called the face of the persistent and ignorant abbot who insists on painting.
Finally, the supper of Jesus begins. See verse 20.
“It was evening, and Jesus was sitting down with the twelve.” Then in verse 21, we read, “While they were eating.” This is what the Last Supper looks like. As they ate the Passover food, they recalled God's salvation and victory. At this time, while having the supper, Jesus said two things. One was the prophecy of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, and the other was the famous Eucharist.
Verse 21 says, “One of you will betray me.” As the disciples were eating, they were astonished at this. Verse 22 says, “They are very grieved, Lord, am I not?” And they each asked Jesus. Then in verse 23, Jesus says: He says, "He who puts his hand into the bowl with me will betray me." And look at verse 24.
“The Son of Man goes as it is written about him, but woe to him who betrays him, for it would have been better for him if he had not been born” (verse 24).
Hearing this, the disciples must have been very confused. 'In this way, we shared life and death with Jesus for three years, but who really grew up with Jesus?' 'Because I loved Jesus, I gave up everything and followed Him, so who among us can betray Him?' and I would have wondered.
At this time, surprisingly, Judas Iscariot spoke first. "Rabbi, am I not?" and cry out to Jesus. It is an act of showing that you are absolutely not. However, he was afraid that his identity would be revealed, so he wanted to prevent it in advance.
That's right. A person who is originally clean and honest does not talk. However, if you have a lot of problems with yourself, you have many words and many reasons. What does Jesus say at this time? In verse 25, he said, “You have spoken” and He said it directly. The other disciples didn't notice, but Jesus knew everything. How did Judas Iscariot feel when he said, “It is you”?
Oh, where is Jesus in this picture? Jesus is holding the disciple John, who was loved in the middle, on his knees. So who is Judas Iscariot? Yes, as I said before, he is sitting with a cat on his back and no halo on his head.
The figure of the chopping board is also interesting. He is probably the person who tilts his head the most.
The painting I want to highlight today is 'The Last Supper' by Beato Angelico. Angelico focuses on the earliest communion, in the year 1440, where Jesus puts pieces of bread in his mouth one by one. The point is that Jesus, who seems to cry when touched, puts a piece of white bread into the mouth of a disciple. Looking at this aspect, I felt the need to personally offer the sacrament to the saints with the heart of Jesus on this Passion Sunday.
And you can see the happiness of the disciples who have already received the sacrament, and the disciples on the right looking anxious. The picture format is also different. Just as the four disciples, including Judas Iscariot, do not show their backs when eating in the drama, they kneel on their right side and wait for the sacrament in humility. I also drew a chair for them to sit on, but it's interesting that it's slightly crooked. Judas Iscariot, the traitor, had a black halo, not gold, and painted his face black.
The woman in white facing these four people is presumed to be the Virgin Mary, but the figure kneeling with her hands together is a typical patron image and may be the main figure in this work.
The Lord's Supper was what Jesus did for people, opening the way for them to a new, loving relationship with God. We should note here that the Last Supper that Jesus ate was a real meal, but our communion meal has a symbolic meaning of looking at the redemption of Jesus. But here our Lord is spiritually present with us.
Through this sacrament, we experience “we are one with Christ” as we look at the saving grace of the eternal God, and we stand firm in the faith. The meaning of the sacrament is, in one word, "union with Christ."
The Last Supper of Jesus today is the First Supper. Jesus shares his last meal with his disciples before dying on the cross. Verse 26 says, “As they were eating, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” The Israelites ate unleavened bread at the Passover to commemorate how God had delivered and blessed them from Egypt. The Lord, who had set the very bread before death, gave thanks and broke it. I hope that the Last Supper of Jesus will be recreated on Palm Sunday before his death on the cross.
* Serving the Lord's Supper exactly as in the picture