The Last Supper

This painting is the first in an Easter series of 3 that I called ‘Death is not the end’. This series takes three different symbols of Jesus’ death as black silhouettes and contrasts them with backgrounds full of colour, movement and life. My aim is to express something of the truth of Easter - that death isn’t the end, that resurrection and life follows it.

In this painting, I’ve drawn the cup of wine and some broken bread from the last supper. The last supper was the last meal Jesus had with his disciples before he died, they were celebrating the passover together. Below is an extract taken from my journal, written as I completed the last part of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. In my imagination, I was a disciple at that last supper with Jesus.

“I was sent with another disciple to set up and prepare for the passover. I was excited, and fussing over little details, wanting it to be special. Jesus and the other disciples arrived, the atmosphere was celebratory, we were enjoying being together. Jesus stood at the table, calling the room to order. He invited us to all share in the same wine, he explained how much he was looking forward to celebrating passover with us all, his last passover. He said he wouldn’t drink wine again until he was with us in his kingdom. We were brought back to the present, the painful truth that we were soon to lose Jesus. The familiar customs of the meal continued and we began to relax again. When it came to the bread, Jesus did something different. He thanked his Father for it and then looking at each one of us said ‘Take, eat, this is my body’ and breaking a piece off at a time, he gave a piece to each of us. Then when it came to the wine, he did something similar. We didn’t really understand what he said, but we knew it was important by the way he looked at each of us and the way he spoke. Something significant had happened.”

The way that Jesus shared the bread and wine was significant, likening it to his body and his blood that were about to be given in death. This is why the broken bread and wine can be understood to be a symbol of Jesus’ death. We remember this especially on Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday), but also on a regular basis in churches when bread and wine is shared.