On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” — Mark 14:12
Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper is one of the most recognized paintings in the world. Painted as a mural on the wall of a church in Milan, Italy in the late fifteenth century, this work of art is renowned the world over for capturing one of the most significant events in the New Testament story of Jesus and His earthly ministry.
The setting for the painting is the evening of the Passover Meal that Jesus shared with His disciples, just before his arrest, trial and crucifixion. At this Passover Seder, Jesus told His followers that He was going to be the Passover Lamb for the whole world and that His life would be poured out as a ransom for the sins of many. He also told them that He would be betrayed by one of His own disciples.
This seminal event in Christianity is still celebrated every time Christians take the Communion Meal. Unfortunately, this wonderful painting of the event is inaccurate in almost every single historical detail! Huh? How is it misleading and inaccurate? Let’s look at the details and see.
- The thirteen men in the picture are definitely light skinned, fair haired Europeans dressed in fifteenth century Renaissance clothing. The Jewish Rabbi from the Galilee has been recast into a fifteenth century Renaissance man to fit the image of the prevailing culture!
- The building in which the meal is being held resembles an Italian Palace with tall walls and multiple corridors. Jesus took the Passover Meal in a small upper room in Jerusalem.
- The Passover Meal is always taken in the evening after sundown to replicate the Exodus Story. In Da Vinci’s painting, blue sky and clouds are visible through the windows, making it a midday meal.
- The meal for the Passover was always the same; roasted lamb and matza (unleavened bread). In the mural, fish and loaves of leavened bread are on the table! Also, there are crystal glasses of wine on the table. Glass was not used by the Jewish common people and the goblets would have been made of wood or clay.
All the participants of the meal are sitting upright in chairs at a long table with Jesus in the center position. This reflects the fifteenth century custom of having the host or most honored guest in the center position. However, the Jewish custom of Jesus’ time period was to recline on the floor on your left elbow, with pillows for support and dine around a three sided low table called a triclinium. The guest of honor was always placed in the second position from the right end (see picture). A long table and chairs was not part of the seating arrangement during this time period.
The observance of the Passover Meal celebrating God’s great deliverance of His children from the hands of the cruel Pharaoh is the landmark event in Jewish history. Fourteen hundred years after the Passover events took place, Jesus and His Jewish disciples were still celebrating this miraculous event by eating the Passover Meal together (And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. – Luke 22:15). It is regrettable that the Jewish Rabbi Jesus and his disciples have been changed and westernized to the point that we only able to picture them in our present day Gentile culture. Christianity has undeniably Jewish Roots. Jesus, His disciples, and almost all the early believers were Jewish. Today, we don’t even think of Jesus as a Jew – much less consider our faith in light of its rich Jewish heritage. The same mistakes that are in DaVinci’s painting are also mistakes that are being made in modern Christianity. We have westernized and “Gentilized” the Christian faith to the point that we have completely lost sight of its Jewish beginnings. Modern day Christians would do well to learn and know their Jewish roots and heritage and try to understand the Bible based on the culture of the time period in which it was written. The better we know the world of the Bible, the better we will understand the words of the Bible.
About the author:
Bob is the creator of this site and a disciple of Ray Vander Laan. Along with his wife of 50 years, he teaches a Bible study at Christ’s Church in Roswell, NM. He is also an avid hunter and fisher.
Thanks so much for this. It is very insightful, and I appreciate the truth that it tells.
“ We have westernized and ’Gentilized’ the Christian faith to the point that we have completely lost sight of its Jewish beginnings.“
Who’s “we”? If you’re referring to Da Vinci he was perfectly aware of the aesthetic inaccuracy of his picture. There is a long tradition in Christian iconography of portraying the most seminal figures of our religion – above all Christ Himself – in local garb and local skin. The point is not to create a historically accurate picture but to convey the universality of Christ. The idea that these images should be photorealistic is much more recent.
And while I agree that Christians who are blessed with leisure time owe it to ourselves and to our God and our Church to learn about the real historical foundations of our faith, we should also keep this important point in mind: the Judaizers were given the thumb very early in Christianity, at the Council of Jerusalem in AD 50. Again, it is good for us to know “the world of the Bible,” but we should also be mindful that there may be good reasons why some aspects of that world were deliberately rejected at some point.
What about the woman to Jesus’ right? Presumably Mary Magdalene, but not the apostle John [the disciple Jesus loved] as per the book of John.
This is true, of course, but why say it was a Passover meal? Matthew and Mark both say thait was the Day of Preparation, and John is quite explicit that it was the Day of Preparation for the Passover (19:14 and 31). John 9:28 also implies that they had not yet eaten the Passover. In Luke hJesus says he really wanted to eat Passover before he suffered, but that he actually has done has to be inferred from the small word ‘for’ = ‘gar.
By the way, I have no sympathy with Nico’s patronising comment. Jesus was Jewish, and to understand him well we need to understand his background. This is in no way to sympathise with Jewish (or any other) legalists or those who follow traditions of the elders rather than Scripture.
With all due respect Dr Marston, I believe “Scripture“ refers to the few texts recognized as holy inspired and put together as “The Bible or The Book” (of the Word of God) , from thousands other texts by “those who follow tradition of the elders” ( The Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church ) . Let’s remember , they did so after almost four hundred years of Church and Traditions. YES, the Church created by Jesus, and built on St Peter existed before Scripture, and not the other way around. The Catholics finished compiling the Bible in 382, selecting some texts to be in the Bible (directly related to the Life of Our Lord Jesus or related to his direct apostles). This selection doesn’t mean that other teaching texts were not important, like St John said: not everything done by Jesus can be written and contained in the whole world. So according to criteria The Catholic Church had to chose under the guidance of The Holy Spirit of course.
So, two thousand (2000) years later, you or me or anyone can’t claim to have more Holy Spirit discerning than these blesssed people who safeguarded The Faith through centuries, hand copying The Scripture in the monasteries, you and me can’t understand better the Scripture than these Elders (the Church Fathers) who received their teachings from Jesus and/or His disciples, who decided for the texts to be part of Scripture (of course the texts aligning with the tradition and teachings of the Christians communities ) and where willing to die for their faith. And should I mention that in Scripture, St Paul in 2Thessalonians 2.15 and 1Corinthians 11.2 ask for Christians to stay firm in the faith by holding dearly the TRADITIONS and teachings transmitted ORALLY or WRITTEN?
Where does Scripture is it said Scripture Only? Thank you. English is not my first language so sorry for the mistakes. May God bless you.