Maundy Thursday

John's Account of the Last Supper

Note: the primary commentaries informing this summary are from Lesslie Newbigin (The Light has Come) and Dale Bruner.

We have a number of ways to go for Maundy Thursday, with the most traditional obviously being the Last Supper.  By our modern measure, “Thursday” would also include Gethsemane and other events of that night (the random naked guy, Peter’s denials, etc.), but with the Jewish day traditionally beginning at sundown, however, those could also be considered part of Good Friday.  Delving into John—who does not identify this as the Passover meal—leads to more than just the basic narrative and meal.

With John in particular, the Last Supper covers five chapters (13-17).  We might wonder how…