May 1, 2022, Third Sunday of Easter (Year C) In today’s Gospel we see vestiges of the Last Supper that Jesus celebrated with his disciples. We know that the Last Supper was a Passover celebration by considering the following exchange between Jesus and his disciples. He sent out Peter and John, instructing them, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover. When you go into the city, a man will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and say, ‘The teacher says to you, ‘Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ (Lk. 22:8-10)
The Passover meal that was shared with the disciples was a holiday for the Jewish people celebrating their release from slavery in Egypt many years before. They were to procure and sacrifice a lamb and for their protection they were to spread the blood of the lamb over the doorway so the angel of the Lord would “pass over” their homes and spare them from destruction. The lamb was then consumed along with unleavened bread as part of the special Passover meal.
The tradition of the Passover meal that ensued at the Last Supper is very familiar to us because we celebrate its memory at every Mass, during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. On the night he was betrayed Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread, and offered it to the disciples as the sacrifice of his body. Then he took a cup of wine and again giving thanks, he offered it as the blood he would shed on the cross. The disciples were instructed to keep a remembrance of this meal which is what we have continued to do for over two-thousand years.
After his crucifixion and resurrection, there were three times when Jesus used the actions of the Last Supper to demonstrate that it really was the risen Lord appearing in their midst. The first occurred when he appeared and walked beside two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He spoke to them at great length explaining the scriptures that described the meaning of his death and resurrection. But it wasn’t until he joined them at dinner and broke and blessed the bread that they realized it was Christ risen from the dead. (Lk. 24:13-35).
The second appearance of Jesus occurred immediately following the Road to Emmaus story when the disciples were gathered in Jerusalem. Jesus appeared to them, but they were afraid that they were seeing a ghost. He showed them the wounds on his hands and feet and in order to overcome their shock and incredulity he ate a piece of baked fish and once again interpreted the scriptures for them. Probably most familiar to them would have been the gestures that Jesus would have used with the food – take, bless, break, and give – all a part of a traditional Jewish blessing. (Lk. 24:36-49).
The third appearance where Jesus arranged a meal for the disciples occurs in the Gospel for today (Jn. 21:1-19). The disciples have returned to Galilee and decided to go fishing with Peter as the lead. While in the boat, Jesus calls to them from the shore and tells them to try throwing the net on the other side of the boat because they have not caught anything. Then, in catching a large number of fish, they realize that it is the risen Lord, and they rush to the shore where he has once again prepared a meal for them.
One question which may come to mind is the following: if these three meals along with the celebration of the Last Supper, were meant to mimic the Jewish holiday of Passover, why was there no lamb served? The answer to this question comes to us from Pope Benedict XVI in a declaration that he made in 2007. The pope announced that there would have been no lamb served at the Last Supper. He theorized that the Last Supper took place before the ritual sacrifice of the lambs and for this reason it was Jesus who took the place of the Passover lamb and its sacrifice when he died on the cross.
This goes along with the vision of John in the Second Reading for today from the book of Revelation (Rev 5:11-14). Speaking of Jesus as the Passover lamb, John declares, “I, John, looked and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living and the elders. They were countless in number, and they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.’” (Rev. 5:11-12).
This also coincides with what the prophets of the Old Testament proclaimed. They foretold the coming of One who would be brought “like a lamb led to the slaughter” (Jeremiah 11:19; Isaiah 53:7) and whose sufferings and sacrifice would provide redemption for Israel.
The sacrifice of Jesus does just that, as Peter describes in the First Reading (Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41): “God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things.” (Acts 5:31).
It is the witness of the prophets of the Old Testament, and John, and Peter and so many others who assure us that we are brought to glory through the forgiveness of sins as accomplished by Jesus, the Paschal Lamb. This is why we pray the Agnus Dei at every Mass: “Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.”
