The Setting of the Last Supper: A Triclinium
Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper has riveted the minds of the world for centuries. Yet this depiction of the Last Supper, like many others, is quite inaccurate when it comes to the actual setting of the Last Supper. Because of these depictions, we often picture Christ seated at the center of a long table, with his disciples on each side of him. However, according to ancient Roman and Jewish culture, and several verses found in the gospels, we find a much different setting. With this more accurate setting, we are able to learn of a powerful message of Jesus’ true love.
Jesus and the apostles had gathered in a large upper room on Mount Zion in the upper city of Jerusalem. The most prominent feature of the room would have been a low table in the shape of a “U” called a triclinium. A triclinium was a Roman styled table, of various sizes and styles, that had been adopted by the Jews of the first century. The table had large couches, or cushions, placed on each of the three sides, allowing the middle to be open for entertainment and servers.
The guests would lay on their left side facing the inside, leaving their right hand free to eat the meal. This would mean that each guest could lean on the bosom of the person to their left. Their legs would be towards the outside, allowing a servant to wash their feet as they ate the feast, similar to when Jesus’ feet were washed by the penitent woman in Luke chapter seven.
36Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” (Luke 7:36-39)
The host of the feast would not sit in the middle, as is often depicted in artwork of the Last Supper, but instead second to the left, with the guest of honor on his left, and a trusted friend to his right. The seating then continued around the triclinium, the most important guests seated on the left, then going around the table, with the least important sitting on the far right. The servant, if seated at the table, would occupy the last position, closest to the door, so they could go and obtain more food as the evening progressed.
If this seating arrangement was followed by Jesus, it seems to be supported by Scripture. Jesus was seated not in the center, but second from the left. John 13:21-24 indicates that John the beloved was seated to Jesus’ right, as John had to lean on the bosom of Christ to ask of the identity of the betrayer.
21When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” 22The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. 23There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24So Simon Peter *gestured to him, and *said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.”(John 13:21-24)
Matthew 26:23 indicates that Judas was seated to the left of Christ, in the seat of honor, as both Jesus and Judas were able to eat from the same bowl. John 13:24 indicates that Peter was across from John, on the right side, as he had to signal to John to ask Jesus who would betray him.
This would mean that Jesus had placed the youngest apostle John on the side of eminence, while placing Peter in the seat of the servant. This would make sense, for according to Luke 22, there was strife among the disciples as to whom was the greatest.
24And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. 25And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ 26But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. 27For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves. (Luke 22:24-27)
To further teach Peter, and the others the importance of servant-leadership, Jesus then washed the feet of the twelve disciples, including the feet of Judas. Peter, who Jesus had placed in the seat of the servant, was most likely responsible for washing the feet of the guests, yet Jesus, the host, and the greatest of them all, now acted as servant and washed their feet. This would explain the protest of Peter
5Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6So He *came to Simon Peter. He *said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” 7Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” 8Peter *said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10Jesus *said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. (John 13:5-16)
This seating arrangement would also mean that Jesus placed Judas, who would betray him, in the seat of honor. It seems that to the very end Jesus loved Judas, and desired to teach him love by placing him in this most important seat. It was as if Jesus was trying to give Judas one less reason to betray him. Jesus, at some point, gives Judas a “sop,” a piece of bread dipped in liquid, yet another sign of honor.
A Sop of Bread
During His last meal with His disciples, Jesus announced that one of them was a traitor and would betray Him. Curious as to the traitor’s identity but not realizing the impact or seriousness of the statement, Simon Peter asked John (who reclined near Jesus’ breast) to ask Jesus to identify the betrayer. Jesus answered John, “He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.” Then “when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot” (John 13:26).
The sop was a piece of the bread used in the feast. It was common in those days for the host to offer one of the guests a morsel of bread as a gesture of love and friendship. So what Jesus did was not unusual, but because of the circumstances it was unusually significant.
First, the sop revealed Jesus’ love for Judas. Verse 21 indicates that Jesus was troubled over His traitorous disciple.
21 When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” (John 13:21)
He could have named Judas in front of everyone. Instead giving Judas this friendship morsel was as if Jesus were giving Judas one more opportunity to repent before He closed the door on him to carry out the plot.
Jesus, as the Bible reveals, was always aware of Judas’s heart. Referring to Judas Iscariot in John 6:70 and 71, Jesus noted that one of the disciples was “a devil.” In John 12:4–6, Judas revealed his hypocrisy by being concerned over the fact that Mary washed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume, when the money for the perfume could have fed poor people.
1Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 3Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, *said, 5“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” 6Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. (John 12:1-6)
Second, the sop revealed once more Judas’s utter hypocrisy. Judas knew what he was about to do, yet he accepted this token and pledge of friendship and ate it. Accepting the sop paralleled what he did in the Garden a little later: he kissed the Son of God, using expressions for love and affection to betray Jesus.
Third, the sop calls our attention to the disciples’ naiveté. The Eleven had so much to learn about many spiritual truths (and they would learn much more in the following days).
John 13:28 states, “Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. “
They apparently understood neither the significance of the sop given to Judas nor the reason why he left suddenly. They thought Judas was going out to give some money to the poor or to pay for the food used in the meal (v. 29). If they had discovered his intent, they might have seized Judas, restrained him, or even killed him in defense of the Lord. However, Jesus did not allow that to happen.
The incident with the sop and Judas fulfilled prophecy concerning Jesus: “He that eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9; John 13:18).
Judas had made up his mind. “And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That you do, do quickly.” (John 13:27).
Once Judas left, the Gospel of John indicates that the entire mood of the evening changed. From this point on, Jesus teaches some of the most important teachings contained in all scripture. From this moment light could fill the darkened chambers of the upper room. Yet, a valuable lesson had already been taught to the disciples by the seating arrangement Jesus had chosen. A lesson of servant-leadership, and a lesson of true love and devotion towards even the greatest of sinners.
The Jesus’ Last Meal
The man with the pitcher of water
Reading through Scripture, we can easily pass over some important details. For example, when Jesus tells His disciples to make ready a place to have the Passover meal, He tells them to look for a man with a pitcher of water.
"Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. And Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it.' They said to Him, 'Where do You want us to prepare it?' And He said, 'When you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house that he enters. And you shall say to the owner of the house, "Teacher says to you, 'Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"' And he will show you a large. furnished upper room; prepare it there.' And they left and found everything just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover" (Luke 22:7-13).
In Jesus' time, only women went to the watering place to collect the water needed for the day and carried it back to her dwelling place. So, seeing a man carrying a jug of water would have been a very unusual sight, as it should be, otherwise the disciples could have easily followed the wrong person.
So why would a man be carrying a jar of water in Jerusalem? The only group of Jewish men that traditionally did carry water jars were Essenes. The Essenes were a sect of Second Temple Judaism that flourished from the 2nd Century BC to the 1st Century AD.
Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the two other major sects at the time, the Essenes lives in various cities, but congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty and daily mikvahs (ritual washings). According to the historical writer, Josephus, the Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Judaea. The Essenes have gained fame in recent times as a result of the discovery the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are commonly believed to have been the Essenes' library. These documents preserve multiple copies of parts of the Bible untouched from possibly as early as 300 BC until their discovery in 1946.
One of Jerusalem's gates was called "The Gate of the Essenes". It was through this gate that they entered their community. When Jesus told His disciples that they would see a man carrying a jug of water, He knew they would enter through the Essenes' gate. Entering through this gate was critical to finding a room for the Passover meal. The Essenes' calendar was different than the regular Jewish one. Thus, in the Essenes' quarter of Jerusalem, they would still have available banquet rooms to hold a Passover meal since the Essenes would be celebrating Passover on a different day.
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