Tonight at my church we are having a soup dinner followed by communion and a hymn sing to commemorate the Last Supper.

Maundy Thursday has been maligned in different Protestant circles over the years, but it has been making a roaring comeback in recent years.  I think this mostly has to do with the prospect of food. 

Holy Week has always focused on the dramatic realism of Christ's Passion.  Christian traditions of all walks try to incorporate a realistic rendition of the commemoration of time.  The Passion week becomes our week, we walk in Jesus' steps, do the things he did, and attempt to recreate this holiest of weeks.

That's why it strikes me as odd that so many paintings of the Last Supper are so sacramentalized---they don't appear to be photographic as much as metaphorical, whereas most paintings of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection are more realistic. Pictures after the jump! 

Dali's work on the Last Supper is the best example of the metaphorical painting.  His work shows the Last Supper as a sacramental remembrance and is a reflection on the Last Supper, not a re-creation of the Last Supper in a realist mode, which makes sense since he was a surrealist.

Da Vinci's most famous Last Supper painting is also highly stylized.  It tells the whole story of the night and brings in a lot of psychological engagement and plot into the dinner.  It is not a photo of the supper, it is the story of the supper.

The Eastern Orthodox painter Simon Ushakov creates a Last Supper that spiritualizes the meal and also works as a minimalist rendition of the event.  The table is almost barren, only the elements of the sacrament remains, and the work conveys the emotional engagement of Christ with his disciples.  The twelve are being drawn into Jesus by the elements which are Christ himself.

Jacopo Bassano comes closer to a realist rendition of the Last Supper.  His work is a pastiche of da Vinci's work, that much is clear by the setting and perspective of the painting, yet what makes this artwork more realistic is the lingering chaos that surrounds the supper.  This is a meal involving thirteen men---the ruffled tablecloth, the lingering utensils, and the empty wash basin sitting next to a dog are all details that point toward the normalcy of the Last Supper.  It is a fellowship of men enjoying a meal they scarcely realize will have so much importance and weight on it in the future.  This meal may have been the passover or a meal during the festival week, which would give it some significance, but Christ adds so much more meaning to the Jewish festival---he actualizes it.  Admist the chaos of the meal, the footwashing tiff, and the weird Judas discussion comes the most central sacrament of the Christian faith, and this happpens in an environment that was well, normal. 

So I think the event tonight will be a good thing.  It's normal, it's not parlayed into something extravegant and filled with metaphor, it's just a supper and celebration, which will be followed by a prayer vigil tomorrow and an evening Good Friday service.  More on that tomorrow!