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! ... more