Like hundreds of similar groups of friends within the ordinary synagogue congregations, Our Lord and the Apostles formed a private religious fellowship. These fellowships used to meet each week for a corporate supper, the ceremonial at which, through force of custom, followed a recognised pattern. (1)

Jesus knew for certain that, no matter what happened to him, the Apostles would continue to meet each week for their fellowship supper in the future as they had been doing in the past; and therefore to the last of these suppers on Maundy Thursday he gave a completely new meaning by enshrining within it the true significance of his death on Good Friday.

It began, as usual, with the special grace before meals. Our Lord takes bread and breaks it, just as he had done so many times before. He ‘gives thanks’ over it in the words familiar to every Jew, “Blessed be Thou, O Lord our God, eternal King, Who bringest forth bread from the earth”. (2) He then distributes it to the disciples as he had done so often in the past, only this time he breaks the customary silence with words he had never used before, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (NRSV, 1 Corinthians 11:24).