Differing Beliefs on the Last Supper Notes — AQA Religious Studies A 8062

Explain differing beliefs and interpretations about the meaning of Jesus' words and actions at the Last Supper.

A shared meal facing betrayal and death

The Last Supper was the final meal Jesus shared with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion. Mark 14:12–26 presents it as a Passover meal: Jesus and his disciples were taking part in a Jewish religious celebration. Jesus sent two disciples to prepare a furnished upstairs room, and they found everything as he had described.

Mark presents Jesus as aware of what lies ahead. His words about the Son of Man going “just as it is written about him” connect his approaching death with God’s purposes. Yet his warning to the betrayer also treats betrayal as an action for which that person is responsible.

Bread and wine give meaning to Jesus’ death

Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body” (Mark 14:22). Christians understand this action as pointing towards Jesus giving himself for others. The breaking of the bread anticipates his suffering and death: an ordinary part of the meal becomes a way of explaining what is about to happen to him.

Jesus then gave thanks over a cup, shared it with the disciples and said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14:24). The wine points towards the blood he would shed in his death. “For many” gives that death a wider significance: Christians understand it as a sacrifice benefiting others, rather than simply the end of Jesus’ own life.

A covenant is an agreement establishing a relationship between God and his people. The earlier covenant involved God caring for his people and their being faithful to him. Christians interpret Jesus’ words as establishing a new covenant through his death—a new relationship between God and humanity.

Jesus also said that he would not drink again from the fruit of the vine until he drank it new in the kingdom of God (Mark 14:25). This looks towards his approaching death, but also expresses hope: death is not presented as the final end of God’s purposes.

Why Christians continue to share bread and wine

For Jesus’ early followers, the meal provided a way to understand his death as self-giving sacrifice and the establishment of a covenant. Sharing bread and wine became a continuing act of remembrance and worship.

Christians still celebrate the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper. Catholics celebrate it within Mass. These practices connect present-day believers with Jesus’ words and actions and with the community of his first followers.

The command “Do this in memory of me” appears in Luke 22:19. It helps explain why Christians repeat this sharing of bread and wine, although those words do not appear in Mark’s account. Christians agree on the importance of remembering Jesus, but differ over what happens to the bread and wine.

Different understandings of “This is my body”

Roman Catholics believe in transubstantiation: at the consecration during Mass, the bread and wine become Jesus’ body and blood. Jesus is therefore truly present, rather than the bread and wine being merely reminders of him. Catholics believe receiving the Eucharist brings them closer to God and gives them God’s grace to live faithfully.

Some Christians emphasise spiritual presence. Some Anglicans believe that the bread and wine do not literally become Christ’s body and blood, but that Christ is spiritually present as believers share them and gather as a community. Anglican beliefs vary; some share the Catholic understanding.

Some Protestants, such as Baptists, understand the bread and wine symbolically. On this interpretation, “This is my body” means that the bread represents Jesus’ body, and the wine represents his blood. Sharing them remembers his sacrifice rather than changing the bread and wine into his body and blood. Calling them symbols does not mean that the act is unimportant: remembrance can strengthen faith and unite believers.

Christians who do not celebrate the Eucharist

Quakers and the Salvation Army do not celebrate the Eucharist using bread and wine. They do not believe that such a ritual is necessary to demonstrate faith in God. This is a difference over how faith should be expressed, not a rejection of Jesus’ importance.

The central contrast is therefore between understanding the meal as involving Christ’s body and blood, Christ’s spiritual presence, or symbolic remembrance—and believing that faith can be lived without this outward ritual.

Mark’s words and actions

Mark 14:12–26: a Passover meal before Jesus’ arrest.
Betrayal: one of the Twelve would betray him; Jesus shows awareness of his approaching death.
“This is my body” (14:22): bread broken and shared points towards Jesus giving himself in suffering and death.
“My blood of the covenant … poured out for many” (14:24): sacrifice for others and a new relationship with God.
Kingdom promise (14:25): approaching death, but hope beyond it.

Contrasting Christian interpretations

Catholic: transubstantiation—the bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood; receiving them brings grace and closeness to God.
Some Anglicans: Christ is spiritually present without a literal change in the bread and wine. Anglican beliefs vary.
Some Protestants, including Baptists: bread and wine symbolise Christ’s body and blood; the meal remembers his sacrifice.
Quakers and Salvation Army: no bread-and-wine Eucharist; outward ritual is not necessary to express faith.

Continuing significance

The Eucharist connects Christians today with Jesus’ sacrifice and his first followers. The remembrance command is in Luke 22:19, not Mark’s account.

When explaining differing beliefs, name the Christian group and connect its interpretation directly to Jesus’ words or actions.

Do not describe all Protestants as holding the same belief: some understand the bread and wine symbolically, while others emphasise Christ’s spiritual presence.

Keep quotations accurate: Mark 14:24 says “blood of the covenant”; “Do this in memory of me” is found in Luke 22:19, not in Mark’s account.

Develop a contrast rather than simply naming it: explain how belief in Christ’s real presence differs from understanding the bread and wine as symbols of his sacrifice.

The final meal Jesus shared with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion, presented in Mark’s Gospel as a Passover meal.

An agreement establishing a relationship between God and his people. Christians interpret Jesus’ words about his blood as establishing a new relationship with God through his death.

A Christian act of worship involving bread and wine, recalling Jesus’ words and actions at the Last Supper. The word means ‘thanksgiving’.

The Catholic belief that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ when they are consecrated during Mass.

The blessing and setting apart of something for sacred use; in the Eucharist, it refers to the blessing of the bread and wine.

The belief that Christ is present spiritually in the Eucharist without the bread and wine literally becoming his body and blood.