Long Ago and Far Away

©A. Rutherford

Long ago and far away, but not a fairy tale.

Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday, in the Christian faith is a day to observe the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples.  It is a solemn day, a day lived out under the shadow of betrayal, a day for reflection and personal questioning.

 "When evening came, he sat down with his twelve disciples, and, while they were at table he said: “Believe me, one of you is to going to betray me.” 

They were full of sorrow, and began to say, one after another, “Lord, is it I?” He answered, “The man who has put his hand into the dish with me will betray me.” 

For the Son of Man goes on his way to die, as the scripture foretells of him; But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him; better for that man if he had never been born."          Matthew 26:21-24

This scene in the Easter story has engaged the imagination of artists throughout the centuries, but the most famous painting of the event is that of Leonardo da Vinci.  However, his Last Supper is not the usual static tableau of figures frozen in time, but rather Leonardo has rendered each disciple caught up in the emotions of shock, anger, agitation, or fear.  Their gestures and expressions have reverberated through time, and one cannot look at the painting for long without being caught up in the question too—”Am I one of them, Lord?”

The Last Supper (ca. 1492/94–1498)

Leonardo's Last Supper, on the end wall of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, is one of the most renowned paintings of the High Renaissance. Recently restored, The Last Supper had already begun to flake during the artist's lifetime due to his failed attempt to paint on the walls in layers (not unlike the technique of tempera on panel), rather than in a true fresco technique.  Even in its current state, it is a masterpiece of dramatic narrative and subtle pictorial illusionism. 

Leonardo chose to capture the moment just after Christ tells his apostles that one of them will betray him, and at the institution of the Eucharist. The effect of his statement causes a visible response, in the form of a wave of emotion among the apostles. These reactions are quite specific to each apostle, expressing what Leonardo called the "motions of the mind." Despite the dramatic reaction of the apostles, Leonardo imposes a sense of order on the scene. Christ's head is at the center of the composition, framed by a halo-like architectural opening. His head is also the vanishing point toward which all lines of the perspectival projection of the architectural setting converge. The apostles are arranged around him in four groups of three united by their posture and gesture. Judas, who was traditionally placed on the opposite side of the table, is here set apart from the other apostles by his shadowed face. 

Source: Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke upon seeing Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper in Milan in 1904 was moved to write the following poem:

The Last Supper

They are assembled, astonished and disturbed

round him, who like a sage resolved his fate,

and now leaves those to whom he most belonged,

leaving and passing by them like a stranger.

The loneliness of old comes over him

which helped mature him for his deepest acts;

now will he once again walk through the olive grove,

and those who love him still will flee before his sight.

To this last supper he has summoned them,

and (like a shot that scatters birds from trees)

their hands draw back from reaching for the loaves

upon his word: they fly across to him;

they flutter, frightened, round the supper table

searching for an escape. But he is present

everywhere like an all-pervading twilight-hour. 

                                           _________________

While not a “last supper” poem, the following excerpt from a poem, “Rice,” by Mary Oliver makes a salient point.   She uses the metaphor of a rice field to make a powerful statement about what our response should be to the gift of risen Life.  Are we to be observers only, satisfied that our bellies are filled?

. . .

I don't want you to just sit at the table.

I don't want you just to eat, and be content.

I want you to walk into the fields

Where the water is shining, and the rice has risen.

I want you to stand there, far from the white tablecloth.

I want you to fill your hands with mud, like a blessing.

Yes,  something that happened long ago and far away . . .  but its meaning is just as relevant today.

"Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4b

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