I preached on Sunday that “the last supper’ sounds like an ending but for the followers of Jesus it was also a new beginning. At the last Passover meal Jesus would share with his disciples, he instituted what we know as The Lord’s Supper or Communion (or the Eucharist for our Catholic brothers and sisters). My sermon was from Matthew 26; see also Mark 14 and Luke 22.
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci is highly recognizable but please do not mistake the imagery for historical accuracy. (I originally wrote way too much about the Renaissance and have moved that paragraph into the comment section for those interested. Let’s talk about Jesus right now).
The Passover was always about Jesus, from the very first one that took place on the night the night the Hebrews left Egypt. A lamb without spot or blemish would be slaughtered, and the blood displayed on the door posts, so that God’s judgement could pass over the homes of those the loved and served the LORD. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was lifted up – on the cross – and those of us today with his blood displayed on our hearts will also see God’s judgement pass over. So many things in the laws and customs of Old Testament Israel point forward to who Jesus and is and what he does. Jesus is our great High Priest who continually goes into God’s presence, into the real holy place that the tabernacle and temple only represented, and offers a better sacrifice than the blood of bulls and turtle doves. His last supper with the disciples was the first communion, a ritual that connects us with fellow believers around the world and throughout the centuries. Someday we will sit down together and eat a meal with Jesus at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Until that day comes, love God and love your neighbor. Prove the first thing by doing the second thing. Even so Lord, come quickly.
Unity Baptist Church 
During the Renaissance, new materials and techniques made art infinitely better than what had been produced during the Middle Ages. The artists were making paintings and sculptures that looked good and introduced an illiterate population to Bible characters and stories. The audiences at the time knew that the subjects portrayed were not white Europeans. The background settings for biblical scenes were often Italian cities and landscapes. There is a famous image of Mary holding the baby Jesus and sitting next to the Holy Roman Emperor. So before I go any further down that rabbit hole… just know that Jesus and his disciples would have been sitting in the floor at a very short table, there may have been no chairs at all, and they would have sit around the table like normal people and not all lined up on the same side (as if for a portrait). They would have all had dark skin, dark hair and dark eyes because they were middle eastern. Da Vinci lived much closer to our time period than to the first century A.D. so there are no “clues” about anything secret; he knew less than we do about the subject matter.
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