The same epistle (x. 17) attests that one loaf only was broken and distributed: "We who are many, are one loaf (or bread), one body; for we all partake of the one loaf (or bread)." As a single loaf could not satisfy the hunger of many, the rehearsal in these meals of Christ's own action must have been a crowning episode, enhancing their sanctity. The _Fractio Panis_ probably began, as the drinking of the cup certainly ended, the supper; the interval being occupied with the common consumption by the faithful of the provisions they brought. This much is implied by the words "after supper." If, in any case, all present had eaten in their homes beforehand, the giving of the cup would immediately follow on the breaking and eating of the one loaf, but Paul's words indicate that the common meal within the church was the norm. Those who ate at home marked themselves out as both greedy and lacking in charity. There is no demand that they should come fasting, or Paul could not recommend in (xi. 34) that those who were too hungry to wait until all the brethren were assembled in church, should eat at home and beforehand.
Mark xiv. 22-25, Matt. xxvi. 26-29, Luke xxii. 14-20, are, in order of time, our next accounts, Mark representing the oldest tradition. They all in substance repeat Paul's account; but identify the night on which Jesus was betrayed with that of the Pascha. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus says of the bread "Take ye it, this is my body," omitting the idea of sacrifice imported by Paul's addition "which is for you"; but in them Jesus enunciates the same idea when he says of the cup: "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many," Matthew adding "for the remission of sins," a phrase which savours of Heb. ix. 22: "apart from the shedding of blood there is no remission." It is a later addition, and so may be the words "which is poured out for many." But the words which follow have an antique ring: "Amen, I say unto you, I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." For here Jesus affirms his conviction, in view of his impending death, which unlike his disciples he foresaw, that, when the kingdom of God is instituted on earth, he will take his place in it. But this is the last time he will sit down upon earth with his disciples at the table of the millenarist hope. These sources do not hint that the Last Supper is to be repeated by Christ's followers until the advent of the kingdom. Luke's account is too much interpolated from Paul, and the texts of his oldest MSS. too discrepant, for us to rely on it except so far as it supports the other gospels. It emphasizes the fact that the Last Supper was the Pascha. "With desire have I desired to eat this Passover, before I suffer"; and places the bread after the wine, unless indeed the Pauline interpolation comprises the whole of verse 19.