“I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until…”: Last Supper and eschatological meal in Mc 14, 25

Abstract

The logion on the “fruit of the vine” (Mc 14, 25) is most likely an authentic saying of Jesus that preserves track of a fervent expectation of the imminent irruption of the kingdom of God, and perhaps refers to a conception of the Eucharist as an anticipation of the eschatological banquet in the kingdom. It contrasts with the context of the narratives of “institution of the Eucharist”, which attest to a ritualization of the Eucharist as memorial of the Lord’s passion and meal for the intermediate time, “until he comes” (I Cor 11, 26). Mc 14, 25 remains extraneous to the Eucharistic anaphora and formulas of the ancient liturgies, while survives in millenarian contexts, such as expectation of an eschatological banquet with the risen Lord. This “materialistic” perspective was neutralized by the spiritualistic interpretation of Origen and gradually absorbed by the prevailing ecclesiological conception that the feast of the kingdom, in which you drink the new wine, is precisely the Eucharistic celebration of the church: the eschatological horizon appears thus profoundly changed.