volume 17, issue 1, 2025, pages 102-121

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsACYH1001
Published online: 2025-06-01
Published in print: 2025-06-30

Abstract: In this article we have presented interpretations of texts that directly or indirectly relate to the Eucharist and its understanding in John’s community. These texts include Jn 6:32-59 and 13:1-20. In comparing the Synoptics with the Gospel of John, we have pointed out that John omits the verses of the institution of the Lord’s Supper and instead presents a scene concerning the washing of feet in 13:1-20. This omission is deliberate, the reason being a misunderstanding of the words of the ordinance. The gesture of washing feet has, in our view, several meanings, but the important purpose of this narrative is to point to the true meaning of the Lord’s Supper, which is the self-sacrificing love that Jesus Christ demonstrated on the cross. Nor is the narrative of provision found in 6:32-59. The first purpose of this passage is to combat Docetism, its ethical implications, and the Docetism’s disdain for the Lord’s Supper. The second purpose is to show that the source of eternal life is not the Eucharist, but Jesus Christ alone. The misunderstanding of the Eucharist in John’s community was the result of the influence of the mysteries of Dionysius. While chapter six speaks of what is not the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, the text of Jn. 13:1-20 shows what is its true meaning. Our subsequent hypothesis is built on these interpretations. It suggests that there were not two but three rival groups behind the split in John’s community.