The Last Supper or Agape Feast
Luke 24:13-35
From where does Holy Communion come? Our scripture describes a meal that sounds very similar to what happened at the Last Supper – Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to the others.
The gospel writers speak of the Last Supper of Jesus, either explicitly or implied, as part of the Passover Seder. This Jewish tradition celebrated the exodus from Egypt and the end of slavery for the Hebrew people. While we are most familiar with Passover, the ancient Jews celebrated other feasts as well throughout the year and these are certainly the ancestors for both our observance of Eucharist and another Christian feast, the Agape.
There is only one place in scripture that the Agape meal is specifically mentioned (Jude 12) but there are several examples in the Epistles and the gospels that talk about the faith community gathered for a meal. It also appears the early church sometimes had difficulty hosting communal meals that embodied the essence of the Agape. The Agape in the early church was meant to be a time when the community gathered and shared their abundance. Those who had extra, brought it. Those who had nothing came to receive.
By the second century there seems to be clear evidence of Agape meals being part of Christian communities.
So, what is the connection of these early church practices with communion? This gathering around a table to receive sacred food is called many things by various denominations: Eucharist (thanksgiving), Lord’s Supper (harkening back to the Last Supper), and Holy Communion.
The United Methodist Book of Worship notes that there have historically been distinctions between these two celebrations.
"The Love Feast, or Agape Meal, is a Christian fellowship meal recalling the meals Jesus shared with disciples during his ministry and expressing the koinonia (community, sharing, fellowship) enjoyed by the family of Christ.
Although its origins in the early church are closely interconnected with the origins of the Lord’s Supper, the two services became quite distinct and should not be confused with each other. While the Lord’s Supper has been practically universal among Christians throughout church history, the Love Feast has appeared only at certain times and among certain denominations."
As Eucharistic theology evolved, it seemed to become more important to some church leaders that “proper” observances of the service be present to distinguish when a gathering around a table is Agape or Eucharist. That’s probably fine for theologians to have these kinds of discussions and debates but practically, there seems to have always been a connection between Agape and Eucharist, at least on a tangential level.
Probably one reason Christian communities moved toward Eucharist and away from Agape was a desire to become more distinct from their Jewish roots. The understanding of the Eucharist is specifically Christian in its theology, while the Agape was much more closely associated with Jewish meals and feasts.
For us here at All God's Children we continue to experience all of this when we gather around the table in thanksgiving (Eucharist), as part of body of worshippers (Holy Communion), remembering Jesus' last meal with the disciples (Lord's Supper) and as a body who understands that when we break blessed bread together we experience Jesus among us (Agape).
Sources:
http://amistad-vacaville.org/agape_meal.htm
http://www.studylight.org/dic/hbd/view.cgi?number=T3930
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=3096