"is There a Liturgical Text in This Gospel?": The Institution Narratives and Their Early Interpretive Communities‪.‬

Despite continuing debates and considerable differences of opinion about the historicity of the Last Supper of Jesus and the origins of the "institution narratives" of the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper, (1) there is a relatively common assumption among NT scholars regarding the liturgical character of these traditions. (2) While a conservative scholar may understand the ipsissima verba and the actions or even intentions of Jesus to be the key issue, and a radical may happily assign much of the responsibility for the tradition to Paul, both may well presume that the institution narratives as presented in the Synoptic Gospels (Matt 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:14-23) and 1 Corinthians (11:23-26) are texts for liturgical recitation over bread and cup at the eucharistic meal. (3) While the formulaic nature of the texts is not itself at issue here, it is nevertheless the common ground, rather than the contested issues, which this article seeks critically to address. In particular it seeks to bring to bear evidence from texts ranging from the first to the third centuries (1 Corinthians, Justin Martyr's writings, and the Apostolic Tradition) that give some indication of the practice of ancient eucharistic meals as well as of early use of the institution narratives. By offering and reflecting on these earliest available instances where both liturgical practice is described (directly or indirectly) and a form of the narrative is cited, an alternative proposal for the meaning and function of the narratives in those cases will be developed, emphasizing their catechetical use. Further, I will suggest that these later texts may also offer an explanation or interpretation of the form and function of the institution narratives in (and prior to) the canonical NT at least as plausible and useful as the liturgical one.