The Historical Jesus

by John Dominic Crossan

I have spent time and space on Didache 9–10 to emphasize two points. First, the older prayer in Didache 10 indicates a eucharistie meal with no ritualization of bread and wine/cup, let alone anything else. The newer prayer in Didache 9 does have a ritualization of cup and bread, but, even late in the first century C.E., at least some (southern?) Syrian Christians could celebrate a Eucharist of bread and wine with absolutely no hint of Passover meal, Last Supper, or passion symbolism built into its origins or development. I cannot believe that they knew all about those elements and studiously avoided them. I can only presume that they were not there for everyone from the beginning, that is, from solemn, formal, and final institution by Jesus himself. Already, of course, Didache 9–10 represents a ritualization of the open commensality of Jesus and his first followers. There is nothing necessarily wrong with such a development, but, especially as one follows that worthiness warning from Didache 10:6b into 9:5, it is hard not to acknowledge a loss: the holy ones are now at table, and the dogs are not to be fed.