Replies

If one wants to come to the most “common sense” replication of the physical posture for receiving communion, taking reclining into account is essential, as is the likely probability that, for the meal, Our Lord was at the head of a horse-shoe shaped table with everyone around the outside edge facing in and the couches would be sticking out like spokes from the table. Allowing himself to be passed around is neither dignified nor in conformance with the strongest reading of didwmi (he gave). Walking around the outside from person to person is rather awkward because one has to go in and out of all the couches (the head is closest to the table). I rather picture Him getting up, walking to the open space in the horse-shoe, speaking from there, and then going around giving Himself with His own hand from the inside of the horse-shoe, which both allows access to peoples hands and heads, and avoids trapsing around and over all of the furniture. I also picture that it would be most natural when the Apostles realized how their Lord was serving them for them to roll off of their couches and onto their knees into the spaces between the couches, with the table then functioning as a proto-communion rail. If, as an earlier poster had indicated, feeding directly into the mouth is a profound sign in this culture, that would be appropriate as well.

It could be done some other way—the text is rather terse on relevant details—but if you want to speculate based on what might be natural, it seems to me that the common sense position based upon what the best guesses are on dining arrangements, is the above.

Clothing, donkeys, and second floor are known details that do not add much to the question at hand (though a Mason might disagree re: the second floor).