The earliest known account of the institution of the Eucharist is Paul's in 1 Cor. 11:23-26. He emphasizes the breaking of the bread as the giving of Jesus' body for our redemption and the cup as being His blood to seal the covenant, replacing the earlier one God made with Moses and Aaron.

John also wrote about the Last Supper, but he gave a detailed account of the washing of the Apostles' feet, a symbolic action interpreting for the community the institution of the Eucharist. Paul had berated the early Christians (1 Cor. 11:17-22) for selfishly thinking of the Eucharist as a purely personal communion with Christ. The foot-washing was John's comment on the deeper meaning of the Eucharist: the perfect sacrificial love of Christ for all.

Jesus gave His body for us to be one with Him in the Eucharist. He also demonstrated that if we are one with Him in the Eucharist, then we should be committed to all others who share in the Eucharist, as part of the Body of Christ. So the washing of the feet is a commitment to the world, founded on the Eucharist. Jesus has fed us with His body - we are to feed the world.