It has obtained
many names over the ages. The Eucharist, Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar,
the Memorial… and, of course, the Lord’s Supper. It is one of the most sacred
rites in Christianity and rightly so, considering what it represents. Along
with many names came different customs associated with it. But does it matter
how we partake of His divinely instituted meal? As hallowed as it is, it should
be observed the right way to give glory to the One who gave it to His people,
don’t you agree? But what is the right way? To find the answer to that
question, let’s go back to the first Lord’s Supper. We’ll find answers there.
When?
On that fateful
night in the spring, Jesus commanded His disciples to prepare for what has been
called by many “the Last Supper”. The Gospels tell us exactly which
spring night.
Mark
The Tanakh or
Old Testament speaks of two early spring festivals: the Passover on the 14th
of the first month, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which started on the 15th
day (Leviticus 23:5-8). To the Jews of Jesus’ day, these two festivals had been
grouped as one; because of this connection, the Passover was often called part
of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was called
the Passover as in Luke 22:1. Even today, Judaism calls the Feast of Unleavened
Bread the Passover. (Since they no longer keep the Passover on the 14th
of Nisan, their Passover feast begins on the 15th.) The Passover
lamb was sacrificed on the 14th of Nisan:
Exodus
12:6 Take care of them [the lambs] until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community
of
That night (and
the daylight that followed) was one of the two most famous Passovers – the
other having taken place during Moses’ lifetime (Exodus 12) – and Jesus’ last
before returning to His Father. It was night, as Paul explains (1 Corinthians
Acts 20:7 On the
first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to
the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking
until
This verse shows
that first century Christians met and had a meal together on the first day of
the week. But there are some details that Luke did not include. We don’t know
the time of day, the purpose of the meal (whether religious, for a fellowship
gathering, or just plain because they were hungry). One explanation may be as
follows.
The first thing
that we must remember here is that in the Judeo-Christian culture of the first
century, the day began at sunset, as Jews still practise today (Genesis 1:5;
evening comes first and then morning in the same “day”). Luke does not indicate
whether or not he is using Roman or Biblical reckoning for the beginning of the
first day the week (
In fact, it
didn’t even have to be done for chaverah; the context shows that this
was a special situation. Paul had intended to leave the next day (Acts
NKJV 1 Corinthians
Many
have taken the above verse to mean that we can eat the Lord’s Supper “as often”
as we wish. Perhaps we should look at this in other translations:
NIV 1 Corinthians
Good News 1
Corinthians 11:26 This means that every time you eat this bread and
drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
No time or
frequency is hinted at here. It just says that when we do eat the Lord’s
Supper, we make this proclamation. Jesus’ example is to eat the Lord’s Supper
on the night of the Passover. Paul and the other Christians of the first
century knew this; and, following His example, they would do it on that night.
It is the only conclusive example we have been provided with in Scripture. And
following His example, we keep the Lord’s Supper once a year, on the night of
the 14th of Abib. Does it not make sense that the rite that was
instituted as the commemoration of His sacrifice takes place on the anniversary
of that sacrifice? And on the anniversary of the very Passover in
The bread and
wine
What sort of
bread did Jesus use to symbolize His body? Jesus had told His disciples to
prepare the Passover meal and that’s what they did (Matthew 26:19). He took
bread from the Passover meal to break and share among His disciples. The
Passover lamb was commanded to be eaten with bread made without yeast (Exodus
12:8). This bread, unleavened bread, is what Jesus used. Does it matter? The
Lord’s Supper is a meal of symbols. What does yeast symbolize?
1 Corinthians 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast
works through the whole batch of dough?
1 Corinthians 5:7 Get rid
of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are.
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us
keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and
wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
Paul,
here, uses the symbol of yeast to mean “malice and wickedness”. He alludes to
the de-leavening commanded by God (Exodus 12:15, 19) in light of the meaning of
leaven (yeast) he explains here; just as leaven is to be removed during the
Festival, we should actively remove what is unpleasant about us in God’s eyes.
Jesus Himself also speaks of yeast.
Matthew 16:6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against
the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Matthew
Matthew
Jesus
uses yeast to describe the false teaching of the Jewish factions. Paul uses it
to refer to false teaching that permeated the church (Galatians 5:7-9). Yeast,
then, seems to refer to sin or that which is against God’s way. Jesus, as the
“bread of life” (John
Wine
symbolizing His blood is also to be partaken of at the Supper. The blood of the
Passover lamb was what protected the Israelites in
Anything
else?
The actual meal
wasn’t the only thing Jesus did with His disciples that night. In fact, He got
up from the table and surprised His follows by doing something very strange
indeed.
John 13:3 Jesus
knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come
from God and was returning to God;
John 13:4 so he got up from
the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
John 13:5 After that, he
poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying
them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
When he got to
Simon Peter, he protested; his Master and Lord wasn’t going to wash his
feet if he could help it! Such a thing was below Him! He soon relented, though.
And when Jesus was finished, He explained His actions:
John
John
John
John
Foot-washing was
left to the lowliest of servants; and here was the Lord washing His servants’
feet: a sign of humility and service on His part. He wants us to follow His
example. He commanded His disciples to wash each other’s feet. He said:
John
He
did this on the night of the Passover meal with His disciples. We might think
that it was not part of the rite being established here, but just a lesson
borrowed from the custom of the time. However, the fact that He did not do it
as they entered the building, as was the custom, is significant.
He
wants us to follow Him and wash the feet of our brethren on Passover night as
well and be reminded not only of His sacrifice, but His humility, the ultimate
humility as Son of God to come to Earth as a human to wash the feet of humans
and to die for us. A humility that we all should emulate and that should
stimulate us to serve others. As Jesus said:
Matthew
Matthew 20:27 and whoever
wants to be first must be your slave—
Matthew 20:28 just as the
Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as
a ransom for many.”
It
is an important rite of humility, but it also has another meaning:
John 13:8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my
feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince
of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our
sins in his own blood,
As
part of the Passover, it is a picture of the Jesus’ washing of His people by
his own blood. That’s why He did it as part of the Passover and why He expects
His people to continue his rite until He returns to eat it with us.
The Lord’s
Passover
As
Jesus sat to eat with His followers, His friends, he spoke these words:
Luke 22:15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired
to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
Luke 22:16 For
I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom
of God.”
Notice
what He calls this meal: the Passover. He doesn’t seem to distinguish here
between what He ate with His disciples and the Passover; it would seem that it is
the Passover – the Messianic Passover. And this is not what else we learn from
His statement. He says that He will not eat of the Passover again until the
Passover sees fulfilment in the Kingdom. That He said that He wouldn’t
eat it
seems to indicate that He expected His people to eat of it (the Passover) in
the mean time.
So, for us, the
Passover is the commemoration of the Passover Lamb’s sacrifice for us on the
anniversary of His death. Just as He showed us. ש
Note: The Bible
references cited will be from the New International Version (NIV) unless
otherwise stated. Bolded words in Bible quotations are my emphasis and words in
square parentheses are additions for clarity.
© Copyright 2006, 2007 Keneil Thomas
·
The Feasts of God:
The Hidden Design
·
Colossians 2:
Paul’s True Message
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