The Passover Celebration
What is commonly referred to as the Passover is an eight-day Jewish celebration beginning on the 15th day of the Hebrew month Nisan. The month of Nisan roughly corresponds to March or April in the Georgian calendar. For instance, during 2019, the festival began on Friday, the 19th of April and concluded on Sunday, April 27th.
Although exact dates are impossible to determine, the general consensus is that the Passover week during which Jesus was crucified began on Sunday, April 2nd and concluded on Sunday, April 9th when His resurrection was discovered. Using these dates, the meal that Jesus shared with the apostles (now known as The Last Supper) would have occurred during the evening of Thursday, April 6th. Jesus was crucified on Friday, April 7th. The Resurrection would have occurred on Sunday, April 9th.
Originally an agrarian celebration celebrating the beginning of the annual harvest, the event was transformed into one of the Jews’ most holy observances by the Passover. On that night, the Angel of Death “passed over” Jewish homes swathed in sacrificial lamb’s blood during the tenth plague visited upon Egypt as retribution for the Pharoah’s refusal to free the Jews from slavery. [Exodus 11:1-12:36]
After witnessing the widespread death that this final plague produced, the Pharaoh finally agreed to set the Jews free. Attainment of their freedom after over four hundred years as slaves in Egypt is still commemorated in the Festival of the Passover.
Jesus’ Participation
As one of the Jewish High Holy festivals, it was customary for as many Jews as possible to visit Jerusalem during the festival. Jesus and his followers were no exception. As the time for the festival approached, Jesus led his followers toward Jerusalem to observe its religious rights and traditions. [Matthew 26:17-19, Mark 11:1-7, Luke 22:7-13]
A key observance during the festival is the Passover Meal which is observed on the fifth day of the celebration. On Wednesday of that week, Jesus had asked Peter and John to find a room and make preparations for their meal. [Luke 22:7-13] They did as instructed, and on Thursday evening, Jesus and his apostles assembled in what many refer today as “The Upper Room.”
The Last Supper
We don’t know exactly what they ate that evening. Unleavened bread and wine are specifically mentioned in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But other traditional foods such as olives, figs, and fish could have been eaten, as well.
The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) provide little information concerning what happened during the meal. They focus most of their material on Christ’s initiation of the Sacrament of Communion.
John, however, gives a much fuller account detailed in Chapters 13-17. It is from John that we learn of Jesus’ washing of the apostles’ feet, hear many of His prayers to God asking for protection and preservation of Jesus’ followers, and His testimony to those gathered that He was to be killed and then to rise from the dead.
From John we learn much about Jesus’ relationship with God (the Father), the apostles’ importance to Jesus, and about the relationship that He intended for them to have with one another (and the world) after He was gone.
(This is why John is my personal favorite among all the books of the Bible. For through his discourses, we see, hear, and come to know and understand more about Jesus, the person, than anywhere else in the Bible.)
Jesus Establishes Holy Communion
In Matthew 26:26-28 we read, “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” This commission, this command, this offering is one of the most important things that Jesus did during His ministry.
Jesus’ establishment of Holy Communion was an act of creation. By His act and at His command, a new Sacrament was born. And that Sacrament had (and has today) profound meaning for all Christians.
Meaning of Communion
It established the New Covenant, that whosoever should believe in Him would not die, but have everlasting life.
He included everyone in the Covenant. No one was excluded from communion, or its meaning and effect.
The communion reinforces that only through Jesus was salvation possible. It was His body and blood that were to be sacrificed, not some other person’s or some animal’s. He was the sacrifice, and because of His act, redemption for all is possible.
Their (and our) consumption of the bread and wine (allegorically referred to as His ‘body’ and His ‘ blood’) symbolically made Him ONE with them. When we consume something, it becomes a part of us. It becomes “one” with us. So, as we consume His ‘body’ and his ‘blood,’ we are made ‘one’ with Him.
Similarly, His invitation to them (and us) offers to allow us to become ONE with Him. He is not just a part of us, but we are now a part of Him.
Through communion, we become one with Him, and He becomes one with us.
And finally, those who participate in communion become one with each other. We all share in His essence and the blessing that it brings. By sharing communion in fellowship with one another, we bind ourselves, one to another. We become responsible to one another and are responsible for one another.
When we share in the Communion, we are demonstrating that we belong to Him, He to us, and we to one another. We become the Family of God, with all the benefits (and responsibilities) that go with that distinction.
Wonderful Result
What a wondrous thing! That through the simple act of partaking in His Communion, we are reaffirming our commitment to Him and to one another and accepting His forgiveness and the redemption that it brings.
Who would have thought that something so simple could carry with it so much meaning? Christ did not use many words to convey what He intended and what Communion would bring (only thirty-one words, according to Matthew). His instructions were brief, and very much to the point.
But those few words outlined the way to salvation for all of humankind. To partake is to believe. To believe is to accept. And to accept is to find salvation.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for the grace of that Last Supper and the Holy Communion you began.
Challenge
Let’s all pledge that we will not let the enormous import of this simple meal remain a footnote to Jesus’ story. Instead, I suggest that we should be celebrating it as often with as much joy as we can. We should approach His Communion on our knees to show our gratitude. And, we should invite everyone we know to share in this glorious bounty.
Eat and never be spiritually hungry again.
Drink, and never thirst spiritually again.
This is the promise of Communion, born on the night of the Last Supper.
Thank You, Jesus!
God’s Blessings on You All.
Richard
August 30, 2019
