What does it mean when we say Jesus’ Last Supper was a Passover meal? Quite a lot actually.
Passover was a Jewish festival of freedom, celebrating God’s freeing the Jews from Egypt. The evening was divided into four sections, framed by four cups of diluted wine (four parts water, one part wine), each section having certain standard items.
The first Cup of Sanctification opened the evening. Through six things: (1) through the preparation for Passover by casting out leaven or pride, (2) through the lighting of the festival candles, (3) through the washing of hands, (4) through the dipping of bitter herbs, (5) through the breaking of the middle matzah and (6) through the open invitation to come, the participants set aside or sanctified themselves and the time for an experience of God’s grace. Two points merit comment.
First, the dipping of green herbs symbolized the brush used to apply the blood of the lamb to the lintel and doorposts of the home. The procedure was clear. A bloody red cross had to be made over the doorway of the home where the service was to be held. The brush would be dipped in the pail of blood, applied up first to the lintel over the door, then down and side to side on the two door posts. The destroying angel only passed over those who had voluntarily put themselves under the sign of the bloody cross. The technical understanding was the death of lamb did not save; it was only the act of trusting God and the cross he had required that actually saved.
Second, a special package called “unity” is brought out. It had a special three-in-one unity to it. Within the package were three identical pieces of unleavened bread or matzah, all of which were striped and pierced. It was understood in ancient times that this three-in-one unity was what made the Exodus possible. For the ancient Jews, it was the unity of God’s people: three classes, one society, their desire to be saved that made the Exodus possible. For Jesus, it was not just that; it was the unity of God: three persons Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, God’s desire to save that made the Exodus possible. Jesus would spend a lot of the evening talking about the three in one. But at this point, the second of three, the middle matzah is taken out of the “unity” package and broken in two. One piece of the broken second matzah is set aside to be eaten later in the service. The other piece of the broken second matzah, the Afikoman or dessert, is wrapped in linen and buried under a pillow. The return of this Afikomen that which was broken, and buried is the traditional high point of Passover. For the ancient Jews, this middle matzah was a symbol of the Passover lamb and the Messiah. For Jesus, this middle matzah was, as well, a symbol of his being the second person of the triune God, and his coming crucifixion, burial and resurrection as the Passover Lamb, the Messiah.
The Cup of Instruction deepens the service through a retelling of the saving acts of God. Through four things: (1) through child-like questioning of what makes this evening different, (2) through a scriptural retelling of the stories of Exodus, (3) through a litany of gratitude and (4) through a review the symbolic foods of Passover: the Passover lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs, the participants are encouraged to see how God’s grace, which was active in the past, could be active in their own present and future lives. They had all known bondage in one form or another. Now that they had a measure of freedom and could recline at the meal: how would they use their God-given freedom?
The Cup of Redemption is the centerpiece of the evening. Through four things: (1) through a second washing of hands, (2) though a Passover sandwich or sop, (3) through the Passover supper of roast lamb and (4) through the Afikoman dessert, the participants formally accepted God’s work of redemption into their lives. Four points merit comment.
First, Jesus would wash not just the disciples’ hands but their feet as well. That job was exclusively the job of a slave. For Jesus, his God-given freedom clearly meant service without limit, service without regard to status.
Second, Jesus would make each person a special Passover appetizer called a sop or sandwich. It was made by taking the two remaining pieces of unleavened bread left in the unity package, breaking them to form sandwich bread, that would be filled with bitter herbs and a sweet nutty paste called charoseth. The participants would dip their appetizers into a common sauce bowl. As they do this, Jesus starts talking about his coming betrayal. The disciples are all very upset, because Jesus goes on to say that those who will betray him are those who have dipped their sops in the sauce bowl with him. By that point in time, they all have. Shortly thereafter, Judas leaves the service (John 13:26-27, Mark 14:20, Matthew 26:23). Quite literally, he is excommunicating himself from the Passover meal, the cup of redemption and the Afikoman which are still yet to follow. He goes out into the night of the angel of death, never to return.
Third, after the Passover supper of roast lamb, children are sent out to find and bring back the Afikoman that had been broken and buried. At this point in service, the highpoint of Passover, the dessert, Jesus said of the Afikoman, “Take, eat. This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19) As the Afikoman is passed around, the participants would break off a piece and eat it, making what it symbolized their own.
Fourth, Jesus then closed that section of the service with the cup of redemption saying “This is my blood of the (new) covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:28) The disciples formally accept the old and new covenants and drink their cups. Jesus however declines to drink his cup. He says he will drink it later when he comes into his kingdom in its fullness. The disciples have little inkling about what he’s talking about. But its clear, Jesus is thinking resurrection. In the next section which is now upon him, there is the hope and prayer that within the coming year Messiah of Israel will come in his glory and power. Jesus already has that thought in mind.
The Cup of Praise ends the evening. Through five things (1) a symposium after the meal, (2) through psalms of praise, (3) through songs of praise, Psalms 113-119, (4) through dance, the participants thank God for his love for it’s God’s love that frees them from bondage and empowers them to be all they can be. One point merits comment.
In the symposium, Jesus talks extensively about love. It is particular kind of love: benevolence aimed at union. He lays down new law of love that they should love another as he has sacrificially loved them. And he says as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit indwell one another, all three will come to indwell, transform and empower all believers who choose to follow Jesus. (John 14:1-17:25). Transformation and empowerment are a natural subject for the discussion here. The participants normally turned their minds and talk to the next festival on the calendar. Liturgically, Passover, the sacrifice of the lamb, is followed 50 days later by Pentecost, the giving of the Spirit in Jerusalem. The moral law of Mount Sinai, enabling people to know right from wrong, will be followed up with the spiritual baptism of Pentecost, the actual indwelling of God in believers, empowering people them to do the right as opposed to the wrong. Both are necessary to secure the blessings of freedom. The participants look back and forward in this journey into freedom, say a blessing over the Cup of Praise, drink it and the service is over. The journey however is just beginning.
Rob Sutherland is a graduate of University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School He is a criminal defence lawyer with 30 years experience, a member of the bars of Ontario, Alberta, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. He is a Senior Canadian Fellow at the Mortimer J. Adler Centre for the Studies of the Great Ideas, an American think-tank based in Chicago. He has published one book “Putting God on Trial: the biblical Book of Job,” a defence of God’s goodness in the face of his authorization of undeserved and unremitted evil in the life of Job and the world, which is taught at a number of Canadian, American and Indian universities and available through Amazon. He is writing a second book “Putting Jesus on Trial: the biblical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,” a defence of Jesus’ divinity.
