day five. there is so much to unpack on this day that essentially a whole book could be written just on the events of maundy thursday. from the annointing at bethany, to Jesus' washing the disciples' feet (a task usually reserved for the lowest of servants), to the passover meal menu, the conversation at the table, and depending on whether you follow the jewish or the western calculation of a day, you could include gethsemane, peter's and judas' betrayals, the abandonment of the disciples, the arrest in the garden, and the trials before the sanhedrin. i encourage you to take some time and study each of those aforementioned topics, because there is so much to unpack and really brings a greater understanding of Christ and His ministry. due to limited space, i would like to focus on a part of the passover meal that many people do not completely understand: the elements of the Lord's supper.
in our western traditions of mini crackers and shot glasses of grape juice, or perhaps a styrofoam wafer with a cross stamped on it and an ornate chalice with juice or wine in it that everyone shares, we miss the prophetic aspects of those elements, because we do not celebrate the passover in the same manner as Christ. as said before, it is important to remember that Jesus and the disciples were jewish, so they would have celebrated the passover in the jewish tradition, which is why it is useful for us to try and look at the events of the gospels through the lens of judaism. the early catholic church, in an attempt at differentiating itself from judaism (Christianity was originally considered a sect of judaism), removed many of the jewish elements from the observance of the faith, and modified them to make them unique. many protestant denominations are guilty of the same thing when it comes to catholicism, and have removed anything they see as pertaining to the catholic church, such as lent, advent, and tenebrae (which i will discuss tomorrow in a special video). the problem with this blanket approach at distancing, is that there are important details in the practices that are shunned that add meaning to the faith, and we end up missing out on. the passover meal, specifically the Lord's supper, is one of those practices that is full of prophetic symbolism, even more so than we see in our pre-packaged communion kits.
the first element is the bread. the bread was a reminder to the jews of the manna God provided for them in the wilderness after the exodus from egypt. the bread used was a form of unleavened bread that was cooked using a grill. leaven was meant to represent sin in the jewish faith, so unleavened bread was used for the passover meal to represent the absence of sin. this is an important detail when we look at who the bread represented. there were three pieces of bread used during the meal, which we now know were meant to represent the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. during the meal, one of the pieces of bread, called the afikomen, was removed from the other two, broken in two, and wrapped in a clean linen napkin and then hidden in the house. this was a prophetic symbol of Jesus' death and burial. the children would then go look for the afikomen and the one that found it would bring it back to the father in exchange for a prize, symbolizing the prize of salvation. the father would then serve the afikomen to the family. so when the gospels say that Jesus took the bread, the jewish Christians of that day would understand that it was talking about the afikomen, or the bread representing the Son.
the second element is the wine. during the passover meal, there were four cups of wine used: the cup of freedom, the cup of deliverance, the cup of redemption, and the cup of praise/thanksgiving. these were all meant to remind them of an aspect of the original passover: freedom from slavery, deliverance from the pharoah, redemption of the people through the blood of the lamb on the doorposts, and praise and thanksgiving for God's provision for the jews. when Jesus took the cup, He was using the cup of redemption, which is why He says, "this cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." He was reminding them that He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. the disciples had not yet grasped fully that Jesus truly was going to die. they had repeatedly doubted, and even tried to contradict His statements of His coming death, so He was reminding them of this again. from that point on, after the events of the coming days, when they would eat the passover meal, these details would be forever solidified in their hearts and minds!
this year, whether you use a prepackaged communion kit, a common eucharist cup, or whether you use grape juice (welch's or great value brand) or wine, as you take of the elements, remember these details. keep in mind that the passover meal, specifically the Lord's supper, was started hundreds of years before Christ was born, and was, and is meant, to tell the story of His sacrifice for the sins of the world, which includes your sins, and mine. and give thanks for a God who loved us so much, that He would give His only Son to die for our high treason against God, so that we might have fellowship with Him, and get to spend eternity in His presence!
The road in Jerusalem where the upper room was located.
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