Pathway To The Passion
Part One-The Last Supper
The Last Supper
(Luke 22:1-38)
Through the centuries, the Last Supper has been of enormous significance. It has also lost it’s simplicity.
DaVinci’s painting of “The Last Supper”
While beautiful and world famous it is historically and biblically inaccurate.
-Meals were not eaten sitting at a table
-Not eaten at a long table
-Eaten lying on one’s side on the floor, usually on a rug, propped up on 1 elbow, usually in a circle around a table low to the floor
-No utensils. Flat pita-like bread served as utensils and was used to scoop up ingredients
-No elegant banquet. Meals in that time were kept small and simple especially at Passover.
-Jesus and the Disciples had gathered to celebrate Passover.
-Passover had its origins in Exodus.
Requirements for Passover Feast
Slaughtering and preparing of the lamb (Exodus 12:6)
Obligation to eat the lamb and bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8)
Proper preparation of the lamb-must be roasted (Exodus 12:9)
Must be entirely consumed (Exodus 12:10)
Unleavened bread (Exodus 12:18)
Obligated to tell story of liberation (Exodus 13:8)
3 Items Central To Passover Meal
1 The Lamb
Remind them of the sacrifice of the spotless lamb and the blood spread on the door posts of the believing Hebrews.
2 Bitter Herbs
Mixture of lettuce, endive, roots, peppermint and dandelion. The bitterness of the herbs was to remind them of the sting and bitterness of slavery in Egypt.
3 The Unleavened Bread
To remind them of the haste in which the Hebrews prepared to leave Egypt with Moses.
Today we use 2 elements when celebrating The Last Supper
The Bread “Take this bread and eat it; this is my body”
Luke 22:19
19 Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
-Jesus was breaking with tradition at this point of the meal. This probably got the attention of the disciples.
-Various denominations differ on their view of what the bread actually represents.
1 The bread actually becomes the body of Christ when it enters the mouth.
2 When the priest stands before the bread and breaks it, it becomes the body
3 Spiritual Symbol of the body.
The best answer
The bread is a picture of His body, a representation of his body that was given for us.
It should represent to us that we have left our old ways behind.
1 Corinthians 5:8
8 So let us celebrate the festival, not by eating the old bread of wickedness and evil, but by eating the new bread of purity and truth.
The Wine “Take this wine and drink it; this is my blood”
.-Every major Jewish festival in modern day is celebrated with red wine. It is a symbol of rejoicing
-Represented the blood that was about to be spilled
Luke 22:20
20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you—an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you”
-Everyone at the table was instructed to drink
-By drinking the wine, we should rejoice. We have all been offered the gift of salvation by Jesus’ sacrifice.
Prophetic Vision-God in essence told the Hebrews in Exodus during the night of Passover that if their house was covered by the blood of the lamb that death would “passover” their house. Jesus is the Passover Lamb.
1 Peter 1:18-20
18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you.
Purpose of The Last Supper
Jesus was trying to prepare his disciples for what was about to happen even thought they did not understand. All for gospels give no indication that a word was spoken in response from the disciples to what Jesus was saying. He was trying to tell them that the time of his death was growing near. He even told them this would be his last Passover meal (Luke 22:15-16).
By his death a new covenant will be made in place of the old covenant. His blood would be poured out for the forgiveness of sins. By eating and drinking, we and his disciples share in the benefits of his sacrifice. We simply need to accept the sacrifice that was made for us so we are under the covering of the blood.
The meaning of the Last Supper or Communion to us
If you give a street drunk a bottle of expensive alcohol, he will appreciate it the same as he would a cheap bottle of booze. Why? He does not know what he has. Likewise, whoever eats and drinks the Lord’s Supper in ignorance, fails to enjoy the true richness of what they are consuming!
During the Last Supper, Jesus announced that one of the disciples would betray him.
Judas left the meal to go meet with the high priests. Judas may have gotten a bad rap as being the betrayer of Jesus. The Greek word used in the Bible for Judas’ betrayal.
paradidoµmi, par-ad-id´-o-mee; to surrender, i.e yield up, intrust, transmit:— betray, bring forth, cast, commit, deliver (up), give (over, up), hazard, put in prison, recommend.
(New Strong’s Guide To Bible Words)
Judas may have not intended for Jesus to die as a result of his actions.
He may have simply thought that Jesus would be arrested and be thrown in jail for a time.
He may have thought that an arrest would put Jesus in front of the Pharisees and he would
convince them who he was and what his purpose was.
Maybe he thought an arrest would force Jesus and his followers to actually lead a revolt against the Romans. We will never know his true intentions.
Regardless of his intentions, Judas fulfilled the role God had planned for him. By his betrayal, Judas fulfilled biblical prophecy.
Zechariah 11:12
12 And I said to them, “If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to.” So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
Matthew 26:14
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
14 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests 15 and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. 1
If Judas believed Jesus was the Messiah, why would he want a revolt to start?
(Illustration-What the Jews thought a Messiah would do)
MESSIAH [meh SIGH uh] (anointed one) — the one anointed by God and empowered by God’s spirit to deliver His people and establish His kingdom. In Jewish thought, the Messiah would be the king of the Jews, a political leader who would defeat their enemies and bring in a golden era of peace and prosperity. In Christian thought, the term Messiah refers to Jesus’ role as a spiritual deliverer, setting His people free from sin and death.
The word Messiah comes from a Hebrew term that means “anointed one.” Its Greek counterpart is Christos, from which the word Christ comes. Messiah was one of the titles used by early Christians to describe who Jesus was, but it was not until the time of Daniel (sixth century b.c.) that Messiah was used as an actual title of a king who would come in the future (Dan. 9:25–26). Still later, as the Jewish people struggled against their political enemies, the Messiah came to be thought of as a political, military ruler.
From the New Testament we learn more about the people’s expectations. They thought the Messiah would come soon to perform signs (John 7:31) and to deliver His people, after which He would live and rule forever (John 12:34). Some even thought that John the Baptist was the Messiah (John 1:20). Others said that the Messiah was to come from Bethlehem (John 7:42). Most expected the Messiah to be a political leader, a king who would defeat the Romans and provide for the physical needs of the Israelites.
Judas may have hoped that Jesus would fulfill this role of “Messiah” and forcefully lead Israel into freedom from Rome. Later that night he would be placed into the hands of the people who hated him the most-The Pharisees. Ultimately, he set into motion the final sequence of events that would lead Jesus to a small hill called Calvary . In a short while the next step of his path would take place in a small garden called Gethsemane.
