The Original Meaning of Communion
Luke 22:14-23
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
14 And when the hour had come He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. 15 And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. 21 “aBut behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Me on the table. 22 “For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!” 23 And they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing.
Today Communion has a very place as a sacrament of Christianity. Over the years theologians have added and adjusted the understanding of what it means to us today. We become one with Christ and one with other Christians throughout time. It is one of the two things that all disciples and followers of Jesus Christ have in common. The other item is the sacrament of baptism.
Being a person who came to know and understand the life of Jesus at 35 and never having church experiences, I was one who questioned the meaning of everything. Two years after my baptism, I was called by Jesus to preach the original meaning of the Scripture. I questioned this task because after two years of studying the New Testament, I was not very knowledgeable about Christianity. However, Jesus told me I would learn it. So, I went to Seminary and learned it. I was the one student that teachers in the seminary did not appreciate. I asked questions about everything. Where did this doctrine come from and where did this belief come from?
Not receiving answers did not stop me. After a lot of education classes and degrees, I started the deep search for the original meaning of Scripture. I wanted to know what people thought when Jesus spoke. After 2000 plus years, it is understandable that interpreting Scripture and Jesus’ words has developed. I will say that there is nothing wrong with that movement. One of Judaism’s honored rabbis, who died in 2023, named Rabbi Steinsaltz said that everyone has to develop their own Bible. He said that each of us will develop our own understanding and acceptance of scriptural interpretation.
I am sure that each of you is doing this and that is wonderful. Then there is the understanding of the original meaning. I believe I need to know what that original meaning is in order to see how it the Scripture works for me today. The Bible is a living document and applies in all time frames. I want to know it all started.
Now that I have given the reason for coming to learn the original meaning of the Scripture, let me briefly tell you how I do this. Of course, the first step is read the Bible in its original languages. I will admit that I have software that helps me do that. When we read the Scripture in English, we are reading a three-level commentary of the original language. Quickest way to prove this is to select a passage and read it in several English-based Bibles. You can the read the differences in English for yourself. Anyone who took a foreign language in school understands that translating from language to language creates concerns.
Also, we learned how to read and interpret writings using Hellenistic methods. Let us call it Greek learning. Aristotle, Plato and Socrates created how we learn today. We have learned to read the Bible literally. However, and this is big, Semitic people do not write literally. The authors of the Bible were Semitic people. They wrote in Semitic ways. This includes the use of metaphors, analogies and hyperboles (that means exaggerations). The Bible is full of Hebrew and Aramaic figures of speech, which when transliterated into English, do not come across as figures of speech in our language.
Allow me to give you one example. The Bible says that Herod died because he was full of worms. I have heard church people talk about Herod’s body being eaten by worms. This phrase, “died of worms,” is a figure of speech. It means that Herod died of what we call cancer today. People in Jesus’ day did not know about cancer. What they observed is when they cut into the dead body and saw the black growth over the organs, they believed worms ate the body. Thus, the figure of speech “died of worms.” The Bible contains these figures of speech.
One last thing is that in order to get to the original meaning of Scripture is that we have to add the culture of the day to our interpretation. I like to use this example. If you had a diary and wrote in it today that you came here to this beautiful church in anticipation of a great message and learning about Jesus, you did not have to write that you drove in a car. You also would probably not write in your diary all the steps to purchase a car, gasoline, or how you learned to drive it. The biblical authors did not write much about their culture because in their time, like today, everyone knows the current culture and norms.
So, in 2018, I searched for the original meaning of the communion sacrament. Luckily for me, Dr. Rocco Errico wrote a commentary series on the Bible where he explains the culture of Jesus’ day. His research explained what Jesus did at that last supper.
Think about how we create covenants today. The covenants I am thinking of are marriage, house sales, and anything else that requires a legal document. You cannot sell or buy a house without hiring a lawyer because our society has created an enormous number of rules around such a purpose. Today we draw up fancy legalized documents and sign them with special people called notaries.
In Jesus’ day, having paper and a writing instrument was something for the government and rich people to have. There were contracts created using legal terms and signatures. For the poor people, which most were in the Galilee and Judea, they had other cultural ways to create covenants.
The narrative about the Last Supper is a cultural example of how a rabbi made a contract with his students. So, close your eyes for a moment and transport yourself back to Jesus’ time. Now open your eyes and observe what was happening. For three years, Jesus had a group of 12 men and some women who traveled together. Jesus taught the group all about God, the Torah, and the books of the prophets. He was their rabbi. They showed him great respect and admiration. The group learned all they could.
Jesus knew his time on earth was ending. Usually, the rabbi would hold what we call a graduation ceremony. The rabbi would ordain his students to go out and do what he did. Jesus knew whether they were ready, he had no choice. Luckily, his followers had learned enough to be out on their own as rabbis. His students learned Jesus’ biblical interpretations and ways of living.
So, during the last meal together, he held a graduation ceremony. Each of his followers had to decide whether they were going to follow Jesus’ ways and teach others. That is what the ceremony that we call communion is all about. It was an Aramaic cultural ceremony. I believe that when I explain what Jesus did using his culture that you will have a deeper and more appreciative understanding of communion.
Jesus took bread and broke it. When the bread was passed each person who ripped off a piece of bread was committing to a covenant. The covenant was that by taking the bread and eating it the person committed to following Jesus’ ways for the rest of his or her life and would teach others. I believe that there were women in the room as well. They took of the bread and also made the same commitment. This was the first part of the covenant.
Then Jesus picked up the wine. When wine was shared after the covenant made with bread, it meant that the rabbi said that following his ways will cause them suffering. Each of the persons at the creation of the covenant agreed they understood that following and teaching Jesus’ ways would cause suffering, even a horrible death like him. They all drank from the cup. The covenant was set.
Therefore, the original meaning of communion is a covenant with Jesus to live his way and to teach others his way and the understanding that we could suffer which could include physical dangers. Our earlier brothers and sisters in the faith suffered. Christians can face execution in many parts of the world. There are different kinds of suffering in the United States today for Christians.
There is one other aspect of Jesus’ culture that is important to know. That aspect is that when two or more people made a covenant, it was never broken. Yes, people broke covenants. However, the penalty was death. Remember that life was valued differently in Jesus’ day. One reason that Judas Iscariot committed suicide was because he took the bread and the wine. He entered a binding; non-breakable covenant and he broke it. Even if he did not want to be a part of the covenant, he entered it. Death was the only way out. Judas Iscariot took the only way out.
Whenever I officiated communion since 2018, I reminded the people that they entered a covenant with Jesus to live his way and teach other people about the faith. I included a pray in the liturgy about asking the LORD for the strength to keep our part of that covenant. Perhaps the next time when you have communion, you may think about the covenant with our Lord and Savior wanted to have with us. Being one with Christ through the sacrament is a renewal of our physical expression of our love for what he teaches us and his sacrifice.
Remember what Jesus did for us without even knowing us. Remember, as a disciple of Christ, what it is we are expected to do and be thankful for the salvation which is offered.
