A New Look at Jesus'
“Last Supper”
Have We Been Neglecting
the Sacred Fellowship Meal?
Many
have confused the "last meal" Jesus Christ had
with
His disciples with the "Passover."
This meal was
definitely
not a "Passover" -- there was no way they
could
have eaten the Passover lamb at that occasion --
and
John plainly says it was "BEFORE the Passover"
(John
13:1). What, then, does this meal
represent --
and
why did the apostle Paul say, "AS OFTEN AS
YE
EAT" this bread (I Cor.11:27)? Have
we all been
overlooking
something here?
William F. Dankenbring
In the first epistle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he
admonished them about many problems which had come upon the Church, and such
matters as hair length for men and women.
Then he broke into another subject, discussing the church services or
assemblies of God's people. He wrote: "I praise you not, that ye come together
[for religious worship] not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together IN
THE CHURCH, I hear that there be divisions [Greek, "schisms"] among
you; and I partly believe it. . . . When ye come together into one place, this
is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in
eating everyone takes before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and
another is drunken. What? Have ye not houses to eat and drink in? or despise ye the
What
is Paul talking about here? He seems to
be talking about a regular Church service, on the Sabbath, when God's people
would come together for instruction, worship, and fellowship with God and Jesus
Christ, and with one another. He clearly
speaks of "coming together in the church." But in this very same context, he indicates
that they were participating in some sort of meal, which was not to be confused
with the "Lord's supper." Apparently,
each brought his own food to the banquet, and some who were rich had plenty,
and the poor in the congregation had little -- and Paul didn't want the
Corinthians to think this was the right way to do things. Not at all!
This kind of selfishness, he said, was not at all like "the Lord's
supper."
A
Much Misunderstood Passage
What is Paul driving at here?
Let's go on: He
then refers to Jesus' last meal with His disciples, and says:
"For I have received of the Lord that which also I
delivered unto you,
that
the Lord Jesus THE SAME NIGHT in which he was betrayed
took
BREAD: And when he had given thanks, he
BRAKE IT, and
said,
Take, eat: This is my body, which is
broken for you: THIS
DO
IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.
"After the same manner also he took
the CUP, WHEN HE HAD
SUPPED,
saying, This cup is the
new testament in my blood:
this
do ye, AS OFT AS YE DRINK IT, in remembrance of me.
For AS OFTEN AS ye EAT this bread, and
drink this cup, ye do
SHEW
the Lord's death till he come" (I Cor.11:23-26).
Let's
understand one thing very clearly: The
final meal Jesus had with His disciples was NOT THE PASSOVER! The Passover was very plainly not yet come. John, in describing this final meal Jesus had
with His disciples, said, "Now BEFORE the feast of the Passover"
(John 13:1). He plainly shows this meal
or banquet was BEFORE the true Passover, which was scheduled to be eaten and
observed the next night, Nisan 15 (John
What
few have realized, not being familiar with Jewish customs of the time of Jesus,
is that this meal could not have been the Passover, since Passover lambs would
not be slain until the following afternoon, and then eaten in the homes of the
Jews on the night of the actual "Passover" -- when God slew the
firstborn in the land of Egypt and "passed over" the Israelites --
Nisan 15. Yet obviously, this final meal
was very important -- a meal of close fellowship and spiritual
significance.
A Jewish Look at the Last Supper
Says David H. Stern, in the Jewish New Testament
Commentary:
"The Last Supper is considered by
most scholars to have been a Passover
meal
or Seder. Many Pesach themes are deepened, reinforced and given
new
levels of meaning by events in the life of Yeshua the
Messiah and by
his
words on this night. However, Joseph Shulam has suggested that it
may
not have been the Seder but a se'udat-mitzvah,
the CELEBRATORY
'BANQUET
accompanying performance of a commandment' such as a wed-
ding
or b' rit-milah.
"Here is the background for his
argument. When a rabbi and his students
finish
studying a tractate of the Talmud, they celebrate with a se'udat-mitzvah
(also called a se'udat-siyum,
'banquet of completion,' i.e., graduation).
The
Fast
of the Firstborn, expressing gratitude for the saving of Israel's firstborn
sons
from the tenth plague, has been prescribed for the day before Pesach,
Nisan 14, at least since Mishnaic times. When
it is necessary to eat a se'udat-
mitzvah,
this takes precedence
over a fast. With a modicum of foresight
a
rabbi
can plan to complete a tractate on Nisan 14 and thus avoid having to fast;
doing
so is not construed as cheating, and in fact it has become the custom.
"The
tradition of the Fast of the Firstborn dates at least from Mishnaic
times.
But,
Shulam reasons, if it goes back a couple of centuries
more to the time of
Yeshua, and if the si'udat
siyum custom applied in the first century to the
completing
of any course of study, then Yeshua might have
arranged to have
himself
and his talmidim [students, disciples] finish reading a
book of the
Tanakh on Nisan 14.
Or, since Yeshua knew he was going to die, he
may have
regarded
it as appropriate to complete his disciples' earthly 'course of study' with a
BANQUET. This solution would also
resolve the perceived conflict between
Yochanan [John]
and the Synoptic Gospels over the timing of the Last Supper"
JNT, p.77).
In other words, there is much more to this passage in I
Corinthians 11, and its meaning, than we have supposed. Although there is no doubt that Jesus Christ
presented the new meanings of the bread and the wine as representing His broken
body and shed blood, given on our behalf, at the last supper, and that these
symbols are directly involved in the Passover Seder, held on Nisan 15,
it is also a fact that this final meal was ONE DAY before the Passover. It is also a fact that Jesus did not tell His
disciples that they should institute a NEW COMMANDMENT, or a new "holy day,"
and begin observing Nisan 14, at the eve, as a memorial of this "last
supper." However, He was having a
"final banquet" with them -- a special and unique "fellowship
meal" with them, where all were relaxed, reclining, at ease, and
experiencing a very close oneness with each other. This was similar to a Passover Seder in some respects -- but yet
different.
The
Greek Word "Artos"
Interestingly, when Jesus held this final dinner with His
disciples, the word John used to describe it was diepnon, which means "supper, the principal
meal, dinner." It is used of the
last supper Jesus held with His disciples, and other main meals of the day (see
Mark 6:21; Luke 14:12, 16, 17, 24; 22:20; John 12:2; 13:21, 4; I Cor.11:20-21;
Rev.19:9, 17). This word is NEVER used
of an annual Festival, or of the Passover.
However, it simply refers to the MAIN MEAL of the day, usually at
evening.
Furthermore, at this final dinner or banquet, there is no
mention of lamb being eaten -- which would have been necessary if this were the
Passover. The gospel accounts would
hardly have neglected to mention such an important feature.
But
even more interesting is the fact that Jewish custom of that time, and always,
has dictated that UNLEAVENED BREAD was not to be eaten during the days before
the FEAST of Unleavened Bread, so that the Feast would be set apart as distinct
and real. For unleavened bread to have
been eaten BEFORE the Festival would have diminished its importance during the
Feast itself! Therefore, if Jesus and
His disciples had eaten "unleavened bread" on the night of Nisan 14,
they would have violated Jewish custom and practice. It is very interesting, therefore, to notice
that when Jesus sat down at dinner, at
that final meal with His disciples, "as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it [many Greek copies have, "gave
thanks"], and brake it, and gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat;
this is my body" (Matt.26:26). The
word for "bread" here is artos, and
means, "bread (as raised), a loaf."
This same word is used in Matthew 4:3-4, "man does not live by
bread alone," in Matthew 6:11, "our daily bread," and Matthew
16:12, "the leaven of bread," etc.
This word is often used of LEAVENED BREAD!
Generally, whenever UNLEAVENED bread is meant, this word
is preceded by the Greek word for "unleavened," which is azumos, meaning "unleavened,
uncorrupted." But in the three
synoptic gospel accounts of the last supper of Jesus and His disciples, Matthew
26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19, the writers always use ONLY THE WORD ARTOS, meaning
BREAD -- without the modifying word azumos to designate "unleavened." Therefore, the clear indication is that AT
THE LAST SUPPER JESUS USED NORMAL LEAVENED BREAD, when He blessed and broke it, and said, "Take,
eat; this is my body"!
Here is further
proof that this dinner was not and could not have been the PASSOVER!
The Real Bread at the
"Last Supper"
Further proof that
Jesus and His disciples did NOT and could not have eaten the
"Passover," with its unleavened bread, at the "last supper"
on the eve or beginning of Nisan 14, is plain and simple Jewish law (halakha) of the time.
It is a historical fact that when the Scriptures use the expression
"kept the Passover" (Ezra 6:19) it refers strictly to the slaying of
the Passover lamb, on the 14th of Nisan, whereas the expression "eat the
Passover" was fulfilled the coming evening of Nisan 15 which was the beginning of the eating of unleavened bread on
"the night to be much observed."
The reason why this
evening was called "the night to be much observed" was because the
Passover meal was always eaten as the first meal in the Feast of Unleavened
Bread.
Also,
according to Jewish law of the times (halakha), it
was absolutely forbidden to eat unleavened bread during the 24-hour
period prior to the first night of Unleavened Bread! This was a distinction made by law to
sanctify (set apart) the sacred meaning of the Feast from whatever they may
have eaten for bread on the previous days.
This means that Jesus and the disciples could not have eaten
unleavened bread the evening prior to
the "night to be much observed"!
Also, the gospels
indicate that Jesus was keeping the Fast of the Firstborn during the
daylight hours of the crucifixion day --
this was a daytime fast observed by all firstborn Jews on the Preparation Day
in remembrance of God protecting the firstborn of Israel while killing the
firstborn of Egypt; this also explains Jesus' remark in Matthew 26:29, "I
will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I
drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." Obviously, Jesus did not drink any wine the
following day. Furthermore, this
explains why He refused to accept the vinegar mixed with gall mentioned in
Matthew 27:34. The Hebrew text of
Matthew's gospel written by the Spanish Jewish scholar Shem-Tov
ben-Shaprut (c.1380 A.D.) reads: "and gave him wine mixed with gall. But when he began to drink it he perceived
and would not drink it." Jesus must
have remembered He was observing the Fast of the Firstborn. The Greek word for "taste" used in
this verse produced a false impression.
Jesus remembered before He drank and swallowed.
Clearly, then, the "bread" which Jesus broke
and gave to His disciples during the beginning portion of Nisan 14, in the
evening, at His final "supper" with them, must have been and
indeed was LEAVENED BREAD!
But can this
be? Can leavened bread, as well as
unleavened bread, represent the body of Jesus Christ?
The answer is a resounding YES!
In Leviticus 23:17, regarding the feast of Pentecost, we
read: "Ye shall bring out of your
habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour;
they shall be BAKEN WITH LEAVEN; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD." Leaven, in this case, certainly does not represent SIN, as nothing
"contaminated" or "sinful" could ever be offered to
God. To offer "sins" to God
would be sacrilegious -- blasphemy -- like offering swine's flesh (Isa.66:3,
17).
Notice, therefore, what the Jamieson, Faussett and Brown Commentary has to say on this passage in Leviticus
23:
"These loaves were made of
"fine" or wheaten flour, the quantity
contained
in them being somewhat more than ten pounds weight.
As
the wave-sheaf gave the signal for the commencement, the two
loaves
solemnized the termination of the harvest season. They were
the
first-fruits of that season, being offered unto the Lord by the priest
in
name of the whole nation (see on Exo.34:22).
The loaves used at
the
Passover were UNLEAVENED, those presented at Pentecost were
LEAVENED
-- a difference which is thus accounted for, -- that the
one
was a memorial of the bread hastily prepared at their departure,
while
the other was a TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE TO GOD for their
daily
food, which was leavened . . ." (vol. 1, p.498).
However, even "leavened bread" is a TYPE of the
body of Christ, and represents "His flesh" which He gave for the sins
of the world. To the Jews, unleavened or
flat bread represented affliction and poverty, as when the Israelites came out
of Egypt; but leavened loaves of bread, as were sacrificed at Pentecost to the
Lord (Leviticus 23:17), typify ABUNDANCE, richness, wealth. The typology should be clear. Christ
crucified was in affliction, flatness, abject, beaten, bruised, pierced,
pummeled -- the perfect type being unleavened bread. Christ as the richness of the abundance of
life, life-giving bread, is pictured by the leaves of beautiful, sweet-smelling
leavened bread! Don't all of us enjoy a
beautiful loaf of home-made leavened whole wheat bread straight out of the oven
steaming? Therefore, the richness of
leavened bread also symbolizes Jesus Christ, the "bread of
life." Notice!
"The
BREAD of Life"
In John chapter 6, when Jesus fed the multitude from a
few loaves of bread and a few fishes, He declared,
"For the bread of God is he which cometh down from
heaven,
and
giveth life unto the world. . . . I AM THE BREAD OF
LIFE: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and
he that
believeth
on me shall never thirst. . . .
"I
am that bread of life. Your fathers did
eat manna in the wilder-
ness,
and are dead. This is the bread which
cometh down from
heaven,
that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
"I
am the LIVING BREAD which came down from heaven:
if
any man eat of THIS BREAD, he shall live forever: and the
bread
which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the
life
of the world. . . .
"Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son
of
man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and
I will raise
him
up at the last day. For my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood
is
drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood,
dwelleth in me, and I in him As the living Father hath sent me,
and
I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live
by
me.
"This
is that bread which came down from heaven:
not as your
fathers
did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread
shall
live forever" (John 6:33-58).
Jesus,
then, is the "bread of life."
This is a reality. This is not
just Passover. Throughout the year,
every day, day in and day out, Jesus Christ remains and IS the "bread of
life" which came down from heaven!
We should be eating of this "bread" DAILY as we study the
Scriptures! Jesus went on to declare:
"It is the spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing. The
words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life"
(John
6:63).
Thus
even regular bread is a type of the richness of the life-giving bread of Jesus
Christ! In this sense, the leaven
represents fullness and abundance. True
Christians, as members of the body of Christ, also are "one bread" IN
Christ!
"We
. . . Are One Bread"
Now notice I Corinthians 10. Paul discusses this same subject of the wine
and bread again -- but not necessarily in a Passover context. Notice!
"I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The CUP OF
BLESSING,
which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood
of Christ? The BREAD WHICH WE BREAK, it
is
not
the communion of the body of Christ? FOR
WE BEING
MANY
ARE ONE BREAD, AND ONE BODY: for we are
all
partakers of that one bread. . . . Ye cannot drink the cup
of
the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye
cannot be partakers
of
the Lord's table, and of the table of demons.
Do we provoke
the
Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than
he?" (I Cor.10:15-22).
It
is obvious that during Passover, on Nisan 15, we partake of the unleavened
bread, the matzos, representing the body of Christ, as well as the cup of
blessing, the wine, representing His shed blood as our Passover lamb (I
Cor.5:7). But in the book of First
Corinthians, Paul seems to be discussing NOT THE PASSOVER but something
altogether different!
Notice! If he were
discussing the Passover, why doesn't he call it "Passover"?
Secondly, why
does he connect this meal, with bread and wine, with regular church services,
"when ye come together IN THE CHURCH"? (I Cor.11:18)?
Thirdly, WHY if this were the Passover does Paul say,
as to the TIME ELEMENT when we partake of this special meal, "AS
OFTEN AS YE EAT THIS BREAD" (verse
26)? The phrase "AS OFT"
or "AS OFTEN" would seem to indicate not an anniversary event, but an
INDEFINITE TIME PERIOD OF UNKNOWN OR VARYING DURATION.
For years I have
puzzled why Paul used the expression "as oft as" and "as often
as" in regard to this ceremony or meal.
Herbert Armstrong never explained it.
He simply overrode it, and said the key to "how often" we
observe it is the fact that the Passover is an ANNUAL event! But the apostle Paul does not call this the
PASSOVER at all! People have simply ASSUMED it was the Passover!
The Jamieson, Faussett,
Brown Commentary
Many have assumed
in the past that Jesus' last supper was the Passover. Therefore, they have concluded that I
Corinthians 11 also must refer to the Passover.
However, neither assumption is true.
Since we now know that Jesus last supper with His disciples was actually
ONE WHOLE DAY BEFORE the true Passover,
it had to be a sacred meal of fellowship.
This sheds new light on Paul's real meaning and subject of discussion in
I Corinthians 11. Let us notice this
chapter carefully, going through it with the Jamieson, Faussett
and Brown Critical, Experimental and
Practical Commentary.
Verse 20.
"When ye come together in one place, this is not to eat the Lord's
supper." Says the commentary:
"It is not possible to eat a true Lord's supper where
UNITY exists not
(ch.X.17);
where each is greedily intent on 'HIS OWN SUPPER,' and
some
are excluded altogether, not having been waited for (v.33; where
some
are 'drunken,' others 'hungry' (v.21).
The LOVE-FEAST
preceded
the Lord's supper . . . They ate and drank together earthly,
then
heavenly food, in token of their unity for time and eternity. It
was
a CLUB-FEAST, where each brought his portion, and the rich
extra
portions for the poor. From it the bread
and wine were taken
for
the Eucharist. It was at it that the
excesses took place which made
a
true celebration of the Lord's supper, during or after it, with due
discernment
of its solemnity, out of the question . . ."
Paul
here, then, is rebuking the Corinthians for their IMPROPER OBSERVANCE of the
sacred fellowship meal, patterned after
Jesus' last supper with His disciples.
This was a "love feast" of the brethren, where members of the
church ate together:
"23. He shows
the unworthiness of such conduct from the dignity
of
the holy supper. I -- emphatic in the
Greek. It is not my own,
but the Lord's institution. received of the Lord -- by immediate
revelation
from the risen Saviour (Gal.1:12; cf. Acts 22:17, 18;
II
Cor.12:1-4).
. . . The renewal of the institution, by special revela-
tion to St. Paul, enhances its solemnity. . . . the time
for the Lord's
supper
is not fixed. betrayed.
With the traitor
at the table, and though
about
to receive such injury from man, He gave this LAST GIFT, a
pledge
of his amazing love to man. 24. brake.
The breaking of the
bread
involves its distribution . . . . as oft as -- as many times soever;
FOR IT IS AN ORDINANCE OFTEN TO BE PARTAKEN OF.
in
remembrance of me . . . The Lord's supper brings to our remem-
brance Christ's sacrifice once for all for
the full and final remission
of
sins. Not 'do this for a memorial of me,' as if it were a memorial
sacrifice,
which would be mnemosunon
(Acts 10:4) or hupomnesin,
--
areminding the Father of His Son's sacrifice. Nay, it is for OUR
REMEMBRANCE OF IT, not to remind Him.
26. For -- in proof
that
the Lord's supper is 'in remembrance' of Him.
show -- announce
publicly;
not dramatically
represent, but publicly profess each
of you,
the
Lord died FOR ME' . . .
"AS OFT AS YE
EAT IT . . ."
Notice! This
sacred meal and service is NOT AN ANNUAL MEMORIAL AT ALL -- it is to be
partaken of "AS MANY TIMES SOEVER," or 'OFTEN." This could even mean as often as weekly, when
possible. In Jewish synagogues,
following the synagogue service the congregation often met together for a
fellowship meal. Paul does not "set
a time" for this wonderful fellowship meal, patterned after the Lord's
final meal with His disciples -- this LOVE-FEAST. But he does say, "as OFT as ye do
it." The implication is that this
holy meal of fellowship, including the symbols of bread and wine representing
Christ's body and blood given for us, should be enjoyed OFTEN!
This same expression in the Greek, "as oft as,"
is found in Revelation 11:6, speaking of the two witnesses who in the future
will smite the earth with plagues "as often as they will." Thus Paul is not talking about the Passover
here at all, but to a sacred fellowship meal held often, but not on an annual
or "scheduled" basis such as an annual Festival! Let us continue:
"That the Lord's supper is in remembrance of Him,
implies
that He is
bodily
absent, though spiritually present; for we cannot 'commemorate'
one
absent. Our not only showing the Lord's death, but eating and
drinking the pledges of it, could only be
understood BY THE JEWS,
ACCUSTOMED
TO FEASTS after propitiatory sacrifices, as implying
our
personal appropriation of the
benefits of that death. till he come --
when
there shall be no longer need of symbols, the body itself being
manifested. The Greek . . . expresses the certainty of His coming . . ."
(p.316-317,
Critical-Experimental Commentary ).
How
cleverly Satan has deceived so many.
Paul is not talking about the Passover at all in this passage. He discusses the Passover in I Corinthians
5:7-8, very plainly, showing that we should also observe that Feast. It is kept as a vigil and "Seder"
on the night of Nisan 15, as it has been observed by the faithful ever since
the time of Moses. But in I Corinthians
11, Paul is discussing another subject altogether -- the sacred fellowship meal
patterned after the final supper Jesus Christ held with His disciples! And this wonderful spiritual
"banquet" is NOT an annual anniversary at all, but is to be held
"OFTEN"!
What a wonderful, marvelous new TRUTH!
The Sacred Fellowship Meal
Now notice something else. After His resurrection, Jesus in disguise
appeared to two of His disciples as they were walking to the village of
Emmaus. As they walked and talked, Jesus
expounded to them the words of the prophets concerning Himself. They were so interested in His words, that
they constrained Him to abide with them that night. We read:
"And it came to pass, as he SAT AT MEAT with them, HE
TOOK
BREAD,
AND BLESSED IT, AND BRAKE, and GAVE to them.
And
their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out
of
their sight" (Luke 24:13-31).
This
was not the Passover. It was a simple
meal of fellowship. But notice the
symbolism! Jesus took bread, which is a
symbol of His flesh, and blessed it, and GAVE it to them -- and suddenly their
eyes were OPENED and they
knew who He was!
Now notice another related event. After Jesus ascended to heaven, and God began
the New Testament Church by pouring out His Holy Spirit upon the disciples on
the day of Pentecost, Sivan 6, in 41 A.D., Peter preached a powerful sermon at
the Temple, and three thousand people were converted and baptized on that one
day (Acts 2:1-40, 41).
Now notice! What
did these NEW DISCIPLES do? What was the
most important thing they did, together, that was SO IMPORTANT that it was specifically
written down in Scripture for our admonition and EXAMPLE? Notice carefully! We read immediately in the very next few
verses of Acts 2:
"And they continued stedfastly
in the apostles' doctrine AND
FELLOWSHIP,
AND IN BREAKING OF BREAD, and in prayers . . . .
"And all that believed were together,
and had all things common;
and
sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men,