Ancient Seder and the Last Supper...Part 2

It is my understanding that the earliest known rabbinical commentaries were edited and compiled into one authoritative body of religious thought, called the Mishnah, sometime between A.D. 100 and 210. The Mishnah covers every aspect of Jewish religious life and presents a picture of the customs, traditions, and observances at the time of Christ.

The ceremony included ritual hand washings and set prayers. They drank four cups of wine as a symbol of joy. The Passover wine was red and mixed with water. From a passage in the Mishnah (Pesahim 7:13), it would appear that the wine was warm because the water was heated. If this is true, then the wine graphically represented the blood of the Passover lamb, as well as being a symbol of joy.

We know that the Passover ordinance commemorated Israel's historical redemption from Egyptian slavery. But equally important was the hidden symbolism of a greater, future redemption, which one day would free all those who cried out to God in their sin and despair...a redemption for all people, Jews and Gentiles, to bring them into a new and eternal relationship through King Messiah. How sad when the fulfillment of of the promise was at the door, few recognized it.

The picture of that Last Supper comes into sharper focus when the account of Scripture is compared with the ancient order of the Passover service. Well, at least I think so. :)

THE KIDDUSH:
And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come (Luke 22:17-18).

THE FIRST WASHING OF HANDS:
He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself...and began to wash the disciples' feet (John 13:4-5). (Table of food brought; bitter herbs dipped in salt water; table of food removed; second cup of wine poured; ritual questions asked; ritual answer given; table of food brought back; explanation of lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread; first part of Hallel; second cup taken; second washing of hands; one wafer of bread broken; and thanks over bread recited.)

BROKEN PIECES OF BREAD DIPPED IN BITTER HERBS AND CHAROSETH, AND HANDED TO ALL:
And when He had dipped the sop, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon (John 13:26).
Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. He then having received the sop went immediately out (John 13:27b, 30a).

(The Paschal meal eaten; hands washed a third time; third cup poured.)

BLESSING AFTER MEALS:
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 (1 Corinthians 11:23-24).

BLESSING OVER THIRD CUP (CUP OF REDEMPTION):
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 (1 Corinthians 11:25).

(Third cup taken; second part of Hallel recited; fourth cup poured and taken.)

CLOSING SONG OR HYMN:
And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30).

Now let's look at the meaning behind it all. :) The first hand washing by the host set him apart from the rest of the company. It showed that he was the most important person at the table. In washing the disciples' feet, Jesus used this part of the regular ritual to teach His lesson of humility and love. He acted out the role of a slave when He girded Himself with the towel and washed their feet. He knew that the Father had given Him all things; even the wind and the sea obeyed Him. Yet He humbled Himself. He taught them that it was not the ceremonial rite, but the act born of faith and love, that was important. And so He took upon Himself the most humiliating task and truly loved them all to the end. He even washed the feet of Judas!

It was during the ceremony of dipping the second sop into the bitter herbs that Jesus said, "One of you shall betray Me" (Matthew 26:21). Peter motioned to John, who was reclining so that he leaned on Jesus' bosom, to ask who the betrayer was. Jesus whipered His answer: "He it is, to whom I shall give a sop" (John 13:26).

One might wonder why John did nothing to stop Judas. I know I have wondered. But it must be remembered that the statement could have been taken to mean any one of them at the table. They all partook of the sop, although Judas probably received it first. After the sop, Judas went out into the night to finish his Satan-inspired work. Because he left before eating the Passover, he had, in effect, excommunicated himself from the congregation. Neither did he have any part in the new memorial that came after the supper.

The bread that Jesus broke for the bitter sop was not the bread of which He said, "This is my body" (Matthew 26:26b). That came later. We see this from the account that He took that bread after He first gave thanks at the end of the meal; then He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:24).

Not only were the words shocking. It was a very unusual act, for after supper no other food was to be eaten. Jesus here instituted the new memorial. He was teaching the disciples in cryptic terms that after His death, the Paschal lamb would no longer have the same significance. It was the memorial of physical, historical redemption, but only a shadow of the ultimate redemption soon to come. He was about to become the better sacrifice, to die once, for all (Hebrews 9:14-15, 23-26). Looking to the time when Israel would be left without an altar and without a sacrifice, He used the aphikomen (after dish) for the first time to represent not only the Paschal lamb, but His own body!

And then He took up the wine again and prepared the third cup for them: "Likewise, also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:20). He who was the great "I AM" come in the flesh had stood before them on other occasions saying, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6); "I am the door" (10:9); "I am the light of the world" (8:12); "Before Abraham was, I am" (8:58). Now He had one more great truth to impart to those who could receive it. He was telling them, in effect, "I am the true Passover Lamb who will be offered up for your redemption. This warm, red wine, which you drink tonight as a symbol of joy, is to remind you evermore of My life's blood, which will be poured out as an atonement for you!" Doesn't that just give you chills to imagine yourself sitting in that room and hearing this?

The gospel accounts of the Last Supper mention only two of the four seder cups...the first and the third. According to early Jewish tradition, these two were the most important. The first cup was special because it consecrated the entire Passover ritual that followed. But the Mishnah states that the third cup was the most significant of all. The third cup had two names: the "cup of blessing," because it came after the blessing or grace after meals, and the "cup of redemption," because it represented the blood of the Paschal lamb. It was of this cup of blessing that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 10:16: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"