A NEW PASSOVER?
Acts 2:23 "Him, being delivered by the determined
purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands,
have crucified, and put to death;
THE TIMING OF THE LAST SUPPER
Mk 14:12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when
they sacrifice the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, 'Where
will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?'
Lk 22:7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which
the Passover lamb had to sacrificed.
These scriptures seem to indicate that the meal that the disciples
were to eat that night was the Passover meal, especially Mark
14:12 which says "on the first day of Unleavened Bread,
when they sacrificed the Passover lamb."
John indicates that the Passover was not on the same night
as the last supper:
Jn 18:28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas
to the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might
eat the Passover.
MARK 14:12-16
But then how is the phrase "on the first day of Unleavened
Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb" to be understood?
A similar phrase is used in Luke 22:7:
LUKE 22:15-16
The problem is created by a striking conflict between the Synoptic
accounts of the date of the crucifixion and that in the Gospel
of John. All agree that Jesus died on a Friday (Do they?).
But Mark, followed by Matthew and Luke, says that this was the
Passover (Do they?) while John declares that it was the
day before (Jn 18:28; 19:14, 31,42). In this instance John is
almost certainly correct. Mark 14:1-2 looks like an excerpt from
an early source that the compiler had not thoroughly revised (No,
the Word of God is true, but interpretations or translations may
not be). Here we are told that the chief priests and the
scribes were anxious to bring about Jesus' death before the beginning
of the festival, and there is no reason to believe that they changed
their plans. Paul describes Christ as "our paschal lamb
[who] has been sacrificed," and compares the Christian era
to the Jewish feast of Unleavened Bread (1Cor 5:7-8). The paschal
lambs were slaughtered a few hours before the evening that marked
the first part of the Passover day. Finally, since the Passover
was a sacred day, it is almost inconceivable that Jesus could
have been arrested, examined before the Sanhedrin, tried before
Pilate, crucified and buried during the course of it.
If Jesus died on the cross some hours before the beginning of
Nisan 15, it is clear that the Last Supper was not Jesus' Passover
meal. Therefore it should not be interpreted in the light of
the Passover symbolism. Nevertheless, the church soon came to
think of it as the Christian substitute for the Jewish feast,
and the passion narrative was redrafted at some pre-Marcan level
to make the two coincide."
Some modern scholars hold that a passover lamb was
part of the meal the last night Jesus ate with the apostles (Luke,
Darrell L. Bock; BECNT; 1994; p.p. 1719-21).
The Companion Bible presents an alternate view in its footnote
to this verse about the meal that they were eating that night:
"... this Passover. Not the eating of the Lamb, but the
Chagigah or feast which precedes it...."
I do not believe that this meal was the Passover or that Christ
changed the time and symbols of its observance. According to
footnote 1 in 'The Life of Christ' by Farrer, page 675,
early Christian tradition was predominant in the assertion that
the Last Supper was different from the Passover.
WHAT WAS THE LAST SUPPER?
The symbols of the bread and wine are not New Testament replacements
for the Passover. They are to help us to fully experience the
Passover, in spirit. They do not replace it. We are told by
Paul that we must become fully united with Christ in a death like
His:
2Cor 4:10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
When we take of the bread and wine at the beginning of the fourteenth
of Nisan, they should direct our minds to focus fully on the events
to unfold over that coming day. We should, over that evening
and the next day, participate in the beating that Christ suffered,
the stripes that heal us. We should crucify our flesh along with
His. We should allow the full impact of the innocent shed blood
of Christ to impact on the guilt of our conscience. That is the
Christian observance of the Passover; on the same day that the
Lamb of God was killed. The Cross of Christ is a synonym for
the Passover. The true Passover is the power of God at work
in us (1Cor 1:18). Anything else creates confusion and
hides the true Passover.
The consuming of the bread and the wine at the beginning of the
fourteenth of Nisan does nothing to justify a person before God.
It is the reality of what the ritual represents that gains approval
before God. It is a prophetic gesture and parable.
1 Jn 1:7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his
Son cleanses us from all sin.
In 1Cor 10:14-22 Paul gives us the context of the origin
of the symbols. He describes those who ate of similar sacrifices
in ancient Israel as being partners in the altar (1Cor 10:18).
He further says that drinking of the cup of the Lord is a partaking
of the table of the Lord (10:21). Heb 13:10 says
that the saints have an altar from which others cannot eat.
In the tabernacle we find that the table that stood before the
veil in front of the Holy of Holies had drink offerings and the
Bread of the Presence on it (Ex 25:28-30). These drink
offerings were to be poured out before God (Num 28:7),
just as the blood of Christ was to be (Matt 26:28), and
as Paul was poured out in service to the saints (Phil 2:17).
CONCLUSION
Therefore Christ was not implementing new symbols but showing
how the bread and the wine in the physical temple were relevant
symbols within the spiritual temple of the Church, symbols which
found their fulfillment in the bloody beating and death of Jesus
Christ, and which are likewise fulfilled by the Christian's willingness
to participate in that same death.
It is claimed by many Bible scholars and churches that Jesus Christ,
on the night before he was murdered, instigated a new way and
time for Christians to observe the Passover.
However, Christ claimed that:
Matt 5:17-18 "Think not that I have come to abolish
the law and the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but
to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth
pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until
all is accomplished."
The Scriptures tell us that the Passover was established by the
Father before the foundation of the world and that at the right
time appointed by the Father, Christ was killed:
Rev 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose
names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world.
People have given different reasons to try to explain why Christ changed the way Christians are to keep the Passover
as laid down in the law according to the foreknowledge of God.
Did Christ in fact change the way Christians are to observe the
Passover?
Matt 26:17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the
disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Where will you have us prepare
for you to eat the Passover?'
However, no mention
is made of any lamb being present at the meal. Moreover, Luke
22:1 tells us that the whole feast of Unleavened Bread
was called the Passover.
Jn 13:1 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus
knew that his hour had come.
These Scriptures indicate that what Christ ate was not
the traditional Passover. That was to happen on the following
day.
These verses describe the activity of Christ and his disciples
on the afternoon leading into the beginning of the fourteenth
of Nisan. Some have wondered why the disciples apparently treat
this seemingly one-day-early observance of the Passover without
any qualms. The reason is because there was absolutely nothing
out of the ordinary in what they were doing. They were going
through the normal process of getting the Passover lamb ready
to be sacrificed - the next day, not that afternoon! Then
that evening they naturally ate a meal and talked about the coming
Passover.
Then came the
Day of Unleavened Bread, when the passover must be killed.
Please read on for the answer.
Luke adds some other information not mentioned in the other synoptic
gospels:
"And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat
this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you that I
shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God"
The Interpreter's Bible makes the following observations
(Vol. 8, p.p. 377-8). Although some of the conclusions
are obviously wrong (where I have inserted question marks or made
emendations), the points it raises about the Last Supper/Passover
are interesting:
"Was the Last Supper Jesus' Passover meal? This is the representation
both in Mark, Matthew and in Luke, but there are grounds for believing
that the meal took place twenty-four hours before that feast was
to be celebrated.
And on pages 378-9:
"If these verses were part of some special Lukan tradition
it would appear also to have identified the supper with the Passover
meal. Another interpretation is possible but remote: Jesus fervent
desire to eat this Passover before his death will not be realized.
This latter construction is more attractive when we omit "again"
with several ancient MSS - an emendation of the text favoured
by Wescott and Hort and RSV."
Leon Morris' commentary on Luke says of this verse:
'It is not clear whether Jesus is saying that He desired to eat
the Passover and is eating it, or that despite His desire He will
not eat until it is fulfilled in God's kingdom. Perhaps the former
view is correct.'
I believe that the latter view is the
correct one.
Christ told the disciples to take of the bread and the wine in
remembrance of Him (Lk 22:19). Paul tells us that by taking
of the bread and the wine we proclaim the Lord's
death until He comes (1Cor 11:26). Paul does not call
this ceremony the Passover. The symbols of the bread and wine,
Paul tells us, represent our participation in the body and blood
of Jesus Christ, i.e. our participation in the death of Jesus Christ:
1 Cor 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not
a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break,
is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
They do not picture something separate from us, but something
that we are to also experience: death to sin.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been united with him in a death
like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection
like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him
This is further verified in Matt 10:38; 16:24; Gal 2:20; 5:24;
6:14; Rom 8:13; Col 3:3-5.
Heb 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ .......purify
your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
WHERE DID THE SYMBOLS OF THE BREAD AND WINE COME FROM?
Were the symbols of bread and wine something new that Christ instigated,
or was he giving the true meaning of something already given in
the Law of God?
So what can be learned from these scriptures? It seems that Christ
was revealing that the disciples (and the elect) were the spiritual
priests who could eat the spiritual food and drink in fellowship
before God. The bread and wine represent the Bread of Life and
the Blood of the Covenant that give a person fellowship and life
with God within His sanctuary.