Malankara World

Passion Week (Holy Week)

The Symbolic Meaning of the Communion Elements

The cups of the Passover have specific meaning.

The Last Supper was actually the Last “passover “ and the 1st Lords Supper.

Gods intervention to end the slavery of His people by the Egyptians held many types that pointed to Christ’s death .

We see as a prime example the final plague God brought on the Egyptians.
Every 1st born was to die at the hand of Gods avenging angel.

God gave specific orders on how the Jews were to be protected from that sword of death.

They were to have a perfect Lamb and to slaughter him. They were to spread the blood of that lamb over the drop posts ( in a shape similar to a cross) When the angel saw that blood he would pass over that home and the people inside were preserved from the plague.

God gave specific instructions on how to eat that Lamb, that passover meal was to be a ritual that would be celebrated in remembrance of the grace and salvation of God for His people.

That meal prefigured Christ, on the night Jesus was betrayed they celebrated the meal that prefigured His coming .

Christ OUR PASSOVER LAMB would be slain, and many would be saved that were under His blood.

There was a piece of matzo broken into 3 parts.

One pieces was broken and the hidden piece it was wrapped in white linen ( as Christ dead body was in the tomb ) it is called the aphikomen

When the meal is finished the host breaks off olive-size pieces of matzoh from the aphikomen and distributes them to all. They each eat it, in a reverent manner. Sometimes there is a blessing, “In memory of the Passover sacrifice, eaten after one is sated.”

It was at THIS point during the Last Supper Jesus broke the bread and passed bits to His disciples; however, Jesus added the significant words given in Luke 22:19),

Luk 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake [it], and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

The symbolic broken matzo wrapped in white linen was the symbolic body of Christ revealed in the passover meal. Jesus was revealing the prophetic nature of the passover and the passover meal.

Consider that Jews had a probation against the eating of blood, yet not one disciple asked Jesus what He meant. That is because they understood when he took the APHIKOMEN into his hands, this broken Matzo that had been hidden in a linen wrap was symbolic of HIM.

Matzo has no leaven, leaven is a sign of sin. Jesus was sinless.
The Matzo had been broken as His body would be broken .

It was wrapped in linen as He would be and be hidden for a time.

This is the exact spot where Jesus proclaimed “This is my body which is given for you.” as he held that broken Matzo

The next step of the ritual meal is drinking from the wine-goblet called the “Cup of Redemption.” That’s when Jesus said,

“This cup is the New Testament (Covenant ) in my blood, which is shed for you.”

The Passover meal was a REMEMBRANCE of the deliverance of the Jews. Just as the passover was a type of Christ so is the Passover meal.

Jesus was telling them this, and He was telling them NOW instead of the remembrance of the passover, their eyes were opened and the meaning revealed NOW they were to do the mean in remembrance of HIM, of His blood, the blood of the Lamb of God.

As He held that bread He was revealing the mystery that the symbolism held.

Think of the words the apostles used

1Cr 11:24 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.

The broken matzo was a type of Christ, who’s body would be broken for them.

Then in the passover tradition

The host now takes the third cup of wine, “the cup of redemption,” or “the cup of blessing,” and offers the main table grace blessing. (In Jewish tradition, the main blessing comes after the meal.) Then they all drink from the third cup.

Luke 22:20,

“Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you’.”

Here is what the apostles and disciples said at the Lords table

1Cr 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?

The were recalling “remembering” the PASSOVER ritual. THEY understood that Jesus was revealing a spiritual truth about the passover being a prophetic meal that prefigured HIM.

The Passover was fulfilled on the day that Christ died, and so from that day forward that meal not longer held a prophetic promise of a future savior, but it was now a remembrance of the completed work of salvation at the cross.

1Cr 5:7 — Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

See Also:

Last Supper (Pesaha) Scripture Readings

Last Supper celebrated a day late, physicist claims in book
The Last Supper is commemorated a day late, a Cambridge University physicist claims in his new book, according to reports in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Belfast Telegraph.

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