Terry Sampson
Well-Known Member
Miscellanea:
- Roman Catholic. Liturgy of the Eucharist (U.S. Conference of Bishops site: Liturgy of the Eucharist
- Lutheran (American Lutherans differ according to Rites, initial Synodical, or subsequent division and separation various issues.) Differences in the Order of Worship exist, but I would be surprised to hear that the differences are radical. Because of potential differences, I have not bothered to post any portion of the Order of Worship that pertains to Divine Worship/Holy Common/Eucharist.
- My lack of familiarity with the Anglican/Episcopalian communities discourages me from exploring the portion of their Order(s) of Worship that pertain to Divine Worship/Holy Common/Eucharist.
- Because the portion of Christian ("High Church") Orders of Service/Liturgies that pertain to Holy Communion/Eucharist exist because of Jesus' instructions to his disciples, given during a Passover meal, my curiosity led me to explore what a common Passover meal may have been like in Israel during the time period of or about the early 30s C.E. [i.e. Common Era].
- Harel13 directed me to the Wikipedia page addressing the Haggadah which is the Hebrew name for the written order of actions to be taken during the Passover meal. However, I thought it was interesting to note that a standardized, written Haggadah could not have existed before 170 C.E., and may not actually have been compiled many years later.
- Comparing an Haggadah with the events described in the gospels reveals the brevity of the gospel accounts of the Passover meal, even if Jesus' last supper with the disciples and common practices of the time differed from later Haggadic standardization. In other words, Jesus and his disciples didn't just "recline at the table", eat some matzah, share a cup of wine, sing a song and leave the house.
- I can live with that: the gospels focus our attention on two brief events that occurred during a larger, longer event. The Passover meal was the larger, longer event, i.e. the context. The two brief events were: the breaking of one matzah and the drinking of one cup of wine. In the Haggadah, there are three matzahs stacked, the second is broken in half, and there are four cups of wine. Correlation of the events of the last supper and some variant of a Haggadic prescribed Passover meal seems tenuous at best; more so, in the absence of the Haggadah.
- That said, I am intrigued, nevertheless, because in the Haggadah, the second matzah is broken and
- during the last supper with his disciples,
- Matthew 26:26 ... Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
- Mark 14:22 ... he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”
- Luke 22:19 And he took bread, and when he had 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.”
- during the last supper with his disciples,
- I note that in the discussions of the Haggadot that I have looked at, each of the four cups of wine drunken during the meal is associated with one of God's four "I wills" recorded in Exodus 6:
- 6 Therefore, say to the children of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will take you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will save you from their labor, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 And I will take you to Me as a people, and I will be a God to you, and you will know that I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. Why Do We Drink Four Cups Of Wine On Passover?
- But in the gospel accounts, we read:
- Matthew 26:27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
- Mark 14:23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
- Luke 22:25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
- In the Haggadah, the cup poured after the meal is--I believe--the third cup, which would be associated with the third of God's "I will" statements: "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments", sometimes called "the cup of redemption". [Corrections welcome.]
- If so, I think it's interesting to note that Jesus says he will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the day that he drinks it in the kingdom of God. This same cup is the cup that he offers to the disciples with the establishment of his covenant. It would seem to me. then, that they did not drink the fourth cup, which appeasr to be a significant departure from tradition, as would Jesus' other innovation assigning new meaning to the broken matzah.
- By what authority does Jesus take the traditional Passover meal--which all Jews knew is a remembrance and celebration of God's actions on their behalf when He delivered them from Egyptian captivity--and assign new meanings to portions of the meal?
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