For “Scripture Sunday”:
Lessons of the Passover Bread
“On the night before His death, Jesus Christ shared unleavened bread with His disciples, telling them to repeat this every year in remembrance. What did this bread symbolize? What lessons are Christians to learn from it?
Marina Moshkovich/Hemera/Thinkstock
When you come to understand all that the bread represents, you will understand the deepest, loving intentions of God toward humankind.
For more than 50 years, I have annually observed the New Testament Passover as instructed by Jesus Christ. Each time I have marveled at the significance of what Christ taught His followers and how meaningful each of the elements and symbols are for my life today.
In a way, Jesus Christ’s entire ministry for mankind is condensed into what happened on that evening! Let’s take a closer look. The Gospel writer Luke shares this account of what happened that evening:
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
“When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, ‘With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’
“Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me’” (Luke 22:14-19).
The apostle Paul later explains what he had been personally taught by Jesus Christ:
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes’” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
Key symbols of Christianity
The very heart and core of Christianity is wrapped up in the symbols of the bread and the wine that Jesus shared at the Passover the night before His death. Christ established a practice for Christians to follow and carefully examine today.
The Passover evening began with Jesus washing each of the disciple’s feet, as recorded in John13:1-17. This showed His humility and service to humanity and the need for Him to cleanse us while also setting an example for us to follow. He followed up with the symbols of the bread and wine. Drinking the Passover wine represented accepting Jesus’ shed blood as payment for our sins that we may be forgiven as part of the New Covenant He offered.
The prophet Isaiah eloquently described this meaning: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).
When we take part in the Passover service today we reenact the solemnity, the intimacy of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, with one another and with ourselves. We leave the past behind as we reach out towards immortality and the Kingdom of God.
As Christians, we are admonished to examine ourselves prior to the service: “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” (1 Corinthians 11:27-30).” Continued at: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-magazine/lessons-of-the-passover-bread
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Christ’s Fervent Desire
Luke 22:15
Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
“Jesus Christ knew the terrible things He would suffer in the day ahead, but still He focused His mind on His disciples and using this last opportunity to teach them as much as He could. Much of His teaching on that Passover night is recorded for us in each of the Gospels, and especially in John 13 through 17. He set us an incredible example by focusing on God’s festival and God’s plan even when He had every excuse to focus on His trials and Himself. How can we do any less than to “do this in remembrance” of Him (verse 19), with fervent desire?”
Study more about Passover in “Passover: What Did Jesus Do for You?” and “Why Jesus Had to Die.”
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You Also Ought to Wash One Another’s Feet
John 13:14
“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
“Washing feet was a sign of kind hospitality, generally assigned to the lowest slave. It was dirty work considering the dusty roads of the Holy Land. Yet our Creator and Savior was willing to lower Himself yet again as a powerful lesson we are to copy.
Washing feet as part of the New Testament Passover reminds us to always look for ways to serve, whether menial or major. The Christian life is a life of service, with a foot-washing attitude.
Study more about Passover in our article “Passover and Forgiveness” and our booklet “From Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You.”
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Update.
As my last post was just three days ago, not much has gone on since then. Zack, my neighbor who helps me, and I, went over to the horse pasture where travel trailer that I bought last week is stored, and pressure washed it. It looks a lot better. It needs some work and I wish it was outside my side door where all my tools are in the workshop, but I don’t have permission to bring it here just yet. Mostly it needs new countertops in the kitchen and bathroom because it was built when they thought particle board was OK. I make them out of 3/4 inch plywood which doesn’t rot like particle board, and then cover them with Formica. I don’t need granite or anything heavy and hard like that, because I am used to using cutting boards. The propane water heater is shot, so I will install an instant propane or electric one as they are more economical and widely used in Europe where utilities are much more expensive than here in the USA.
Most of my time on Thursday and Friday was getting things ready for the Holy Day at church, and playing hostess to several visitors. A former foster-mom of my foster-cat Oreo came to see me, she was just as upset about Oreo’s demise as I am. We knew that there was something else wrong with that old kitty other than her thyroid and heart. Oreo enjoyed a lot of love here with me, and I miss her.
For the church Passover Service, I made a Gefilte Fish and organic veggie loaf, and the left-overs went home with different people. I also made the Charoset for the Sedar Plate with apples, walnuts, honey, cinnamon, and ground cloves, etc. One thing that always goes down well is my Unleavened Almond Bread, I knew to make a lot as the folks want to take some home with them: https://www.ucg.org/members/recipes/unleavened-recipes/jewish-almond-bread , but we agreed that there should only be about 1/4 cup of sugar, unless you are trying to make a dessert. My Rutabaga Baked Fries got eaten up in a hurry. We also had the tradional lamb, hard boiled egg, parsley, etc. We did it just like Jesus and the Disciples did all those years ago.
We had to have the service during the day instead of the previous evening, because some of us are getting old and can’t drive in the dark, so it started at 11.00 am on Saturday with the washing of each other’s feet. The Bible readings were Luke 22:14. The wine represents His blood, Luke 22: 19, The bread represents His body, John 13:1-17 about Jesus washing the feet, John 5:25-58, 1 Cor. 1:7-29, and 23:26, “Do This In Remembrance of Me” , Exo 6:6-8, the 4 cups of wine. The fifth cup, Elijah’s, cannot be drank yet. We all enjoyed the day.
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