Luke 22:14 - 23
14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it[b] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 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.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.[c] 21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” 23 And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. What did Jesus mean that He wouldn't eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God?
2. What did Jesus mean that He wouldn't drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes?
3. Was Jesus instituting the practice of communion for everyone or just His disciples?
4. Why is the bread Jesus body? Why not the meat or something else?
5. What was going through the disciples minds when they were questioning each other?
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2019/02/mark-1412-26-12-on-first-day-of.html says:
ReplyDeleteIn the Near East it was considered to be the ultimate act of treachery to betray someone with whom you would share in a meal. As a matter of fact, that's still considered true in the Middle East today.
Yet, in spite of so many privileges, Judas not only turned from Christ, but even willingly sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, about a month's wages for an average worker. Perhaps it was because Judas believed Jesus was the Messiah that he did what he did. He tried to force Jesus' hand. Judas took matters into his own hands by betraying Jesus to His accusers. We don't really know exactly why, we can only speculate at this point. The preponderance of evidence, however, seems to indicate that Judas felt that if he could force a confrontation between Jesus and Rome, perhaps all-out revolution would occur, with Jesus leading the Jewish opposition; perhaps even calling legions of angels to overthrow the yoke of Rome. It could have been that Judas thought nothing could really hurt Jesus. In any case, Judas had a victory theology which did not allow for the Cross.
Jesus tells the disciples two things in the upper room: He tells them that one of them was going to betray Him, and, "The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him." It is an amazing juxtaposition of man's responsibility and the divine sovereignty absolutely typical of all of Scripture.
"He took some bread"part of the Passover meal used unleavened bread. The host would hold the thin loaf of bread and break it, retaining some of it for later in the ritual meal. On this occasion Jesus forever changes the meaning of the bread. Before this, unleavened bread reminded the Jews that there hadn't been enough time for the bread to rise, so sudden was their Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12:19; 39). Now and forever after it signifies the broken body of our Lord.
The bondage remembered was no longer in Egypt, but the greater bondage to sin and death. No longer do we remember the Passover lamb whose blood was spread on the doorposts of each home among the Jews in Egypt, but we remember "Christ our Passover" who was given for us to deliver us from sin and death. This is redemption.
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2019/02/mark-1412-26-12-on-first-day-of.html continued:
ReplyDeleteSo did Jesus violate His promise when He took the sour wine on the cross? No, and to understand why, we need to take a closer examination of the Last Supper Passover meal itself.
In the Passover meal, traditionally four cups of wine were taken as part of the Seder ceremony. At the Last Supper Passover meal, Jesus drank from the first and second cups, but when he reached the moment to drink the third cup of wine (called the cup of redemption), He declined. Instead, He passed this cup to the disciples as Luke records, and told them to drink of His “blood,” which would be poured out to redeem men from their sins.
At that moment, Jesus symbolically associated the wine of the third cup with His spilled blood on the cross.
Following the third cup, Jesus stated He will not drink wine again until He reaches the Kingdom. Jesus wasn’t pledging to never consumer wine in any form since we see He consumed a tiny portion on the cross. Such a pledge would have served no spiritual purpose. Instead, Jesus was speaking specifically about refraining from drinking the fourth cup of wine served during the Passover meal.
Jesus did not drink the fourth cup at the Passover table (neither did the disciples). Instead, that meal was suspended at the point of drinking the third cup. The fourth cup will not be consumed until the inauguration of the Kingdom.
Jesus said the meal would be "fulfilled" (i.e., completed) in the Kingdom. This statement tells us that the Last Supper continues to be underway until the Kingdom. In that way, Jesus' final Passover meal was intended to establish the Last Supper observance as a bridge connecting His death to His return to establish the Kingdom.
Since Jesus death, the Church's observance of the Lord’s Supper has “replayed" the moment Jesus passed the third cup around the table to His disciples. Each time Christians participate in the Lord’s Supper, we remember that we await the Lord’s return and the moment we will drink the fourth cup of wine with Him in the Kingdom.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/22-21.htm says:
ReplyDelete“is a proof,” says Bengelius, “that Judas was present at the Lord’s supper;” for it shows that Christ’s discourse is continued without interruption; and it appears, from Luke 22:14, that when he sat down to the supper and begun the discourse, the twelve were with him: Dr. Lightfoot was of the same opinion, who says, “What can be desired more, as a demonstration that Judas was present at the eucharist?” Thus also Henry: “By the placing this after the institution of the Lord’s supper, it seems plain that Judas did receive that supper, did eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” According to Matthew and Mark, however, Jesus pointed out Judas, as the traitor, to the disciples at this supper, before the institution of the sacrament, as at a prior supper (see John 13:23, &c.) he had done to John. Perhaps he did it both before and after he instituted the eucharist. So Dr. Macknight thought. “Our Lord,” says he, “was now deeply affected with his own thoughts, for he uttered some of the things twice that lay heaviest upon his spirit, as persons in great concern are wont to do; particularly after delivering the sacramental cup, and telling them that his blood was shed for them, he mentioned the treachery of Judas a second time.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-22-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteNow on the year Jesus died (most favor 30 AD but some like John MacArthur favor 33 AD - see note at end of this paragraph), the 14th of Nisan fell on a Friday. How do we know it was a Friday? Mk 15:42 says "When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath." In other words the day before the Sabbath was referred to by the Jews as "the day of preparation," because it was the day they would normally make preparations for their Sabbath in which they could do no work (including preparation of meals which had to be pre-prepared.) Jn 19:14 describes Jesus before Pilate, John recording "Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he *said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” So John substantiates that in this particular year, the day of preparation was also the day of the Passover. We see later in John more support for the day of the Passover being a Friday, John writing "Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day) (ED: THE SABBATH WOULD BEGIN AT SUNSET = Lev 23:32 "from evening until evening"), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." One additional note - The 14th of Nisan fell on a Friday in the year 30 AD and the year 33 AD, the two years in which Jesus could have died on a Friday Passover. For more on this subject see "In What Year Did Jesus Die?"
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-22-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteThere are 4 cups in the Passover Seder:
1. The Cup of Sanctification - "I will bring you" (Ex 6:6)
2. The Cup of Plagues (Deliverance) - "I will deliver you from bondage" (Ex 6:6)
3. The Cup of Redemption - "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments." (Ex 6:6) This looks back to God's redemption of Israel. Jews who have not yet believed in Jesus believe this cup looks forward to the coming of the Messiah (having missed His first coming to be sacrificed as the Lamb of God).
4. The Cup of Praise (Cup of Acceptance) - " I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." (Ex 6:7)
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-22-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteSo far for the arrangement of the table. Jewish documents are equally explicit as to that of the guests. It seems to have been quite an established rule that, in a company of more than two, say of three, the chief personage or Head - in this instance, of course, Christ - reclined on the middle divan. We know from the Gospel-narrative that John occupied the place on His right, at that end of the divans - as we may call it - at the head of the table. But the chief place next to the Master would be that to His left, or above Him. In the strife of the disciples, which should be accounted the greatest, this had been claimed, and we believe it to have been actually occupied, by Judas. This explains how, Christ whispered to John by what sign to recognise the traitor, (Jn 13:26)none of the other disciples heard it. It also explains, how Christ would first hand to Judas the sop, which formed part of the Paschal ritual, beginning with him as the chief guest at the table, without thereby exciting special notice. Lastly, it accounts for the circumstance that, when Judas, desirous of ascertaining whether his treachery was known, dared to ask whether it was he, and received the affirmative answer, (Mt 26:25) no one at table knew what had passed. But this could not have been the case, unless Judas had occupied the place next to Christ; in this case, necessarily that at His left, or the post of chief honour.
Questions and findings:
ReplyDelete1. What did Jesus mean that He wouldn't eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God?
2. What did Jesus mean that He wouldn't drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes?
In both of these, He was talking about the Passover meal. I thought that the second article above had a likely and interesting explanation.
3. Was Jesus instituting the practice of communion for everyone or just His disciples?
The early church practiced communion. Paul talks about it in I Cor 10:16 and I Cor 17:20 - 30, so we can assume that Paul expects that Christians will practice communion. In any case, it's a great practice for us to remember what Jesus did for us.
4. Why is the bread Jesus body? Why not the meat or something else?
The bread had special meaning, going back to the mana in the desert, and going back to the unleavened bread when the Jewish people had to leave Egypt suddenly. Also, the breaking of the bread symbolizes Jesus body being broken. Further, the unleavened bread symbolized the Holiness of it.
I also, speculate that if the meat was used, there would be more confusion as to what we were eating exactly. Is it symbolic or are we actually eating Jesus' body? With it being bread, it's much more clear that it's sybolic.
5. What was going through the disciples minds when they were questioning each other?
I think they didn't know what Jesus meant in the first place, or what He was saying. Even when He sent Judas away, they still didn't understand. They may have assumed that it was going to be accidental betrayal - that's why each was asking Jesus if it was himself (in John). It was pretty shocking to them, and they probably weren't reacting rationally.
The information about the meaning of the four cups during Passover was enriched my understanding. This Sunday we just heard a full sermon about the last supper and specifically the bread of communion. It is very thought provoking. Here is the link: https://soundcloud.com/city-of-light-church/unless-we-feast-on-jesus-john
ReplyDelete