To a deeper understanding of The Lord's Supper

Recently, two great festivals were marked: Easter and Pesach, Passover. Growing up, Passover was the central event around which my year revolved.

It didn’t just tell the story of how God miraculously delivered my ancestors from slavery; it invited me into that story through a sensory meal called a Seder (literally “order”).

During the Seder, a story is told of four children - the Wise, the Wicked, the Simple, and the one who does not know how to ask. This tale highlights how each generation is called to take part in the ongoing story of deliverance that has shaped the Jewish people for thousands of years.

On Maundy Thursday, I joined billions of Christians around the world in participating in Jesus’ recapitulation of the Seder - a sensory meal variously referred to as communion, the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist. For many, this practice is far removed from its original Jewish context, but understanding that context is key to grasping its full significance.

The Last Supper wasn’t novel, but was a deepening of symbols passed down through centuries.

The Lord's Supper in its Jewish context

The modern Seder revolves around two central elements: four cups of wine and unleavened bread, Matzah. Jesus would likely have followed a similar structure. He would have held up a Matzahtasch (a bag with three compartments for three pieces of matzah), removed the middle one, broken it, hidden it, then returned it. This is bread that He described as His "body, broken for you." He would have taken the third cup - the Cup of Redemption - and declared: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

In Jesus’ day, the Seder also included a lamb, sacrificed and eaten by those at the meal. It seems that Jesus had His Seder meal early, before the lambs were sacrificed and therefore this would not have been an element in His meal, perhaps, seeing Himself as the lamb, He felt this unnecessary. The lamb, then and now, reminds Israel of the original Passover sacrifice.

An invitation to journey

In participating in the Seder, Jewish people take on the identity of those fleeing Egypt, journeying toward the Promised Land in their own lives. Jesus’ recapitulation of the Seder invites us to the same journey: to take up our cross and follow Him.

It begins with the blood on the doorposts of our hearts - the beginning of our exodus from slavery to sin and Satan - through the waters of baptism, the trials of the wilderness, and into the promise of eternal life. Jesus walked this path perfectly: from baptism to wilderness to promise - without the failures we inevitably experience.

When sharing our faith with our Jewish friends, we must remember: this is a Jewish story - one all are invited to enter. It’s a narrative stretching back through history, which Jesus fills with living hope.

“I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 8:11).