The Last Supper

In the 22nd chapter of Luke is one of the three gospel accounts of the last meal that Jesus has with His disciples. It was on the first day of the Feast of Passover and Jesus, the Passover Lamb sent by God, was getting together with His closest friends to celebrate the traditional meal. 

"Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching . . . Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed, and He sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it' . . . And when the hour had come He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, 'I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God' ".

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There were seven major Jewish feasts, and three of them ran together at the beginning of the Hebrew calendar. The timing of the new year was established by God through Moses at the first Passover and the first three were agriculturally based occurring in the Spring harvest time. Passover remembered God's deliverance of the Hebrew people out of Egypt and their protection from the 10th plague. The meal that they ate was prepared in a hurry so Unleavened Bread was a symbol that they must always be ready. And because leaven represents evil the bread without leaven is also a symbol of cleaning out evil from one's life. The celebration concludes with the Feast of First Fruits, thanking God for His provision for the people.

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The context then of Jesus last supper was a Passover meal. The unleavened bread looked like a large cracker, stripped because of the way it was cooked. So when Jesus takes some of this bread, He gives thanks and; 

"He broke it, and gave it to them, saying 'This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me' ". 

The bread that they were eating was the bread from the old covenant. It was eaten once a year, just as it was only once a year when the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat for the sins of the nation. Here Jesus was telling His disciples that this bread was always looking forward toward Him and from now on when they would eat it they would remember that it was His body that was broken for them, It was His body that was lashed with stripes for their healing (Isaiah 53:5) and it is new life in Him that is the bread that feeds their souls.

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Jesus then takes a cup which if filled with wine. He has already told His disciples earlier in John 15 that 

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser" 

and they needed to abide in Him to be able to bear fruit. The fruit of the vine at the Passover meal represented the blood from the slain lamb that was applied to the door posts and header on the night before their ancestors left Egypt. Jesus at the beginning of the meal gives thanks for the cup and says; 

"Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes". 

Then after they eat the bread He again takes the cup, saying; 

"This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood". 

Here Jesus was telling His disciples that the Passover cup was always looking forward to Him and from now on they would remember that the blood He shed on the cross would make Him the Passover Lamb. Indeed, at the moment of Jesus death the curtain in the temple that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was torn if two from top to bottom. No longer would there be need for the high priest to sprinkle blood once a year for the sins of the nation. By the shed blood of Jesus God could give new life to the spirit of man. 

This was a new provision from God, a new covenant that would bring men into the kingdom of God. And that is what all the disciples of Jesus should remember when they would eat the Passover meal.

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The early church was a Jewish church. They still observed the Jewish feasts but now they understood the complete symbolism of the different parts. Jesus was the Passover Lamb, the Unleavened Bread, and His resurrection came on the Feast of the First Fruits. He was the first to be resurrected, a promise that one day they also would be. 

This early Jewish church recognized that because there was no longer a separation between God and man they could remember Jesus as often as they wanted in their fellowship meals through the bread and the wine. Eventually Gentiles would become believers and greatly outnumber the Jewish members, and the understanding of the Passover context in the communion meal would be lost.