Passover & Communion

I have received an interesting question that partly has troubled me as well before. The issue is regarding Pesach (passover) and "Communion" or the “Lord’s Supper”.  

Below are extractions from The Scriptures by ISR of the relevant texts in question. The italic above is because of the word lord not being kosher. The two words in italics below I did because they are not in the “original” Greeks texts I have. We must also realise that the likelihood of the texts being written in Greek originally is very slim and it would more likely be Aramaic or Hebrew. 

Mattityahu (Matthew) 26 

²⁶And as they were eating, Yashua took bread, and having blessed, broke and gave it to the taught ones and said, “Take, eat, this is My body.”

²⁷And taking the cup, and giving thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.

²⁸“For this is My blood, that of the renewed covenant, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.

²⁹“But I say to you, I shall certainly not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on till that day when I drink it anew with you in the reign of My Father.” 

Markos (Mark) 14 

²²And as they were eating, Yashua took bread, having blessed, broke it, gave it to them and said, “Take, eat, this is My body.”

²³And taking the cup, giving thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

²⁴And He said to them, “This is My blood, that of the renewed covenant, which is shed for many.

²⁵“Truly, I say to you, I shall certainly no more drink of the fruit of the vine till that day when I drink it anew in the reign of Elohim.” 

Luke 22  

¹⁴And when the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve emissaries with Him.

¹⁵And He said to them, “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering,

¹⁶ for I say to you, I shall certainly not eat of it again until it is filled in the reign of Elohim.”

¹⁷And taking the cup, giving thanks, He said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves,

¹⁸for I say to you, I shall certainly not drink of the fruit of the vine until the reign of Elohim comes.”

¹⁹And taking bread, giving 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.”

²⁰Likewise the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the renewed covenant in My blood which is shed for you. 

1 Corinthians 11 

²³For I received from the Master that which I also delivered to you: that the Master Yashua in the night in which He was delivered up took bread,

²⁴and having given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

²⁵In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the renewed covenant in My blood. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.” 

The questions are as follows: 

1. Did Yahshua, observing the Passover with 12 Jews, have any intention of creating a “Christian” ceremony? Or was he in total, alluding to the significance of the Passover…?

 2. Is there a legitimate basis for the intensely “holy” observance of the Christian ritual, anywhere other than the few paragraphs of 1Cor 11: 23-26?

 I find it difficult to believe that Paul as a Jew was recommending or instituting some new ceremony loosely based on, or divorced from, the Covenant of the Passover. I don’t think the “Nazarenes” as the early believers in Ha-Mashiach were called, would have departed from the Passover. There is no basis for it in the gospel accounts of the words of Yahshua.

 3. Is the development of the concept of a sacrament delivered by a priest of the “new“ Christian religion, not a Hellenisation of the Jewish scriptures, and an extension of the pagan preoccupation with foods and offerings to be eaten in “holy” ceremonies in the temples of the Gods?

 I have no problem with the performance of the ritual but am curious as to its actual place in the plan of God.

For many years, as part of a protestant Afrikaans church, I was taught that Passover as the “Jews” did it, was over and done with and that we now were celebrating the “Lord’s Supper” instead. Further we were taught that we could do it as often as we liked and it was done at least 4 (four) times per annum. However, I believe we should look at the words of Yashua Himself from Mattityahu 5: 

¹⁷“Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to complete.

¹⁸“For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done.

¹⁹“Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.

And in Yohanan 13: 

³⁴“A renewed command I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Now, it is clear that Yashua was not planning or ordered  to change ANY of the Torah or the Prophets as stated in Mattityahu 5:17. It is further very clear that any one teaching any changes will be the least in the Reign of YHWH. Yashua would obviously not be the very least because He is in actual fact YHWH Himself.

When one takes a closer look at Shemoth 12 we it is an “everlasting law” :  

¹⁴‘And this day shall become to you a remembrance. And you shall observe it as a festival to YHWH throughout your generations – observe it as a festival, an everlasting law. 

This means that the Passover will carry on until such time we are finally in the Promised Land and even then, according to my understanding we will still observe it as a remembrance of our redemption. The question arises: Why would YHWH (Yashua) want to change anything that He Himself said was forever?

As YHWH was the Saviour to the people of Yisra’el sitting in bondage within Mitsrajim, so YHWH is the Saviour (Yashua) of everyone sitting in the bondage of sin and wanting to get out. Obviously there is a cost to be reckoned with: Total Obedience! So it is clear that Yashua was alluding to the real or perhaps complete, meaning and significance of Passover. 

At this point I would also want to stipulate that it is only in Luke and 1 Corinthians that he term renewed (or fresh, or new) is found as a pronoun to covenant. The word also really means something that is renewed or refreshed and not taking a clean slate to start all over.

The Passover (together with Unleavened Bread) is the first of the three festivals that YHWH ordered or commanded Moshe that ALL the men of Yisra’el should attend and come to be before Him. Are we not part of Yisra’el? If we are – and I certainly believe we are – it also applies to every believer. Yashua definitely did not change it! 

Now, the second question is what is known today as part of the Pauline Theology. Many people(churches and clergy) take Paul’s letters and read them out of context. They forget very easily that Paul was in fact Sha’ul and very much a Jew and a son of the Torah. He never changed that.  

What then did he change? When Sha’ul turned to Yashua he realised that trying to Please YHWH and earn redemption was the wrong way! He realised the was only One Way and that was Yashua’s Way. In the same way the people of Yisra’el had to believe that the blood on their doorposts would keep them safe we have to believe the Blood of Yashua keeps us safe. There is no difference. The Torah was then given as the instruction on how to love and serve YHWH. You can’t keep Torah to be saved. You have to be saved to keep Torah. The same applies to Passover. You can’t keep Passover to be saved. That only applied the first time. Now we have to be saved in order to keep Passover. 

So what is Sha’ul saying? Nothing new! He merely explained proper order. He was not propagating a NEW ritual. No where in Scripture is it found. What is found though are the words of Kefa (Peter) stating the following in 2 Kefa 3: 

¹⁵and reckon the patience of our Master as deliverance, as also our beloved brother Sha’ul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him,

¹⁶as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these matters, in which some are hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the other Scriptures. 

We can see clearly from these words that even in the time of Sha’ul and Kefa there was some contention regarding the interpretation of Sha’ul’s letters. We must remember where we inherited it from. It came from Rome. It was filled with Sun worship. After the Reformation it was cleaned up slightly but not completely. Many people (serious scholars) believe that Sha’ul’s letter should be omitted from Scripture. I do not share that view. I believe it should be interpreted correctly in the light of Torah and the Prophets and the rest of Scripture. Clearly the Words of YHWH/Yashua carry more weight than that of anyone else? 

I trust that the Spirit of our Father YHWH will give you the clarity you seek.

Blessings to you in the Name of YHWH!