Photo and Commentary ©2023 by Bev Riter
Sunday, June 11, 2023
From Shelley: I’m writing this note on Saturday night, thinking back on the communion service we celebrated at church this morning. What a precious time it was to be reminded in tangible ways – the basin and towel, the bread and the grape juice – of Jesus’ love for us.
Some of us can look back on many years of communion services, and yet we find that it does not become a tired tradition but remains a fresh reminder of His sacrifice for us. There was at least one person this morning who took part in the communion service for the first time, sensing God’s love in a new way.
We’re so happy to have Bev Riter as our guest blogger today, as with her photos and text she helps us relive the Last Supper, in the place where it happened!
Bev writes: “Go and prepare for our Passover supper,” Jesus told Peter and John. (Luke 22:9 NEB) They asked where it should be held. Jesus told them that once they reached the city (Jerusalem), they would meet a man carrying a jar of water (this was women’s work, so he would be easily identified). They were to follow him to a large room. (Verses 9-13)
The above photo is the room, called the “Last Supper Room” and is thought to be the site where the Passover was held. It is located on the second-story or “upper room”, directly above the Tomb of David on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. They were to prepare the room for the feast and buy a lamb for the temple sacrifice. Jesus had observed many Passover or Pesach meals before, but He knew this would be His last.
Their Passover meal could have been a Seder meal consisting of roasted lamb, salad from five types of bitter-tasting plants (to remind them of the bitter bondage in Egypt), red wine mixed with water, charoseth (a combination of almonds, figs, dates, wine and cinnamon), and unleavened bread (when they fled Egypt, the bread didn’t have time to rise). “And as they were eating (possibly like in the above picture in the “Last Supper Room”), Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took the cup, and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’” (Mathew 26:26-28) There was tension in the room because the disciples didn’t understand Jesus’s talk of His impending death. They didn’t understand what He meant that one of them would betray Him. Who? Who could it be?
This Passover would mark the death of Christ, releasing us from sin (Romans 8:2). The “real” Passover lamb would be sacrificed. We celebrate the “Christian Passover” as a memorial of the death and sacrifice of Jesus. Partaking of unleavened bread and wine (or grape juice) is a remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus’ body and shed blood (I Corinthians 10:16) for our sins.
Thank you, Jesus for your sacrifice for us!