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THE
NEW LIFE by
John Marshall
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Chapter
4 • THE BREAKING
OF BREAD
Our memorial service of the New Covenant arose out of the
memorial service of the Old Covenant which began with the
Passover of the natural Israel: "This day shall be unto
you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast of the Lord
throughout your generations ... by an ordinance for ever."
Ours is an ordinance which we are to keep until Christ returns.
It is interesting to see how the ordinance of the New Covenant
for the spiritual Israel arose. Jesus, with the twelve, was
in Jerusalem in the last week of his ministry in order to
observe the Passover feast. We are told: "Then came the
day of unleavened bread when the passover must be killed.
And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the
passover, that we may eat."
The Passover Feast
Before a lamb was sacrificed it was necessary for the priests
to confirm that it was without blemish. It would have been
taken to them for this purpose two or three days before. God,
the Father, and Pilate, the judge, confirmed the unblemished
character of Jesus, before he was sacrificed as "the
Lamb of God". On the day of the feast someone would have
been appointed to slay the lamb and the blood would have been
sprinkled and poured before the altar by a priest. Peter wrote
of the elect who are sanctified, "unto obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."
In the slaying of the animal, the removal of the prescribed
parts by the priests and the cooking of the carcase which
would have been handed back by the priests for this purpose
everything would have been done to make sure that no bone
would be broken. Of the crucifixion of Jesus, John records:
"For these things were done, that the scripture should
be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. "
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References
Exod 12v14, Luke 22v7-8, Matt 3v17, Luke 23v14-15
(The Passover in the time of Christ by K.E. Keith), 1 Pet
1v2, Psa 34v20, John 19v36
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Chapter
4 • THE BREAKING
OF BREAD
Jesus gave Peter and John instructions as to where they were to
prepare the feast, and their first duty, unless it had already been
done by the householder, would have been to verify that no leaven
of any kind was left in the house: only unleavened bread was to
be eaten for seven days. Paul writes of its spiritual application
in this way: "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may
be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover
is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with
the old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness;
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
The figurative way in which Paul refers to leaven, and to unleavened
bread, shows that there is no compulsion on us today to use one
or other at our Memorial feast. It is for an ecclesia to decide.
The Bread and the Wine
The feast usually followed a fixed order and lasted about three
to four hours. On this night every Jew had to drink four cups of
wine even "though he were to receive money for it from the
poor box". Everyone at table was provided with a separate cup
filled with wine and the proceedings began with the drinking of
this cup after the pronouncement of a blessing.
After a washing of hands, there was the breaking of bread On the
Sabbath two loaves were placed on the table in memory of the double
measure of manna gathered on the Friday. On Passover night three
loaves were provided. The middle loaf was broken into two parts,
the larger part to be kept to be eaten at the end of supper. The
smaller part was divided and eaten as "the bread of affliction
which our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt". Of Jesus,
Paul wrote: "I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up
that which is lacking (A. V. behind) of the afflictions of Christ
in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church." Jesus,
when he broke the bread said, in effect, whenever you break bread
in future, do it, not in remembrance of bondage, but "in remembrance
of me".
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References
Luke 22v10-13, Exod 12v15,19, 1 Cor 5v7-8,
poor box = Mishna, Col 1v24, Luke 22v19
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