This Podcast, ‘Jesus’ Last Supper and the connection to Passover,’ opens up the secrets of the origin of Holy Communion:
POLO: Right, Priscilla and Maurice. We are going to look at Jesus’ Last Supper, which is now also known as Holy Communion, or the Mass.
PRISCILLA: Polo, is that when Christians have a bit of bread with some wine in a church service?
MAURICE: Yes, Priscilla. It is very quiet and boring.
POLO: Maurice, behave. You don’t know what it all represents. The origin of the Last Supper grew from the Jews when they were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. God sent various troubles on the Egyptians to force them to let the Jews go.
PRISCILLA: Oh, yes! I think it was known as the Ten Plagues.
POLO: Yes, that’s right, Priscilla. To be spared from the last plague, they needed to sacrifice a lamb as a substitute to stop the plague from harming them. The only people to believe this were the Jews. The Egyptians did not believe, and they did not sacrifice a lamb. Therefore, a destroying angel killed all the firstborn baby boys and animals.
PRISCILLA: That’s horrible.
POLO: Yes, it was a nasty situation.
MAURICE: I remember now that is known as the Passover, because the destroying angel passed over them, and they were unharmed. The Passover meal is still celebrated by Jews today.
POLO: Yes, that is true. Jesus came 1,400 years later from those plagues. Jesus was in his third year of teaching and healing people, and he wanted to celebrate the Passover meal with his disciples, who were his followers. Maurice, can you be Jesus for me?
MAURICE: Certainly, I will try.
POLO: Jesus was sitting with his 12 disciples around a table, and then he said.
MAURICE: I really want to eat this Passover with you before I suffer and die.
POLO: Then Jesus took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said.
MAURICE: Each of you take a sip of this wine. For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink any wine until I reach the Kingdom of God in heaven.
PRISCILLA: Wow! Jesus was really sure that this was going to be his last meal on this earth.
POLO: Jesus then picked up a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying.
MAURICE: This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this meal to remember me.
PRISCILLA: So, that is why Christians eat bread and wine, to celebrate and remember Jesus.
POLO: Yes, Priscilla. After they had eaten a meal together, Jesus picked up a cup and said:
MAURICE: This wine that is poured out for you is the start of a new covenant I will make with all my followers. The wine symbolises my blood.
POLO: Then Jesus said a very strange thing. He said:
MAURICE: The one who will betray me is sitting at this table.
POLO: The disciples began to question one another, Whom could it be? Judas, who would betray Jesus, said, “Is it I, teacher?” So Jesus replied, “You have said so.” The other disciples did not hear what Judas had said, and Judas left to betray Jesus to the religious leaders. These leaders were very jealous because Jesus was attracting huge crowds, and they were not. They and Judas drew up a plan to arrest Jesus at night, when there were no crowds and when there were no witnesses. When Jesus saw that Judas had left the meal, he said:
MAURICE: Now I, the Son of God, will be lifted up and God will be glorified in me. Soon you will seek for me, but where I am going, you cannot come.
POLO: When Jesus said that he was going to be lifted up and glorified, he meant that he was going to be lifted up on a cross by the Romans. That does not sound like being glorified, but that is another story.
MAURICE: Then Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you should love one another. You have seen how much I love you, so follow my example. If you do this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”
PRISCILLA: So, what has this got to do with Holy Communion and the Passover?
POLO: Remember when the Jews were in Egypt and they had to kill a substitute lamb? So, the destroying angel would pass over them and save them. They had to believe and trust God that he would save them. Jesus was now saying that he was going to be a substitute lamb to save anyone who believed. Because we all do wrong things, we have bad, nasty thoughts, and we need to be saved from this.
MAURICE: That reminds me of a Bible verse. It says something like this, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not be blocked from God’s kingdom, but will be given eternal life.”
POLO: So the bread and the wine in a communion service remind us that Jesus had to die to give us freedom and eternal life. This is what the Last Supper is all about.
Link to Podbean Podcast.