How Passover became Breaking Bread, and how to Celebrate it

Speaker: 
Andrew Fountain
Date: 
Sun, 2022-07-17

Video cover image by Marco Verch Creative Commons 2.0

  • Passover was the central memorial feast of the Old Covenant,
  • and while celebrating it with his disciples, Jesus replaced it with a new feast,
  • saying ‘this is the New covenant in my blood, do this in remembrance of me!’
  • We explore 7 ways in which it connects with us.
  • If you have trouble viewing this video, you can try watching it directly on Vimeo
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Sermon Slides - How Passover became Breaking Bread, and how to Celebrate it

Goal

To understand what and why we break bread together
and for each of us to get the most out of the celebration at the end of this teaching.

  • Covenant Memorials:
    • Usually when a covenant was made, there was some kind of ongoing physical symbolism to constantly remind both parties
    • God gave the rainbow to Noah when he made a covenant with him and humanity
      • “whenever you see a rainbow...”
    • Abraham was given the sign of circumcision
    • Jacob made a covenant with Laban and they raised a heap of stones
    • Israel was given the Passover sacrifice and meal, every year!
    • We are given “breaking of bread”

Name used in the Bible

breaking bread 12
the Lord’s table 1
the Lord’s supper 1
love feast 1
communion/participation 1
eucharist (thanks) 0

The Passover and Breaking Bread

  1. The Original Passover – Old Covenant Feast
  2. Jesus replaces it – “This is the New Covenant in my blood”
  3. How Should We Celebrate it Now?

1. The Original Passover – Old Covenant Feast

The Story

  • 10 plagues on Egypt
  • Final plague, a picture of the final judgment at the end of the world
  • But this would be a partial end
    • only for the land of Egypt
    • only the firstborns
  • The most significant part of this story is that a substitute was available
    • Note that it was available to both Israelites and Egyptians, and Ex.12:38 tells us that many Egyptians went with them when they left
      a few verses later God gives specific instructions that they could become part of Israel simply by being circumcised

Exodus 12

  1. The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
  2. “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.
  3. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.
  4. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
  5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,
  6. and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
  7. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
  8. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
  9. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
  10. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
  11. This is how you are to eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover.
  12. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.
  13. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
  14. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

ESV

  • I have catalogued every single reference to the Passover and unleavened bread in the Bible, and if you read carefully, you will see they are two separate events.
    • Leaven is another word for yeast, so Unleavened = flat-bread with no yeast, e.g. pita bread
    • The Passover Sacrifice was on the 14th of the month
    • The Feast of Unleavened Bread started on the 15th for 7 days
    • but not eating yeast began on the Passover

Key Elements of the Passover

  • Sacrifice of a spotless lamb
  • It’s blood was shed as a substitute for the firstborn. The would be “passed over”
  • This was to be remembered:

Exodus 12

  1. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no destructive plague will touch you, when I strike Egypt…
  2. And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this ceremony?’
  3. you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’”
  • The second element was the unleavened bread, and that was symbolic of having to leave in a hurry, with no warning —they just grabbed the bread dough and ran.
    • Later on God added the imagery of the yeast being like a picture of contamination of sin
      (That was later, and there was no suggestion that yeast itself was wrong.)
  • Note that no drink is mentioned. Of course they would have drunk, but it did not have symbolism
    • In Egypt wine was too expensive for common people and beer was the usual drink
    • In Palestine, wine was cheap and became the common drink to go with the meal. But it did not carry any meaning in that context!
  • Note that the Passover Sacrifice always had to happen in Jerusalem at the temple
    • This caused a problem later when the kingdom was divided, but some still came
    • It is the reason the Passover Sacrifice ended when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70
    • Although the Jews today have a Ceder celebration, it isn’t based around the sacrifice of one life for another
      • The Jewish historians tell us that is is actually patterned after a Greek tradition called a symposium

2. Jesus replaces it – “This is the New Covenant in my blood”

Matthew 26

  1. Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
  2. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,
  3. for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
  • “the new covenant in my blood” —Luke 22:20
  • So what is going on here.
    • Jesus taking the meal that symbolizes the Old Covenant
    • He is re-purposing it with a new name
    • And replacing the key part:
  • This is the most important slide I am going to show you!

Old vs New Covenant

Jesus makes use of what is present to replace the symbolism

Annual Blood sacrifice
of Lamb 		Unleavened
Bread 		(unspecified
drink)
Sacrifice completed
so no more
eating lamb!		 re-purposed
by Jesus 		re-purposed
by Jesus
Frequent Broken body Life blood
poured out for us

1 Corinthians 11:23–26

  1. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
  2. and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
  3. In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
  4. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

3. How Should We Celebrate it Now?

  • I am not going to go into it now, but there is very good evidence that the early church celebrated the bread and wine
    • connected to a meal, they called a love feast
    • not as a separate event like we do today
    • but kicking off the meal with the bread
    • and ending with the wine
  • We are not going to do that today, but some day I would like to try it
    • after all, that is how Jesus and the disciples did it the very first time
  • Seven Reasons for Breaking Bread

Seven Reasons for Breaking Bread

  1. Look backwards as we remember Jesus’s death
  2. Proclaim what he has done as a witness to others
  3. Demonstrate our unity in Christ
  4. Celebrate that our sins are washed away
  5. Obtain a blessing as by faith we receive the benefits of Christ’s death
  6. Picture of depending on Jesus for sustenance
  7. Look forwards to feasting with Christ in glory
  1. Look backwards as we remember Jesus’s death
    1 Cor 11:24. and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
  2. Proclaim what he has done as a witness to others
    1 Cor 11:26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
  3. Demonstrate our unity in Christ
  4. Celebrate that our sins are washed away
  5. Obtain a blessing as by faith we receive the benefits of Christ’s death
  6. Picture of depending on Jesus for sustenance
    • Living water (John 4)
    • Eat my flesh, drink my blood (John 6)
    • Vine and the branches (John 15)
  7. Look forwards to feasting with Christ in glory
    Rev 19:9 Marriage supper of the Lamb
    1. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Emotions to hold

  • Sadness remembering Jesus’ suffering
    ”He broke the bread and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”
  • Clinging to Jesus, receiving life from the one we depend on
    ”I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
  • Joy celebrating—now washed spotlessly clean!
    “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
  • Hope an unimaginably bright future for eternity
    ”I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
  • Can you hold those four as we celebrate now?

Updated on 2022-07-18 by Andrew Fountain