Why Jesus' Last Meal was Important for Him and His Disciples and How Christians Might Interpret and Celebrate this Meal in the Church Today Christians call the last meal Jesus had with his disciples ‘the Last Supper’. It also happened to be a Passover meal. This was the most important evening in the Jewish year and is called the Exodus. This meal is a symbol that celebrates the time when god, through Moses, saved the Jewish nation from slavery in Egypt. The Passover became a symbol of the ‘passing over’ from slavery to freedom and is celebrated each year as the family gets together. ‘Passover’ recalls the time when an angel of death passed over the houses of the Israelites on their way to slay the first born of each Egyptian family. That night Moses commanded the Jews to sacrifice a lamb and smear the blood on the doorposts of their house as a sign that they were to be passed over. They were also to eat a bitter meal consisting of roast lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Each year the family meets for the celebration of the Passover. The Eucharist is the central ceremony to many Christian's worshipping life. It is a memorial of Jesus’ last meal. By sharing a simple meal of bread and wine, Christians remember the death of Jesus. Jesus shared a meal with his disciples on the evening before he died. The last supper took place in an upstairs room in a house in Jerusalem. In Mark 14:12-21 it tells us, Jesus had planned to meet his disciples. He kept it secret to make sure he has that one last meal with them. When they asked Jesus where to meet him, he replied through two of the disciples saying, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, “The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready.
All Gospels record the feeding of the 5000; the authors of Matthew and Mark record two feedings. A doublet or two separate events? The context of the narratives, similarities and differences, whether one event or two, historical or myth and the significance for each writer will be discussed.
In The Meaning of Jesus N.T. Wright and Marcus Borg present different views on issues relating to how Jesus is viewed. While Borg and Wright do agree on central ideals of Christianity, Borg tends to have more liberal views, whereas Wright holds more conservative views.
was taking a trip to Hawaii with his wife. It was a shock to the rest of the
He had a more minimalist view of the sacraments and positions the Eucharist as mainly a “visual aid a memorial.” Certainly, the reformers made a tremendous impact in our understanding and practice of the Lord’s Table. The fact that the communion act was reduced to a visual aid or a memorial raised issues concerning its importance and how frequent it should be celebrated.
I have always found communion to be an important sacrament to the Christian faith, but sometimes its meaning can be lost in repetitiveness. Sara Miles, in her book Take This Bread, has shed a new light on what it means to take communion as she writes about her transformation into being a Christian by receiving bread and wine. Hunger is the main theme of the book, whether it be spiritually or physically, all humans are linked by that common need. This transformation goes beyond her and pours into the souls and bodies of the San Francisco community, by sharing not only food but the body of Christ. This book has pushed me to get past my comfort zone and heavily consider the way in which food can be an important aspect of my faith and how I share
Throughout time, food has always played a large role in every day life. One aspect of life that food really plays a large role in is religious life. It is important to recognize that the first commandment that God gave to us was a restriction on eating. Many religions have dietary laws or restrictions that explain to the people of their religion what they can and cannot eat. The first commandments that God gave to us were related to eating. In the Bible, we see the Mosaic dietary laws. These laws were set and regulated by Moses, as explained by God’s law. The Old Testament is full of restrictions regarding food consumption and what types of foods should not be consumed. I will be further examining the Mosaic dietary laws and the role they continue to play in the modern-day and in many people lives.
... I had never even seen most of the food displayed, I eagerly and respectfully tried each dish. After everyone in the room sat down at the massive table, the Rabbi picked up a glass of wine and made a prayer over it. Then, Rabbi Kanelsky passed around pieces of Challah bread to the entire table. This lunch festival was yet another ceremony dedicated to one of the member’s deceased relative. At the conclusion, the Rabbi said another prayer out loud for the deceased and the relative expressed his gratitude to everyone.
After accepting Suzy’s offer to dinner, Thomas and Victor sit down to watch cowboys vs. Indians on TV while Suzy serves them fry bread. Thomas tells Victor it’s almost as good as Arlene’s. Victor says that’s impossible and that his mother cooks the best fry bread in the world. Then Thomas starts to tell a story about how there was a huge feast on the reservation with over 100 Indians. They had deer meat and a lot of mashed potatoes and some fry bread. But Thomas goes on to say that the fry bread made all the difference in the world. And that “a good piece of fry bread turned any meal into a feast”. The problem was that there were only 50 pieces of fry bread. So Arlene ripped each piece in half to feed everyone. The story ends up being untrue but it shows just exactly how important fry bread is to this film. Suzy is able to relate to Thomas and Victor simply by feeding them fry bread and talking about it. It breaks down the tension between these strangers. Thomas’s story shows how important fry bread is among the people at the reservation. It can change a regular meal into a feast. The idea of feast seems so much grander than a meal, it means people coming together to celebrate. For Native Americans fry bread, a symbol of their culture, is reason enough to celebrate. They may have been persecuted for centuries, but they can hold onto their heritage through fry bread. The filmmakers make Thomas’s story especially memorable through lighting and framing. When Thomas is telling his story we are watching images of Arlene preparing the bread. At one point she holds the fry bread over her head to tear it. The image seems almost Christ like. During the last supper Jesus breaks bread in a similar way. The lights are directed towards the bread which makes it pop on screen. Arlene is standing at the head of the table and is perfectly centered in the shot. The combination of lighting and framing makes the fry bread
Calvin 's point within this is that humanity is not just servants but, through Christ, are embraced as family. Thus, humanity must partake of the spiritual banquet. Calvin seeking to be consistent establishes the point of the sacrament that it is not sacraments that carry power. Instead, the Supper signifies Christ as being our only source for continued the Christian life (Institutes 4.XVII.1). However, Calvin pretty quickly states the mystery of Christ 's union to the believer, yet this union is our transformation into the likeness of Christ from the old self. Hence, the Supper is a continued extension of our regeneration. Moreover, Calvin emphasizes that our participation in the sacrament comes about for our being brought up into the life of God. To do this, Calvin states that one must "carefully observe" that the strength of the Supper symbolizes the redemption and salvation, Christ himself procured for humanity
Christ, as the ultimate sacrifice in Christianity, gave his own life for the benefit of others. His self-sacrifice continues to this day to be celebrated in the Catholic Mass. Through communion, or receiving the Eucharist, one is able to actively partake of the fruits of that sacrifice. But how does one follow Jesus’ example? One surely cannot strive for the same kind of physical death that Jesus experienced. Thus, practice of another form of self-sacrifice becomes necessary.
...le, the scripture passage Luke 24:30-32 in the bible explores the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is recognised after “he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them” This is important to Christian followers, as it is the foundation of Christian beliefs. This has also impacted the way Christians practise traditional rituals and ceremonies, such as the Eucharist and Baptism. Also the scripture reference provides adherents with the knowledge of Jesus’ resurrection and how he will be “with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28), even after his death and resurrection. Thus, the ritual of Eucharist and Baptism supports adherents in seeking where Christ is in their everyday lives. Hence, the rituals and ceremonies, such as the Eucharist and Baptism are significant to Christianity, through it shaping it as a living and dynamic tradition
Many Church Fathers in their teachings and writings against heresies have upheld Eucharist as the only Sacrifice in a sacramental mode. For example, St. Ignatius of Antioch, in his letter to the Smyrnaeans said “...the bread is the flesh of Jesus, the Cup, His blood” (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 7: 1). St. Justin Martyr in his Apology said; “not as common bread and common drink do we receive them….; but in like manner as Jesus Christ, our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood... so likewise ... the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word ...and from which our flesh and blood...are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.” (First Apology, 66). In his teaching against the Marcion, Tertullian teaches that Christ’s death on the Cross is made sacramentally present on the altar in unbloody manner (Tertullian, Against Marcion,
of pressure over the course of his lifetime. It would be difficult for anyone to keep such secrets
...th his mother. His mother was really important to him and the same goes his mother. “She reminded me daily that I was her sole son, her reason for living, and that if she were to lose me, in either body or spirit, she wished that God would mercifully smite her, strike her down like a weak branch” (166). He and his mother were very important to one another that she would really die if he was gone from her life. They share something important and that is food. Now that she has passed away he looks back on his life and thinks back to all the times they had together. The food that he ate as a child gave him such wonderful memories. Now it is something that he was able to do himself and every time he would make it, he would think about his mother and it makes him smile.
Our tour guide, an extremely hot angel with an exotic name that I cannot spell, informs us that this destination will appeal to those of us that “had an unending desire to indulge in edible delights in our earthly state”. Those words paint a picture of me down to the last drop! Excitement is so real all around me, it’s almost tangible, and I suddenly realize why Jesus chose this for the first destination. My mind wanders to what he laughingly described it as : a place where you can catch up on never eating any good food while we were stuck. And dear me, no one in all of creation has EVER beholden this mind-boggling assortment of food before this day. A multitude of cuisine and foodstuffs simply hover in the air for miles upon miles. Walking up to a mouthwatering assortment of muffins, I sink my teeth into one a have a double-take. It makes all the memories of my personal favorites from Earth turn sour. Abruptly, a modest smile expands across my face. My little gerbil that I affectionately called ‘Muffin’ on earth is sweetly looking up at me. Would you have ever guessed that your furry companions were to accompany you to Heaven? For the remainder of the time, my friends and I fangirl over our favorite cooking sensations from