Barnabas H.
<b>Oldtimer</b>
SaggyWoman, I admire your tenacity in pursuing after the subject at hand. But that is the way one learns. And learning about the Bible is an admirable thing, and it is benefiting the soul. After reading all the posts I am not surprised if you have still some remaining question, because at the first reading the Bible does not seem to cooperate with the chronology of the events – which we call, the Lord’s Supper. I remember that in my early youth I asked the same question and although people explained it to me, I still could not see the complete picture. So, with your kind permission I will try to convey the picture of the Lord’s Supper as I understood it through years of Bible study and reading some of the well rounded commentaries, where the men of God were putting down their best understanding of this event.
I believe that first and foremost, as Dr. Griffin explained it, you have to be familiar with the Jewish customs of Passover. How it is being done, being prepared, what are they eating and how they are eating it. Then you have to realize that the Passover mentioned in the Bible was immediately followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now after the main course, the supper (according to Adam Clarke), it was customary to break the unleavened bread and bless God the dispenser of every good. One of the common Jewish prayers at this time would go like this: “Blessed be thou, our God, King of the universe who bringest forth bread out of the earth.” Likewise on taking the cup, they say: “Blessed be our God, the King of the universe, the Creator of the fruit of the vine.” As I said, this was done after the main course, the actual supper.
Now the key reference here is found in the last of the Gospels, in John 13:1-30, where the apostle states events immediately before and shortly after the supper. Verse 30 says, “He (Judas) then having received the sop (piece of bread dipped in “gravy”
went immediately out: and it was night.” Now in order to put this in chronological order we must read the synoptic Gospels first, as follows:
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Matthew 26:21 “And as they did eat, he (Jesus) said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.” verse 25 ”Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.” John 13:30 “He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.”<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
In light of the above, perhaps the verse which is confusing in the chronological order may be Luke 22:21 where it says, “But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.” And this was said seemingly in direct correlation to the Lord’s Supper. But if you read John 13:1-30 you will see that between the Luke account we can insert John’s first hand observations and fill in those loop-holes. These four gospel accounts reminds me of my art class long ago. Our teacher wanted to teach us perception by placing about 30 small items on a table and had us look at it for 3 minutes. After that she covered the table and asked us to list or draw as many items as we remember from the contents of the table. We all came up with different figures but some of the best students were able to come pretty close. So it is with the Bible account, the Apostles and Luke were writing from different perspective but when you put them together you get the full picture. Can you see it now?
I believe that first and foremost, as Dr. Griffin explained it, you have to be familiar with the Jewish customs of Passover. How it is being done, being prepared, what are they eating and how they are eating it. Then you have to realize that the Passover mentioned in the Bible was immediately followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now after the main course, the supper (according to Adam Clarke), it was customary to break the unleavened bread and bless God the dispenser of every good. One of the common Jewish prayers at this time would go like this: “Blessed be thou, our God, King of the universe who bringest forth bread out of the earth.” Likewise on taking the cup, they say: “Blessed be our God, the King of the universe, the Creator of the fruit of the vine.” As I said, this was done after the main course, the actual supper.
Now the key reference here is found in the last of the Gospels, in John 13:1-30, where the apostle states events immediately before and shortly after the supper. Verse 30 says, “He (Judas) then having received the sop (piece of bread dipped in “gravy”
went immediately out: and it was night.” Now in order to put this in chronological order we must read the synoptic Gospels first, as follows:<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Matthew 26:21 “And as they did eat, he (Jesus) said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.” verse 25 ”Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.” John 13:30 “He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.”<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
In light of the above, perhaps the verse which is confusing in the chronological order may be Luke 22:21 where it says, “But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.” And this was said seemingly in direct correlation to the Lord’s Supper. But if you read John 13:1-30 you will see that between the Luke account we can insert John’s first hand observations and fill in those loop-holes. These four gospel accounts reminds me of my art class long ago. Our teacher wanted to teach us perception by placing about 30 small items on a table and had us look at it for 3 minutes. After that she covered the table and asked us to list or draw as many items as we remember from the contents of the table. We all came up with different figures but some of the best students were able to come pretty close. So it is with the Bible account, the Apostles and Luke were writing from different perspective but when you put them together you get the full picture. Can you see it now?
