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Day 320: Peter's Denial Foretold
Agape Bible Study
Luke 20 - 22:38
Chapter 20
Jesus Teaches Daily at the Temple and Debates with Jewish Leaders
The religious leaders attempt to discredit Jesus with the people and to trap Him into incriminating Himself with the Roman authorities by making treasonous statements. They challenge Jesus by asking Him a series of three questions:
- On His authority to teach as He does (22:2)
- On the payment of Roman taxes (20:22)
- On His understanding of the Resurrection (20:28-33)
Jesus will respond by defeating their traps and will ask two questions of His own on their understanding to two passages from the Psalms:
He identifies the passages with Himself. The chapter ends with Jesus' denunciation of the scribes (Lk 20:45-47).
Luke 20:1-8 ~ The chief priests and scholars of the Law question Jesus' authority
Their first attempt to trap Jesus is a failure. They want to know if Jesus believes he is acting on God's authority or on His own authority. Jesus challenges their question with a question about St. John the Baptist, asking them if St. John's prophetic mission was from God.
Question: What evidence do we have in Scripture that the religious leaders did not believe St. John's mission was from God? See Lk 7:30.
Answer: They refused John's baptism of repentance, an action that thwarted God's plan for their salvation.
Luke 20:9-19 ~ The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
This parable is told to the people (verse 9), but the teaching is a warning to the religious leadership concerning their rejection of both St. John the Baptist and Jesus. The parable should be studied within the context of Jesus' warning in Luke 19:41-44 where He prophesied the destruction of the city of Jerusalem because "you did not recognize the time of your visitation."
Question: What is the time of their "visitation" that is also the "appropriate season" in verse 10 of the parable?
Answer: Jesus' presence within the holy city is the time of "visitation" and now is the "season."
St. Luke's audience would not have missed the comparison between Jesus' parable of the vineyard and the well-known parable of the vineyard in the book of the prophet Isaiah. Note Luke's use of the word "kyrios"/"lord" for the owner of the vineyard in verses 13 and 15 of the Greek text. Read Isaiah's parable in Isaiah 5:1-7.
Question: What is the symbolism of the parable: Who is the master who owns the vineyard? What does the vineyard represent? Why was the master said to be absent for a long time? Who are the tenants/vinedressers in charge of the harvest, who are the lord's servants who were rejected and beaten, and who is the beloved son the tenants/vinedressers killed? Finally, who are the "others" to whom the vineyard will be given?
Answer:
| Symbolic Imagery in the Parable of the Wicked Tenants | |
| The master/lord of the vineyard | God |
| The vineyard | God's covenant people, Israel/Judah |
| The tenants/vinedressers in charge of the vineyard's harvest | The religious authorities whose duty it is to ensure the salvation of the covenant people |
| The master's journey/absence for a long time | No theophany of God since Mt. Sinai |
| The three sets of the lord's servants | God's prophets down through salvation history |
| The lord's son | Jesus, God the Son |
| The tenants/vinedressers who decide to kill the son | The religious authorities and others who reject Jesus as the Messiah and seek His death |
| The "others" who will now receive authority over the lord's vineyard | The Jewish and Gentile Christians who will be the "new Israel"* of the New Covenant Church of Jesus Christ. |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2013 | |
* see CCC 877: ... In fact, from the beginning of his ministry, the Lord Jesus instituted the Twelve as "the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy" ...
Luke 20:20-26 ~ Paying taxes to the Roman emperor
Knowing from their earlier confrontation that Jesus can recognize them, the chief priests send their agents in their hopes to trap Jesus. First, they attempt to flatter Jesus "their flattery and their plot to trap Jesus underscore their hypocrisy, malice and wickedness.
Question: What is ironic about the way they attempt to flatter Jesus?
Answer: What is ironic is that for once, even though they are insincere, their statements concerning Jesus are true.
Question: What is their question?
Answer: They are asking Jesus if it is "lawful," meaning acceptable according to God, to pay the Roman poll tax.
Luke 20:27-40 ~ The Sadducees question Jesus on the Resurrection
The Sadducees were the religious/political party that was for the most part composed of the chief priests.
- The Sadducees did not believe in a physical resurrection of the dead like the Pharisees (Lk 20:27; Acts 23:8; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 18:1.6).
- The Sadducees only observed the precepts of the written Law in the Torah/Pentateuch (five books of Moses), unlike the Pharisees who also followed the oral Law (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13.5.9; 13.10.6; 18:1.3; Jewish Wars, 2.8.14).
- The Sadducees counted among their supporters the wealthy and the aristocracy (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13.10.6).
- The Sadducees were the main opponents of the Pharisees (Antiquities of the Jews, 13.10.6).
The "power of God" refers to the resurrection of the dead. Jesus then instructs them in reverse order, telling them they do not understand the resurrection nor do they understand the Pentateuch "the Torah of Moses. He will continue to prove His point on their failure to understand the Scriptures in His exchange with the religious leaders in Luke 20:17-18 and 41-44. The Sadducees, who believed that they were the authoritative interpreters of the Torah of Moses and the "shepherds of Israel," must have been highly insulted.
Luke 20:41-44 ~ Jesus questions the Sadducees on the identity of David's son
After successfully dealing with the three questions of His adversaries, Jesus now asks them a question. Their failure in responding to Jesus' counter questions implies that they can no longer teach with authority on the Law. Now He will demonstrate that they also cannot correctly interpret the Scriptures.
Question: Who are the "them" in verse 41? See verse 39 and Mk 12:35.
Answer: The scribes who are the teachers of the Law.
Luke 21:1-4 ~ The poor widow's generosity
Within the Temple complex was a treasury where people could make donations for the support of the poor (Neh 10:38; Josephus, Jewish Wars, 6.5.2 [282]). The widow deposited two copper coins (lepta), the smallest value coins then in circulation (Johnson, page 316).
Question: What contrast does Jesus make between the poor widow and the pretentious scribes who "devour the houses of widows"?
Answer: In contrast to the hypocritical, pretentious and money loving scribes, Jesus points out a widow who does not place material wealth before her duty to God. Trusting God with a faithful and generous heart, she gives what little she has to support the poor.
Chapter 21:5-38
Discourse on the Destruction of Jerusalem
Luke 21:5-11 ~ The warning signs for the destruction of Jerusalem
Luke 21:6"All that you see here "the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."
The primary source for the historical event of the destruction of Jerusalem is the Jewish priest/historian, Flavius Josephus, who was an eyewitness to the siege and capture of Jerusalem by the Roman legions in 70 AD. The Jerusalem Temple was one of the most beautiful buildings in antiquity.
Question: What judgment does Jesus pronounce on the Jews who reject their Messiah in the discourse on the destruction of Jerusalem that begins in Matthew 23:34-39?
Answer: He said that Jerusalem was guilty of murdering God's prophets, and all the abuses against God's agents down through salvation history will fall upon Jesus' generation (Mt 23:36).
Jerusalem had not only killed the prophets, but she offered sacrifices for the Roman Emperor and the Roman people twice daily in the sacred Temple (Josephus: The Jewish Wars, 2.10.4; Against Apion, 2.5), and now she rejects the Messiah who has offered her mercy, redemption and the invitation to sin no more. God gave the Jewish people who resisted the Messiah 40 years to come to the New Covenant as a new generation in Christ, just as He gave Israel 40 years in the wilderness to fully embrace the Sinai Covenant. But judgment finally came in 70 AD when the Roman army utterly destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple by fire. After the fire died down, the Roman soldiers poured water on the hot rocks to extract the gold that had melted into the cracks of the rocks from the gold ornaments that decorated the Temple and the golden fence that topped the Sanctuary. The rocks broke apart and, as Jesus prophesied, "not one stone was left upon another." The Temple was never rebuilt "it was the house Jesus spoke of when He said: "Look! You house will be deserted" (Mt 23:38).
Luke 21:12-19 ~ The coming persecution
Question: Between Jesus' Ascension in the late spring of 30 AD and the Jewish Revolt that began in 66 AD and reached its climax in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, what persecutions did the faithful of the New Covenant Church suffer? Were these persecutions prophesied by Jesus?
Answer: St. Peter and John were arrested, imprisoned, and tried by the Sanhedrin. St. Stephen and St. James were martyred and St. Paul and other disciples were beaten. St. Paul was arrested by the Romans, imprisoned, and spoke the Gospel before two Roman governors (Felix and Festus), a Jewish King (Herod Antipas II) and two Jewish princesses (Drusilla and Bernice), before being taken as a prisoner to Rome. All spoke eloquently before their enemies, and everything that the early Christians suffered that was recorded in Acts was prophesied by Jesus in Luke 21:12.
Luke 21:20-24 ~ The siege and the great tribulation
There is an article of the Mosaic Law concerning the punishment for the daughter of a chief priest who was found to be guilty of the sin of prostitution or adultery: A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death (see Lev 21:9); she was to be burnt alive. It will be the fate of the holy city of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Israel is a priestly nation whose people were called to be a holy witness to the world of the One True God. Israel is seen symbolically in Scripture sometimes as God's daughter and at other times as God's holy covenant bride (Is 1:8; 10:32; 49:18; 62:4-5; Jer 6:23; Ez 16:8-14; Hosea 2:18 (16)-19 (17); Joel 1:8-10). Apostasy and idolatry in Sacred Scripture are compared to the sin of adultery (Ez 16:15, 35-38; Hosea 2:4 (2)-7 (5). Jerusalem is the religious capital and symbolically the priestly daughter of Yahweh. When Jerusalem falls into prostitution with the gods of pagan peoples and choses Caesar for a king over the Messiah Jesus (Jn 19:14-15), Jerusalem will suffer the same fate as a priest's daughter.
Luke 21:25-28 ~ The coming of the Son of Man
The "time of the Gentiles," when the Gentiles dominate the land of Israel, is to last for an undetermined time from the destruction of Jerusalem. In fact the land that was Israel/Judah was occupied by Gentiles and the Jews did not have a national home of their own until 1947 when the United Nations voted to re-create the nation of Israel. Independence was declared the next year in May of 1948, and the modern state of Israel has been at war ever since trying to survive in a sea of hostile Moslem nations.
Luke 21:29-33 ~ The Lesson of the Fig Tree
Question: When did Jesus announce that His Kingdom was inaugurated? See Luke 17:21.
Answer: When He told the Pharisees that the Kingdom of God was among them, referring to the fulfillment of the Kingdom in His teaching and His healing ministry.
The Kingdom of Jesus Christ has already been announced in Luke 17:21, but in 21:31 Jesus is referring to the triumph of the growth of the Kingdom and also to its place as the center of true worship and the only legitimate teaching authority with the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple.
Question: What is the significance of verse 32 and 33?
Answer: Jesus defines the unfolding of these events as within the lifetime of His Apostles and disciples. Verse 33 declares the authority of this teaching.
Luke 21:34-36 ~ Conclusion of the discourse and the call for vigilance
Question: For whom is this warning directed?
Answer: For Jesus' generation and all generations in the Final Age of the Son of Man!
Luke 21:37-38 ~ Jesus' teaching ministry in Jerusalem
The day is probably Wednesday as Jesus completes His teaching ministry to the holy city of Jerusalem. He will dine with His friends at the home of Simon the (former) Leper in the village of Bethany (Mt 26:1-2, 6-13; Mk 14:1, 3-9) and will be betrayed by Judas (Mt 26:14-16 and Mk 14:10-11). The next day will be Thursday, the 14th of Nisan "the day the Passover victims are sacrificed.
Chapter 22: The Passion Narrative
Luke 22:1-6 ~ The conspiracy
Question: What was the agreed upon price for delivering Jesus to His enemies (see Mt 26:15). What is the connection between the amount the chief priests paid to Judas and allegory of the Shepherds in Zechariah 11:4-17 that was written after the return from the Babylonian exile? What is the connection to Exodus 21:32 and to Jesus?
Answer: Thirty pieces of silver. It is the same wage in Zechariah 11:12. In the allegory, the prophet becomes the "good shepherd" of God's flock which is being "slaughtered" by bad shepherds. He is the defender of the people exploited by their religious leaders. The religious leaders/bad shepherds value the service of the good shepherd contemptuously at thirty pieces of silver, the legal compensation for a gored slave (Ex 21:32). The prophet-shepherd is a type of Christ whose mission to save God's people is appraised by the false shepherds of the Old Covenant as the base price for a damaged slave "just as the false shepherds who are the chief priests who seek Jesus' death value the worth of Jesus' death with the same sum.
Thursday, Nisan the 14th ~ The day of the Passover Sacrifice
The Jewish Talmud is composed of the Mishnah and the Gemarah. The Mishnah is the sacred Oral Tradition of the covenant people which was the knowledge imparted to the priesthood that was not recorded in Scripture and includes the priestly practice of worship in the Jerusalem Temple. It is the authoritative source of halacha (Jewish law) second only to the Bible itself. The Gemarah is the commentary on the Mishnah (there is a Jerusalem and a Babylonian Gemarah). The section Mishnah: Pesahim records the ritual requirements for the observance of the Passover sacrifice and the feast of Unleavened Bread. The knowledge recorded in the Mishnah was written down after the destruction of the Temple and was completed in its final editing c. 220 AD. We will be referring to the Mishnah frequently in this part of the lesson.
Luke 22:7-13 ~ Preparations for the Passover
St. Mark identifies the day: On the first day of the Unleavened Bread, when they kill the Passover, his disciples said to him, "Where do you desire that going we may prepare that you may eat the Passover?" (Mk 14:12; literal translation IBGE, vol. IV, page 140). The Passover and the weeklong celebration of Unleavened Bread are listed as two separate feasts in the Old Testament (i.e. Ex 12-13; Lev 23:4-8; Num 28:16-25), and only Unleavened Bread is listed as the pilgrim feast (Ex 23:14-17; 34:18-23; Num 28:16-17 NAB; Dt 16:5-17; 2 Chr 8:13); however, in Jesus time (30 AD) the names of the two feasts were used interchangeably to refer to the entire 8 holy days. Josephus (37-100 AD) records that in his time the term "Passover" came to mean the celebration of both feasts as one festival: As this happened at the time when the feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated, which we call the Passover ... (Antiquities of the Jews 14.2.1). Like Josephus, St. John refers to the two feasts as "Passover" as does the Mishnah and as do Jews today. Actually, modern Jews do not keep the Passover. They keep the feast of Unleavened Bread from the 15th-21st (and a day longer in the diaspora) because there is no Temple or sacrificial altar where the Passover victims can be offered.
It was the practice of the residents of Jerusalem to generously open their homes to Jewish pilgrims during the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread and to provide rooms for the sacred meal of the Passover victim, a meal that had to be eaten within the walls of the holy city on the night after the Passover sacrifice. Sundown the day of the sacrifice was the beginning of the next day, Nisan the 15th, the beginning of the seven-day pilgrim Feast of Unleavened Bread (Ex 23:14-17; 34:18-23; Dt 16:5-17; 2 Chr 8:13).
Luke 22:12 He will show you a large upper room that is furnished. Make the preparations there.
Question: In whose home might the meal have taken place? Whose house was the regular meeting place for the Apostles in Jerusalem and what disciples were associated with that house? See Acts 12:12 and Col 4:10.
Answer: The house of Mary of Jerusalem was their regular meeting place; she was the mother of John-Mark and the cousin of the disciple Barnabas.
The owner of the banquet chamber must have already secured the Passover goat-kid or lamb for Jesus, perhaps on the 10th of Nisan when the Passover lambs and kids were chosen for sacrifice in the first Passover (Ex 12:3). Choosing the Passover lambs and kids on the 10th of Nisan was a requirement that was no longer observed in the first century AD (Mishnah: Pesahim, 9:5). However, that does not mean that Jesus, who clarified and fulfilled in His ministry the covenant commands and prohibitions, failed to keep this obligation like His contemporaries. It is either an amazing coincidence that His Messianic ride into Jerusalem was on the 10th of Nisan, the day according to the commands of Exodus 12:3 that the Passover victim was to be selected, or it was the God ordained first step in the plan to fulfill the greater exodus redemption that the first Passover liberation prefigured.
The animal for the Passover sacrifice had to be an unblemished male lamb or goat-kid not younger than eight days and not older than a year (Ex 12:5; Lev 22:27). The animal had to be large enough to feed not less than ten people and not more than twenty (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 6.9.3 [423]). If there were more than twenty people, two groups were formed with a separate Passover victim for the second group, or if the Passover victim was not large enough to feed a designated group, in addition to the Passover sacrifice a festival "free-will" communion hagigah offering from either the flock or the herd (male or female) was necessary (Mishnah: Hagigah, 1:1-1:6; Lev 3:1-17; 7:11-21; Dt 12:5-7, 11-13). Adding the festival hagigah in addition to the Passover sacrifice allowed for everyone to be adequately fed (Mishnah: Pesahim, 6:3-6:4). The communion hagigah festival peace offerings were the way the people ate together for the entire week long celebration of Passover/Unleavened Bread after the morning Tamid service in meals of joyous celebration (Jn 18:28): A. A festival offering derives from the flock of sheep or from the herd of oxen, from lambs or from goats, from males or from females. B. And it is eaten for two days and the intervening night [to the night of the fifteenth of Nisan] (Mishnah: Pesahim, 6:4).
When Peter and John arrived at the house, they discovered that an upper room had already been arranged with the banquet tables and the couches for reclining at the meal (Mk 14:15a). However, as Jesus told them, Peter and John still needed to make certain necessary preparations (Mt 26:19). They needed to be certain that there was an adequate supply of red wine for the banquet's four ritual communal cups and the additional wine that the guests were to consume in their individual cups during the meal (Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:1C). They needed to insure that there were stone vessels filled with enough water for the three ritual hand washings (see Jn 2:6 where there were 6 stone jars each holding 20-30 gallons of water for the ritual washings at the wedding banquet in Cana). They needed to provide the other necessary foods for the women to prepare for the meal. And if it was not already prepared, they needed to set up a roasting pit and spit of pomegranate wood to roast the Passover sacrifice (Mishnah: Pesahim, 7:1B). Jesus' mother, the mother of the Zebedee brothers, Mary Magdalene and several other women disciples from the Galilee had accompanied Jesus and the Apostles to Jerusalem (Lk 8:1b-3; 23:55).
In addition to all those arrangements, Peter and John also had to personally inspect the premises to be certain that all leaven, a sign of sin, had been removed from the premises (Ex 13:7). According to the Law, prior to noontime on the day of the Passover sacrifice it was necessary for the covenant people to do a thorough search of the rooms of their houses in Jerusalem to be certain that all leaven had been removed for the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Ex 13:6-7; Mishnah: Pesahim, 1:3-1:4). They were also required to begin their fast at noon: On the eve of Passover [meal] from just before the afternoon's daily whole offering, a person should not eat, until it gets dark (Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:1A). The "afternoon's daily whole offering" is the afternoon Tamid worship service (Ex 29:38-42; Num 28:3-8) and the "eve of Passover" refers to the Passover meal eaten on the first night of Unleavened Bread after the morning Passover sacrifice. The Mishnah and the writings of the Rabbis only refer to the entire eight days as "Passover," as does the Gospel of John and as in the case of the modern Jewish celebration. The Mishnah refers to the "nights of Passover", plural (Mishnah: Pesahim, 4:4 III A).
On Thursday, Nisan the 14th, the Passover sacrifice took place at the Jerusalem Temple after the afternoon Tamid service, which was moved forward an hour. One victim was offered per each group of 10 " 20 people. The lambs and kids offered in sacrifice were skinned and the bodies returned to the different households/groups that had brought the animal for sacrifice. The body was taken back to where the groups were going to hold the sacred meal in Jerusalem and roasted on a pomegranate spit. The other food item were prepare for the meal: the unleavened bread, the sweet mixture of chopped apple, figs and red wine (haroset), the two kinds of bitter herbs. There was also holy water in stone vessels for ritual purification and red wine. Four cups of communal red wine were to be ritually offered during the meal in addition to individual cups of wine. The meal began at sundown and only those members of the covenant who were in a ritual state of purity could attend the meal.
All the Gospels and two thousand years of Christian tradition agree that the Jewish festival of the Passover, when the Passover victims were slain, took place on the Thursday of Jesus' last week in Jerusalem, the day before His crucifixion on Friday (Jn 19:31). Those of the covenant community who were offering the Passover sacrifice for their family and friends gathered at the Temple with their Passover victims at noon for the afternoon Tamid worship service. The sacrificial ceremony of the Passover lambs and kids began immediately after the body of the afternoon Tamid lamb was placed on the altar fire (Mishnah: Pesahim, 5:3).
The Passover Liturgical Service at the Temple
On the day of the Passover sacrifice, it was necessary for the afternoon Tamid lamb to be offered an hour earlier than the normal ninth hour/three o'clock in the afternoon (Antiquitues of the Jews, 14.4.3 [65]; Mishnah: Pesahim, 5:1B) to give enough time for the many Passover victims to be sacrificed from 3-5 PM in the afternoon (ninth hour to the eleventh hour Jewish time): So these high priests, upon the coming of their feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour till the eleventh, but so that a company not less than ten belong to every sacrifice (for it is not lawful for them to feast singly by themselves), and many of us are twenty in a company (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 6.9.3 [423]).
The Night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Last Supper
After the Temple service, the people returned to where they were staying in Jerusalem. There they roasted the whole body of the Passover sacrifice and in some cases, the hagigah festival offering on a spit of pomegranate wood. They had to be careful in roasting the Passover victim so that no bones were broken.
The Law of Moses required that the Passover and the eating of the sacred meal on the first night of Unleavened Bread was to take place in the early spring on the first full moon of the spring equinox (Ex 12:6; Lev 23:5; Num 28:16; Mishnah: Pesahim, 1:1); this requirement continues to be observed. The Church establishes the date for Easter in the same way "on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the spring equinox.
Jesus fully supported the authority of the priesthood in fulfilling the rites and rituals of the Sinai Covenant, which certainly included appointing the dates of the designated feast days. That week, teaching at the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus addressed the issue of the authority of the Temple hierarchy: Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you..." (Mt 23:1-4a; emphasis added). Jesus would not have told the people to obey the hierarchy of the Church one day and then do the exact opposite by celebrating the Passover on day other than that designated according to the liturgical calendar on the next day. The hierarchy of the Church determined the day for the Passover sacrifice and sacred meal as prescribed by the Law of the covenant according to the lunar calendar. The eating of this sacrificial meal in the middle of the month of Nisan in 30 AD, at the time of the full moon, was the last legitimate sacrificial meal of the Old Covenant. It was a sacred meal that was transformed and fulfilled in the first Eucharistic sacrifice of the New Covenant people of God. It was absolutely necessary for the faithful remnant of Jews who became the restored Israel of the New Covenant to participate in this last Old Covenant ritual meal in order to be able to comprehend its transformation and fulfillment as a true sacrificial meal in the offering of Christ the Lamb of God in the Eucharistic banquet.
Luke 22:14-16 ~ The Sacred Meal of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the First Eucharist
Sundown began the next Jewish day, Nisan the 15th, and it signaled the beginning of the celebration of the pilgrim feast of Unleavened Bread. The meal began after sundown, and it had to be completed before midnight (Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:1A; 10:9). That night, by the light of the full moon, those invited to eat the sacred meal with Jesus made their way to an upper room (Lk 22:12; Acts 13) in the oldest section of the city known as the City of David on Mt. Zion. Only covenant members were permitted to take part in this sacred meal, and the meal was reserved only for those in covenant with Yahweh who were circumcised (if male) and ritually clean, a condition that reflected the spiritual purity of the covenant member's circumcised heart (Ex 12:43-51). The requirements for this pilgrim feast included:
- Attendance at the sacred meal of the Passover victim on the first night of the feast of Unleavened Bread in a house that was free of all leaven (Ex 12:8-14; 13:42-49; Mishnah: Pesahim, 1:3-1:4).
- The eating of bread without leaven during the seven-day holy week (Ex 12:15-20; 13:6-10; Mishnah: Pesahim, 9:5C).
- The observances of the required Sacred Assembly during the morning Tamid service on the 15th and the 21st of Nisan and the other daily Tamid services to which covenant members brought communion hagigah festival sacrifices to be eaten in communal meals in Jerusalem during the week (Mishnah: Pesahim, 6:4; Mishnah: Hagigah, 1:3, 1:6).
Four communal cups of red wine, each mixed with a little water, were consumed during the meal. Each cup represented the blood of the victim and one of the four ways God promised to redeem His people from slavery in Egypt from Exodus 6:6-8 (NJB): So say to the Israelites, "I am Yahweh...
- I shall free you from the forced labor of the Egyptians "Cup of Sanctification
- I shall rescue you from their slavery "Cup of Forgiveness
- I shall redeem you with outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgment "Cup of Blessing/Redemption
- I shall take you as my people and I shall be your God" "Cup of Acceptance
There is no explanation in Jewish tradition as to why a little water was added to each communal cup. It was common to cut the wine with water at a banquet, but this was done in a large bowl and the individual cups of the guests were dipped into the bowl.
Question: When do you see a little water added to a chalice of wine in the Mass?
Answer: As the priest prepares the Eucharistic table, he pours a little water into the wine that will become Jesus' Precious Blood.
We still add a little water to the Cup of Blessing that becomes Jesus' Precious Blood in the Mass. The red wine and water prefigure the blood and water that flowed from the side of Christ in John 19:33-35. This is a practice that extends back to ancient times and is included in St. Justin Martyr's description of the celebration of the Eucharist in 150 AD where he speaks of water being brought to the altar with the red wine and mixed together by the priest (CCC 1345).
The Cup of Sanctification and the ritual prayers began the meal, and the Cup of Acceptance closed the meal and sealed the people's commitment to the covenant for another year when the host uttered the words "It is finished." Jesus was the host of the sacred meal. He came to the meal dressed in the seamless garment of a priest, signifying the liturgical nature of the meal (Jn 19:23-24). St. John's Gospel tells us He reclined at the table with His guests. The Fathers of the Church identify St. John Zebedee as the "beloved disciple" who shared Jesus' couch, reclining against Jesus' chest (Jn 13:23).(5)
The pouring of the Cup of Sanctification to which a little water was added was followed by the Kiddush, the Prayer of Sanctification. Holding the Cup of Sanctification in His right hand as he elevated the cup in front of those assembled, Jesus recited the ancient prayer, blessing the wine and also saying a blessing according to the day of the week. The prayer opened with the words: Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, who hast created the fruit of the vine ... The opening prayer was followed by the blessing of the day, and then the prayer was concluded with the words: Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, who hast sustained us and enabled us to reach this season. Ritual prayers were to accompany every part of the meal. Concluding the prayer, Jesus passed the communal cup, and everyone present at the meal drank from the Cup of Sanctification which, like the events of the first Passover, sanctified and set Israel apart in holiness from all other peoples of the earth.
The drinking of the first communal cup was followed by the first of three ritual hand washings. After the first ritual hand washing, the servants then brought in the food. Each food item had symbolic meaning, allowing the covenant people to relive the first Passover experience.
In addition to these foods, there was also the hagigah festival peace offering that was included if it had been determined that the Passover sacrifice was not enough to feed a large group attending the meal (Mishnah: Pesahim, 6:3-4) and a mixture of fruit, red wine and cinnamon called haroset. The rabbis who wrote the Mishnah debated whether it was required (Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:3D and E). After the food was placed on the table in front of the host, the order of the meal called for the first dipping of the bitter herb in the vinegar or salted water (Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:3). The green herb was intended to remind them that God's creation and all that it contained was good (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, and 31), but the dipping of the bitter herb in salted water represented the destructive power of sin and the tears shed by all who suffered in bondage to in Egypt. Jesus prayed over the herbs, dipped the first bitter herb (usually lettuce), ate and then passed the herbs and the salted water around the table to those assembled to dip and eat, reflecting on both man's blessings and the curse of sin.
The first dipping was followed by the temporary removal of the trays of food (to heighten the excitement). Then Jesus would have poured out the second cup of wine mixed with a little water. The second cup was called the Cup of Forgiveness, was poured out but it was not passed. Instead, the host placed the cup on the table as He turned to the one who had the honor of asking the host, who was usually the father of an extended family, the ritual questions. This member of the assembly was usually a young son of the household or a young man selected from among the assembled covenant members in accordance with God's command in Exodus 13:8 ~ On this day you shall explain to your son, This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.' It is difficult to accept the theory that only Jesus and His Apostles attended the sacred meal since it was required by the Law that those representing the "congregation of Israel" attend and that children be instructed. Jesus' mother and John's mother had accompanied their sons to Jerusalem for the festival. Would Jesus have denied them this sacred occasion in His presence? They were also His disciples (Lk 8:1-3). The questions and related statements that were part of the ritual are found in the Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:4II:
- How different is this night from all other nights? For on all other nights we eat leavened or unleavened bread, but on this night all the bread is unleavened.
- For on all other nights we eat diverse vegetables, but on this night only bitter herbs.
- For on all other nights we eat meat which is roasted, stewed, or boiled. But this night all the meat is roasted.
- For on all other nights we dip our food one time, but on this night, two times.
In response to the questions Jesus, as the host, began to tell the story of God's covenant relationship with Israel with the call of Abraham and his descendants into covenant with Yahweh and the events that led the children of Israel to migrate to Egypt during a famine when Joseph son of Jacob-Israel was Vizier of Egypt. Then He told how the Israelites were later enslaved by the Egyptians and cried out to the God for their ancestors for deliverance. The telling of the story of Israel's redemption was in obedience to the three commands to recite the story every year at Passover and the command to not just remember but to relive the Passover experience (Ex 10:2; 12:26-27, 13:8).
Jesus told how Moses was sent by God to redeem the people and the ten plagues that were God's judgment on the false gods of Egypt (Ex 12:12). Then He told how the first Passover victims were sacrificed, how the blood was poured into the thresholds of the doorways of the houses, and how the blood was smeared on the doorposts and the lintel of the houses with a hyssop branch. It was under the sign of the blood of sacrifice across the doorways that the angel of death "passed over" the houses of the Israelites (Ex 12:13, 22-23). It was not a coincidence in that first Passover that the sign of the blood extended from the threshold to the lintel and from doorpost to doorpost, foreshadowing the sign of the Cross. Jesus, as the host, would have finished his summary of Israel's early history with the story of the giving of the Law and God's covenant with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai (Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:4-10:5).
Following Jesus' homily on the history of Israel and the people's redemption and liberation from Egyptian slavery in the midst of God's divine judgment, the food was returned to the table and Jesus explained the symbolic significance of the food. The roasted lamb or kid was the Passover victim who died in atonement for the firstborn sons of Israel, the second bitter herb signified the bitter suffering of the people in slavery to the Egyptians, the salt water symbolized the tears the Israelites shed, and the sweet chopped red apple or figs mixed with red cinnamon and red wine symbolized the red clay used to make the bricks for Pharaoh's buildings while its sweet taste symbolized the sweetness of knowing that God heard His people's prayers and redemption was coming. The unleavened bread symbolized the bread the children of Israel made in haste before leaving Egypt and was also a symbol of a redeemed nation, freed from slavery and from the sins of the Egyptians.
According to the traditional order of the ritual meal, it was now time for the host to lift up the Cup of Forgiveness, say a blessing over it, and pass the communal cup. Then Jesus led the assembly in singing the first two Egyptian Hallel Psalms, Psalms 113:1-9 and 114:1-8. After singing the last line of Psalms 114:8: A flint into a spring of water ... those assembled again shouted, "Hallelujah!", to which Jesus, as the host, replied with a prayer: So, Lord, our God, and God of our fathers, bring us in peace to other appointed times and festivals, rejoicing in the rejoicing in your city and joyful in your Temple worship, where we may eat of the animal sacrifices and Passover offerings ... Blessed are you, Lord who has redeemed us and redeemed our forefathers from Egypt (Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:6).
As the Cup of Forgiveness was passed, everyone present sang Psalms 113-114 and everyone drank from the Cup of Forgiveness. It was now time for the second ritual hand washing. Perhaps this was the occasion when Jesus washed the disciples' feet. The Gospel of John records: So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and book off his outer garment. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist (Jn 13:2b-5). Since it was "during supper" the washing of His disciples' feet, which has always been interpreted by the Church as the symbolic ordination of the ministers of His Church, had to occur during meal and most likely during the second or third ritual hand washing. This was the first of several changes Jesus made in the order of the meal. He took water from the stone vessels that contained the ritually blessed water and He washed the disciple's feet in a symbolic act to inaugurate their mission as the chief servants of the Kingdom (Jn 13:3-16). According to the Gospel of John the foot washing ritual occurred before Jesus passed the "sop" of unleavened bread and haroset (Jn 13:13:26). The second ritual hand washing was in preparation for eating the unleavened bread.
The next part of the ritual was the eating of the prepared rounds of unleavened bread (not what was offered as Jesus' Body). The unleavened bread symbolized the people's covenant holiness and the absence of sin within the community of those who ate this meal under of the atoning sacrifice of the Passover victim. As was the custom, Jesus would have taken up the basket holding the individually wrapped rounds of unleavened bread and prayed over it. Some Rabbis say there were three separate rounds of unleavened bread with each round wrapped separately in its own cloth, stacked one on top of the other and placed in one basket with the middle bread broken in two pieces, while other Rabbis say there were only two wrapped rounds of bread. For Christians, the three separately wrapped rounds of unleavened bread together in one basket symbolize the mystery of the Trinity, a truth not yet revealed to the Old Covenant people of God. The torn middle round of unleavened bread is identified by Christians as the sinless Son of God whose flesh was torn for the sins of man.
Taking up a round loaf of unleavened bread and holding it in His hands, Jesus broke it into two pieces, thanking God in prayer for both the grain from which the bread was made and for the command to eat it. Next, taking up a piece of the broken unleavened bread, Jesus dipped it into the haroset; folding the fruit mixture with the second bitter herb between the two sides of the bread. This "second dipping" (the first dipping was the herb in the salted water). This "dipping," in which the haroset was folded into the unleavened bread, was called the "sop." The first "sop" was given to the person the host wished to honor that night.
The communal dish of the bitter herb and the haroset fruit mixture was then passed around the table with additional rounds of the unleavened bread. After everyone had dipped the "sop," the hagigah peace offering was brought to the table and was eaten (if the festival peace offering had been made at the time of the Passover sacrifice). Finally the roasted flesh of Passover victim, roasted like a sacrifice and with no bones broken, was passed and eaten by those assembled. Jesus would have pronounced separate blessings over both the hagigah peace offering and the Passover victim. The meat of the Passover victim had to be carefully roasted and then the meat separated without breaking any of the bones (Ex 12:46). To break a bone of the victim was a grave offense punishable by forty lashes (Mishnah: Pesahim, 7:11C). The meat of the Passover sacrifice had to be the last food consumed; no other food was to be eaten after the flesh of the Passover sacrifice (Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:9).
Luke 22:21-23 ~ Jesus announces His betrayal
Jesus makes the startling announcement that He will be betrayed by one of His own and that this will happen according to the will of God.
Question: In the Gospel of John, St. Peter asks Jesus to identify the betrayer. What does Jesus tell John and why do they still not know the identity of the one who will betray Jesus? See Jn 13:21-26.
Answer: Jesus told Peter it was the one who dipped the sop with Him. The problem was, even though He first gave the sop to Judas, they all dipped the sop with Jesus.
Next, Jesus sets the standard for His disciples by telling them that the most humble of them who ranks himself the least in Jesus' kingdom will be considered the "greatest." He is sending them forth as servants of the Kingdom and not like the arrogant and self-righteous chief priests, Pharisees and scribes who oppose Jesus and reject Him as the Messiah. It is the same teaching He gave them in the washing of their feet in John 13:12-18.
Question: What three promises does Jesus make to the disciples?
Answer: Jesus promises His disciples:
- They will be His heirs and will inherit His kingdom (verse 29).
- He will serve them at His table (verse 30).
- They will judge the tribes of Israel (verse 30b).
Luke 22:31-38 ~ Simon-Peter's denial foretold and instructions for the time of crisis
Question: Jesus turns to Peter and gives him a dire warning. What is the warning and what is Jesus' command to Peter?
Answer: Jesus tells Peter that he will be tested by Satan and commands Simon-Peter, His Vicar, that when he has recovered from his test, to strengthen his brother Apostles.
Jesus' instruction to Simon-Peter confirms his primacy within the Apostolic College. Simon-Peter professes his willingness to give his life for Jesus, but Jesus prophesies that Peter will deny Him three times before the cockcrow. The "cockcrow" was the trumpet single that announced the end of the third night Watch and the beginning of the fourth and last night Watch. It was sounded at 3 AM.(6) Next Jesus counsels them to be prepared for the coming crisis. The Gospel message that they carried to the Jews on their earlier missionary journey was well received and their material needs were met by those receptive to their message, but now the climate is hostile and they will need to defend and care for themselves and their loved ones. Again Jesus quotes a fulfillment passage from the Old Testament in Luke 22:37 from the fourth Song of the Servant in Isaiah chapter 53.
CHALLENGE: “Once we are saved, we are always saved. We don’t need to worry about mortal sins, because when we are justified, God forgives all of our sins—past, present, and future.”
DEFENSE: Scripture teaches the opposite.
It is, of course, true that when we come to God and are justified that he forgives all of our past sins. However, this is not true of present and future sins.
One of the requirements for coming to God is repentance. Jesus’ own message was, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Repentance involves an actual turning away from sin (see Day 53).
This means that if we are still willfully committing the kind of sins we know will separate us from God—mortal sins—then we have not repented and will not be justified. Justification therefore does not involve the remission of present, unrepented mortal sins.
Neither does it involve the forgiveness of sins that have not yet been committed. This is also something our Lord teaches. In fact, he teaches it in the model Christian prayer he gave us—the Lord’s Prayer—in which he taught us to pray: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12; cf. Luke 11:4).
Jesus even singles out this petition for special comment, underscoring its importance and stating: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14 15).
Since we are meant to pray the Lord’s Prayer on an ongoing basis, Jesus teaches us to pray for forgiveness on an ongoing basis. Therefore, we need this forgiveness: As we commit new sins, we need to repent and be forgiven for them.
The claim that when we first come to God, he forgives all our sins “past, present, and future” may be pithy, but it is not what Scripture teaches. This is clear from many passages besides the Lord’s Prayer. The fact that we haven’t been forgiven for sins we haven’t yet committed is indicated by the New Testament’s warnings against mortal sin and its implications for our salvation, which would otherwise be meaningless (see Day 302).
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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