Lords Supper Institution1

Lord’s Supper Institution

1.      Check out William Lane’s treatment of when these elements that become “The Lord’s Supper” fall within the traditional celebration of the Passover Meal. How does the context shed light on the new meaning that Jesus is investing in the meal?

2.      What shall we make of the vow to not drink again? William Lane says that Jesus breaks with tradition and doesn’t drink of the 4th Passover cup. The 4 cups of the Passover were seen as articulating Exodus 6:6-7:

Exodus 6:6-7 (NRSV)
Say therefore to the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord, and [1] I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and [2] deliver you from slavery to them. [3] I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. [4] I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians.

The 4th cup then is withheld in anticipation of the fulfilment of that 4th phrase.

3.      But what time is he referring to? The difficulty in understanding this rests with the difficulty with which we refer to the coming of the kingdom.

a.       Lane and others see Jesus as abstaining until the second coming/final judgment/banquet of the lamb at the consummation.

b.      John Chrysostom, a 4th century Bishop understood this as being fulfilled when Jesus ate and drank with his disciples after the resurrection.

4.      So when is the 4th cup fulfilled?

All will stumble

1.      There is a lot to verse Mark 14:27 (and parallels). Here, Jesus quotes Zech 13. See Zech 12:10-13:9. What is it talking about? How does that relate to him not partaking the 4th cup?

2.      See the parallel translations for Mark. You can tell that the versions are struggling with what Jesus says. Here Jesus uses the word “skandalizo” in the future, passive. “Jesus said to them that all you will be “sandalizo”. That’s not an easy thing to render in English.. In Matthew 5 and 18 the eye/hand “causes one to sin/stumble” should be removed. In Matt 13 it is what happens to the seed that falls on rocky soil when trouble or persecution happens. The NRSV says they “fall away”. The verb again there is in the passive. It is something that causes to fall, it is an offense. It is related in the Old Testament to two words: to slip/stumble and to catch in a snare. It is an occasion for sin leading to disaster or punishment. William Lane notes “‘To be offended’ at Jesus is the opposite of believing and delighting in him. I implies the desire to be dissociated from him because too close an association with Jesus invites the treatment he received.”

3.      Verse 28 seems to be completely lost upon the disciples. “Raised” is an ambiguous term but fits perfectly with the Zechariah prophesy. It can, like in English, be used from simply awakening from sleep (Matt 8:25) to one who was raised from the dead (Jn 12:9).

4.      Peter immediately seizes not upon the fact that Jesus will needed to be raised, but the fact that he is prophesied to “be offended” and fall away. He protest vehemently. He will not be offended/fall away/desert, he will stand if it means his death. Jesus’ words are even harsher than what our sense of “denial” is. See Matt 10:33, Lk 12:9, 2 Timothy 2:12, 2 Peter 2:1, Jude 4.