POSTED 07 DECEMBER, 2005

The Last Sedar

by J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net

The Spring holiday season of Passover and Unleavened Bread is an excellent time to expose non-Messianic family and friends to the Hebraic Roots of their faith. During this time of year, which often (but not always) correlates to when Christians are celebrating Easter, it is not uncommon for the major networks to be showing films such as The Ten Commandments and The Greatest Story Ever Told. People are being bombarded with media about both the Ancient Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, as well as the life of our Messiah Yeshua. Many are beginning to make the connection between the events surrounding the Exodus and the Passover lamb, and the events leading up to the trial and execution of the Messiah. Connecting all these events, we need to have a firm grasp of the Last Supper, where Yeshua makes a covenant with us in His own blood. But, Yeshua’s Last Supper was not just any “meal”; it was a Passover sedar.

We have to remember that Yeshua the Messiah is the Word of God, or the Torah, embodied in the flesh (John 1:1). As the Word of God made flesh, the Messiah is perfect and emulates the Scriptures perfectly. Nothing He does is by chance and it is all in order. The modern Hebrew expression b’sedar (rdsb), often translated as “very well,” literally means “in order.” A Jewish prayer book is called a siddur because it includes an order of service. A Passover sedar is the proper order of the Passover meal. When Yeshua came to “fulfill the Scriptures,” everything was done in order. The miracles that He performed, the teachings that He gave to us, and His daily activities were all in line with the Scriptures as they were lived out in their First Century Jewish context—nothing was done randomly or by mere chance. Everything that Yeshua did for us has a deep symbolism rooted in the Tanach (Old Testament), and tells us of His Messiahship and the mission we are to accomplish as His followers.

It has been observed by many who have been exposed to the message of Passover that understanding Passover is absolutely imperative to properly understand the life of the Messiah and why He came to die on our behalf. In Jewish theology Passover is often called the Festival of Freedom, as we remember the slavery that the Ancient Israelites experienced in Egypt and the liberty into which the Lord led them. As Believers in Yeshua, we were all once sinners in bondage, and Yeshua, the Lamb of God, had to lead us out of our sin into freedom.

Understanding these important truths will provide great enrichment to your faith, and a level of great spiritual fulfillment when you begin to see the elements of Passover as representing the Messiah, and you begin to observe the Spring holidays on a yearly basis. As the celebration of Passover has developed since the Ancient Israelites’ departure from Egypt some 3,300 years ago, the central focus of Passover has become the sedar meal, observed at home with one’s family and close friends. While Exodus 12:8 only specifies that the Passover lamb is to be roasted with fire, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, since the first Passover many other elements have become critical to the Passover meal. The most notable of these elements is wine, as well as several other traditional foods meant to remember a particular aspect of the Exodus. How the sedar meal is performed in most Jewish households today is also full of Messianic symbolism, that the Believer in Yeshua is sure to pick up. Many of these customs were in practice during the time of the Messiah, and would have indeed been followed by Him.

The Last Supper Was a Passover Meal

Before we can address the elements of the traditional sedar, comparing them to the Last Supper, it is important that we establish the fact that the Last Supper, as it is commonly called, was indeed a Passover meal. The Last Supper was not just the Messiah’s “last meal” with His Disciples. It was a very special time that prophetically speaks of our Father’s progressing plan for His Creation, as Yeshua would later be tried and executed for our sins. As we understand that the Last Supper was indeed “the Last Sedar,” we have to take into consideration what all of the Gospels say about what happened, rather than resting on just one of the accounts of the events:

Yeshua says in Luke 22:15 that “I have earnestly desired to eat[1] this Passover with you before I suffer.” In Matthew 26:17-19, Yeshua directs His Disciples to a particular house where they may eat the Passover, and the Disciples follow His instructions and prepare the meal:

“Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Yeshua and asked, ‘Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?’ And He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, ‘My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.’”’ The disciples did as Yeshua had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.”

The account in Mark 14:12-16 not only says that Yeshua directed His Disciples to go to a particular place to commemorate the Passover, but also that His Disciples were “sacrificing” the Passover lamb that was to be eaten:

“On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed,[2] His disciples said to Him, ‘Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?’ And He sent two of His disciples and said to them, ‘Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him; and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, “The Teacher says, ‘Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’” And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there.’ The disciples went out and came to the city, and found it just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.”

After the Disciples make the necessary arrangements, the meal is set and the Disciples enter in. We do note that the Gospel of John does not tell us that this was a Passover meal. John 13:1-2 says that these events actually occurred before Passover and that they were only having “supper”:

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, Yeshua knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him.”

This Scripture reference in no way negates the fact that a Passover sedar was being performed by Yeshua. As Believers wanting to examine the whole of Scripture, we have a responsibility of examining John’s account in light of the accounts of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. While the meal took place immediately before the Passover, Rabbis would usually do this with their students to train them to conduct their own Passover meals, or for those entering to Jerusalem from afar to become accustomed to Passover in the Judean tradition. It makes perfect sense for Yeshua, our Rabbi, to do something like this as He was establishing the New Covenant with His own blood, and commissioning His Disciples to continue His work.

What We Already Know About the Last Supper

What most of us already know about the Last Supper has no doubt been affected by what we have seen in various dramatic presentations about the life of the Messiah and/or pictorial representations of the event. We know that He has this meal with His Disciples, that Judas Iscariot abruptly leaves during the meal to betray Him, that Yeshua tells Peter that He will deny Him three times, and also that just prior to the meal He washes the feet of the Disciples (John 13:5-12). We know that the critical elements of the meal are the bread and wine, which make up what is later termed “the Lord’s Supper” (1 Corinthians 11:20). However, failing to see the Last Supper as a Passover sedar has brought many into great confusion as to what was occurring between Yeshua and His Disciples.

Traditional Elements of the Sedar

The traditional elements of the Passover sedar today, most of which date from the time of Yeshua, with a few added since the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., are the four cups of wine and the sedar plate. The four cups of wine are drunk (or sipped) throughout the Passover meal, and the sedar plate has an assortment of elements that are to remind us of various aspects of the Exodus. There are five traditional elements that are placed on the sedar plate, three of them are specified in Exodus 12:8, and the other two have become customary since:

1. The shankbone or zeroa ([Arz) is representative of the lamb that was slain. Zeroa is the Hebrew word for “arm,” as we know that the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt “with an outstretched arm[3] and with great judgments” (Exodus 6:6). The Prophet Isaiah asks us, “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1). This “arm of the Lord” is none other than Yeshua the Messiah Himself.

2. Unleavened bread or matzah (hCm) is the bread of haste that the Israelites made on their journey out of Egypt. There was not sufficient time for the bread to rise, thus it is not puffed up. Matzah, having no leavening agents, is “without sin.” Isaiah tells us that the Messiah “was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

3. Bitter herbs or maror (rrm) is symbolic of the bitterness of slavery. The most customary of the bitter herbs that you will likely see on a sedar plate will be horseradish, although in ancient times it may have also included radishes, onions, or garlic.

4. The roasted egg is an element that has been added which represents the hardness of Pharoah’s heart and his resistance against God. It is a reminder to the participant in the sedar that we are not to harden ourselves against the Lord and not have hearts of stone.

5. Charoset (charoses) is often made with apples and honey and represents the mortar and straw used to make bricks in Egypt. It has been made sweet so that servants of God now remember that performing His work is a delight.

The first three of these elements would have been present at Yeshua’s Passover table. The other two might have been, but do appear on the sedar plates of Jewish people today. They all have symbolic meaning for us as Believers who have experienced our own Exodus from slavery to sin to new life in Messiah.

The Last Supper and the Passover Sedar

There is not an extreme amount of detail given to us in the Gospel accounts as to what happened at “the Last Supper.” It is likely that when the Gospel writers speak of Yeshua telling His Disciples to go and prepare the Passover, that the audience reading would have a basic idea about what was going on, which means that we have to be familiar with how a Passover was conducted in ancient times. They would know about the elements of the sedar meal such as the unleavened bread and the wine, the lamb, and the customary blessings that were used. The Jewish leadership of the congregations of the First Century Diaspora should have been able to explain to the non-Jewish congregants what was being said and what actually happened in relation to the meal.

Let us now examine each of the Gospel accounts and what they record about “the Last Supper.” We start with the Gospel of Mark, which was the first of the four Gospels to be written and generally agreed to have been written from the perspective of the Apostle Peter, via the hand of John Mark[4]:

“On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, ‘Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?’ And He sent two of His disciples and said to them, ‘Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him; and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, “The Teacher says, ‘Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’” And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there.’ The disciples went out and came to the city, and found it just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening He came with the twelve. As they were reclining at the table and eating, Yeshua said, ‘Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me—one who is eating with Me.’ They began to be grieved and to say to Him one by one, ‘Surely not I?’ And He said to them, ‘It is one of the twelve, one who dips with Me in the bowl. For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born’” (Mark 14:12-21).

Mark’s account begins with Yeshua instructing His Disciples, as they were sacrificing the lamb that they would be eating, to go and prepare the room where they would be eating. As they begin their sedar, Yeshua tells His Disciples that there is one among them who will betray Him. Yeshua does not identify this person by name, but instead says that he will dip with Him into the dish. This is a reference to the dipping of the karpas or parsley. The dipping of the parsley into salt water was to remind the Israelites that they were born in tears, but the green plant symbolizes that Israel is the planting of the Lord:

“Now when evening came, Yeshua was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. As they were eating, He said, ‘Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me.’ Being deeply grieved, they each one began to say to Him, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’ And He answered, ‘He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me. The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.’ And Judas, who was betraying Him, said, ‘Surely it is not I, Rabbi?’ Yeshua said to him, ‘You have said it yourself’” (Matthew 26:20-25).

Matthew’s account of what initially took place at the meal is slightly shorter than Mark’s account, but he basically says the same things. Yeshua says that there is a person who will betray Him, who will dip with Him in the dish. However, in Matthew’s account we see Judas ask Him, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”, and Yeshua responds to him, “You have said it yourself.” Then we know that Judas leaves to go to the high priest and fetch the Roman guard that would arrest Him. The Disciples probably assume that Judas was tending to some duties that Yeshua had asked him to do:

“When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God’” (Luke 22:14-16).

Luke’s account of the actual meal is the shortest of them all, but interestingly enough is the most informative. Luke uses the poignant phrase, epithumia epethumēsa (epiqumia epequmhsa), “With desire I have desired” (KJV), to describe Yeshua’s anticipation of celebrating the Passover. Yeshua also indicates that this is indeed His “last sedar,” telling His Disciples that He will not eat of a Passover meal with them again until His return to establish the Kingdom of God on Earth. This also indicates that beyond Yeshua’s sacrificial fulfillment of Passover, there is still much more to come in the future as salvation history progresses forward.

The Establishment of the Covenant

The most important part of “the Last Supper” by far is the establishment of what is often called “the Lord’s Supper.” This is more commonly called “communion” today and is performed in the Christian Church with the partaking of bread and wine (or grape juice). However, in its proper context here, “the Lord’s Supper” is the partaking of the two critical elements of the Passover sedar: the unleavened bread or matzah, which represents Yeshua’s beaten body for us, and the wine representing His blood. There are four cups of wine that are customarily consumed during the sedar meal. These cups are:

1. The cup of sanctification
2. The cup of instruction
3. The cup of redemption
4. The cup of praise

The cup of wine that would have been raised during the meal that is now remembered when one commemorates “the Lord’s Supper” was the cup of redemption. This was when Yeshua established the New Covenant[5] in His own blood:

“While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is My body.’ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many’” (Mark 14:22-24).

 “While they were eating, Yeshua took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins’” (Matthew 26:26-28).[6]

After the cup of redemption, which commemorates God’s deliverance of His people, comes the cup of praise. The cup of praise is the cup of wine that Yeshua refused to drink from until the coming of His Father’s Kingdom:

“Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25).

“But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).

Following the end of the meal, Yeshua and His Disciples left for the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas Iscariot led the Roman guard to arrest Him. The next day Yeshua was tried and executed and sacrificed for our sins. As we remember the Passover and the events that occurred with the Ancient Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, let us also remember what Yeshua, the Lamb of God did for us. When we gather to commemorate the sedar, let us always be sure that we are inviting His presence among us, so that we might be instructed and encouraged about all the things which the Lord has accomplished!

J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A. Student, Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is author of several books, including: The New Testament Validates Torah, Torah In the Balance, Volume I, and When Will the Messiah Return?. He has also written many articles on the Two Houses of Israel and Biblical theology, and is presently focusing on Messianic commentaries on various books of the Bible.

NOTES

edited for spelling/grammar
17 January, 2007