“All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
Biblical scholars are well aware of the fact that Jesus
celebrated the Passover and that his celebration of this Mosaic festival must
shape our understanding of the Lord’s Supper. But while these scholars stress
the salvific significance of Passover, they virtually ignore its important
eschatological background.
(For the uninitiated, eschatology usually refers to
what might happen towards the end of history). So, what does Passover have to
do with eschatology in Matthew 26:26-29?
Passover evokes the story of the Exodus and God’s delivery
of the Jewish people from slavery. Passover also evokes the story of Mt. Sinai
and the ratification of the Mosaic covenant that formally established Israel as
a nation. Jesus’ declaration that, “this
is my blood of the covenant” clearly echoes the words of Exodus 24:8: “This is
the blood of the covenant.”
But the Passover celebration of Jesus’ day was more than
just a memorial of Israel’s past redemption; it was also a celebration of
Israel’s future restoration. The celebration of Passover evoked the theme of
the eschatological New Exodus. Biblical
passages like Isaiah 11:15-16 and Ezekiel 20:33-38 reveal that Israel’s
prophets appropriated the language of the exodus to describe Israel’s return
from exile and the inauguration of the messianic era.
Similarly, in the rabbinic material, the Exodus is
understood as a paradigm of Israel’s future redemption. Many of these texts
express the belief that the Messiah would appear during the night of the
Passover. For example, in Mekhitla Exodus
12:42, we read, “In that night were they redeemed and in that night will they
be redeemed in the future.”
According to the New Testament, Jesus does inaugurate the
New Covenant of Jeremiah 31, which brings about the forgiveness of sin. It is this event that sets in motion God’s
plan to restore Israel! The Last Supper weaves together the Passover, the New
Exodus, and the New Covenant to reveal God’s amazing plan to redeem his chosen
people and to bring great blessing to the world-at-large.
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