Bread of Affliction

The gospel writers were not overly concerned as to the order of events that night, but this seems to be late in the meal. They had eaten bread as part of their meal as it had progressed. This bread, like that of today’s Aphikoman, seems to “come after.”

How would this statement have been understood by the disciples? Most likely, they would have grasped more than we credit them as understanding. In the sacrificial system, depending of the purpose of the sacrifice, it was often a participatory event, where the supplicant ate a portion of the offering. The sacrifice and its common meal brought an awareness that one was again in a good relationship with his God. God received his portion of the meal in the arising smoke and the celebrant ate his portion of the animal’s body.

Jesus, in designating this as his broken body, symbolized our repaired relationship with God. As the participant in Sacrificial Judaism identified the sacrifice as being for him, we identify the sacrifice of Jesus as being for us.