Aphikoma
My favorite sacrament of the church is Communion/Eucharist. I grew up spilling grape juice down my dress and looking forward to the biggest chunk of Hawaiian Bread that they served at the summer camp I attended. I have heard so many communion meditations (shorter sermons on Communion Sunday to keep the United Methodist’s happy), but never one that addressed the significance of the bread and cup that Jesus spoke of during the passover meal.
While reading for my New Testament class in The Historical Jesus in Context edited by Amy-Jill Levine (my professor for the course), Dale C. Allison Jr., and John Dominic Crossan, I learned that the bread which Jesus said, “this is my body” (Matthew 26:26) was called Aphikoman. This piece of unleavened bread is set aside at the beginning of Passover and saved to be eaten last. The Greek word Aphikoma comes from a word meaning “to come or arrive” which proposes a reference to a person who is coming or the Messiah. The cup that Jesus says “this is my blood” (Matthew 26:28) is the third cup of the seder meal. These are the scriptures that accompany the third cup in the reading of the Haggadah (the reading that accompanies the seder meal):
“Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that know You not and upon the kingdoms that have not called Your Name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place” (Psalm 79:6,7).
“Pour out Your indignation upon them. And let the fierceness of Your anger overtake them” (Psalm 69:25).
“Pursue them in wrath and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:66).
This context is extremely significant to the meanings we prescribe to Jesus’ message and teachings! Why am I just now learning this in Divinity School when I’ve taken communion in Church my whole life?
It would like for all the information that I encounter in Div School edify and strengthen my faith. I would like for the information that I encounter in church to edify and strengthen my faith.
I’m not sure which is more difficult.