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Y1 Seudat HaAdon.    [Make a Comment]

We are to remember & proclaim Yeshua's sacrificial death by our partaking of bread and wine.

This precept is derived from His Word (blessed be He):

Key Scriptures

*Matthew 26:26-28
While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah, made the b'rakhah, broke it, gave it to the talmidim and said, "Take! Eat! This is my body!" Also he took a cup of wine, made the b'rakhah, and gave it to them, saying, "All of you, drink from it! For this is my blood, which ratifies the New Covenant, my blood shed on behalf of many, so that they may have their sins forgiven.While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah, made the b'rakhah, broke it, gave it to the talmidim and said, "Take! Eat! This is my body!" Also he took a cup of wine, made the b'rakhah, and gave it to them, saying, "All of you, drink from it! For this is my blood, which ratifies the New Covenant, my blood shed on behalf of many, so that they may have their sins forgiven.

*1 Corinthians 11:23-29
For what I received from the Lord is just what I passed on to you- that the Lord Yeshua, on the night he was betrayed, took bread; and after he had made the b'rakhah he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this as a memorial to me"; likewise also the cup after the meal, saying, "This cup is the New Covenant effected by my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, as a memorial to me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the Lord's bread or drinks the Lord's cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord! So let a person examine himself first, and then he may eat of the bread and drink from the cup; for a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.

Supportive Scriptures

Mark 14:22-24
While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah, made the b'rakhah, broke it, gave it to them and said, "Take it! This is my body." Also he took a cup of wine, made the b'rakhah, and gave it to them; and they all drank. He said to them, "This is my blood, which ratifies the New Covenant, my blood shed on behalf of many people."

Luke 22:14-20
When the time came, Yeshua and the emissaries reclined at the table, and he said to them, "I have really wanted so much to celebrate this Seder with you before I die! For I tell you, it is certain that I will not celebrate it again until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God." Then, taking a cup of wine, he made the b'rakhah and said, "Take this and share it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink the 'fruit of the vine' until the Kingdom of God comes." Also, taking a piece of matzah, he made the b'rakhah, broke it, gave it to them and said, "This is my body, which is being given for you; do this in memory of me." He did the same with the cup after the meal, saying, "This cup is the New Covenant, ratified by my blood, which is being poured out for you."

Luke 24:30
As he was reclining with them at the table, he took the matzah, made the b'rakhah, broke it and handed it to them.

John 6:32-35
Yeshua said to them, "Yes, indeed! I tell you it wasn't Moshe who gave you the bread from heaven. But my Father is giving you the genuine bread from heaven; for God's bread is the one who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread from now on." Yeshua answered, "I am the bread which is life! Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever trusts in me will never be thirsty."

John 6:47-58
"Yes, indeed! I tell you, whoever trusts has eternal life: I am the bread which is life. Your fathers ate the man in the desert; they died. But the bread that comes down from heaven is such that a person may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. Furthermore, the bread that I will give is my own flesh; and I will give it for the life of the world." At this, the Judeans disputed with one another, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Then Yeshua said to them, "Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life - that is, I will raise him up on the Last Day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live through the Father, so also whoever eats me will live through me. So this is the bread that has come down from heaven - it is not like the bread the fathers ate; they're dead, but whoever eats this bread will live forever!"

1 Corinthians 10:16
The "cup of blessing" over which we make the b'rakhah - isn't it a sharing in the bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah? The bread we break, isn't it a sharing in the body of the Messiah?

Commentary

Seudat HaAdon (a/k/a Shulchan HaAdon) is known by a variety of names in English as well; "Meal of the Lord", "Table of the Lord", "The Lord's Supper", and "Holy Communion" are common. There is a mystery surrounding Seudat HaAdon because Yeshua spoke of his body and blood in present tense - i.e. "this is my body"; "this is my blood"; rather than his saying: "this represents my body"; "this represents my blood." Also, in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says of Yeshua: "whoever eats the Lord's bread or drinks the Lord's cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord!" - again identifying the bread and wine with his body and blood in more than a symbolic way.

These sayings of Yeshua have led the Roman Catholics to their doctrine of "transmutation", whereby they believe that the bread and wine taken in remembrance of Yeshua physically becomes his body and blood. While Messianic Judaism does not accept that the bread and wine of Yeshua physically transmutes, we do sense that when we take the elements of bread and wine, something of a spiritual nature occurs that is empowering and beyond mere symbolism.

There is another controversy surrounding Seudat HaAdon, and that is when and how often it should be taken, and whether or not Yeshua intended it to be a sacrament as distinguished from a remembrance that occurs in the ordinary course of eating bread and drinking wine. Some say it is sacramental and should only be taken during the Passover seder meal since historically, that is the context in which Yeshua gave it to his disciples. Some say it is sacramental but can and should be taken on other occasions as well. Others say it is not sacramental, and that on every occasion in which we eat bread and drink wine we should declare it in remembrance of Yeshua.

It is not my purpose here to prove or attempt to disprove any of these theories, but my own position is that Seudat HaAdon is intended as a sacrament to be taken during the Passover seder meal especially, and periodically at other times throughout the year as well. I do not believe that how often we take it is critical.

Classical Commentators

This Mitzvah is not addressed by any of the Jewish classical commentators.

NCLA: JMm JFm KMm KFm GMm GFm

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