Gospels (05) - John 14:27-31

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Gospels

Rusty's Notes

Syria – Middle East issues

• Genesis 21:12-21
• Ishmael – Wikipedia
• Been going on for a long time.
• There is no end to this…
• The Bible is relevant for today.

 
What one great event will this generation in this room be remembered for?

• 9-11
• How thought out was it? The date was even significant.

 
For the Jews: the Passover was significant
 
This "order" is known as the “seder,”

• seder meaning "order.”
• All Jews use the same type of seder plate.
• A cup of salt water is positioned in the center of the plate.
• Reclining – Slaves had to stand or sit up straight to eat meals. So now they recline in freedom.

 
Things changed after the destruction of the temple in AD 70, for no longer could a lamb be slain for the Passover meal.

• The shank bone of a lamb is placed on the Seder plate as a memorial. The shank bone serving as a symbol of the lamb that can no longer be offered for the Passover meal.
• Roasted chicken is usually eaten today in place of the lamb during the main meal.

 

1. The Kaddeish: The first cup of wine:

1. The Cup of Blessing, or, The Cup of Sanctification
Current practice: Kaddeish means "sanctification,"

• Lighting of two candles soon after nightfall
• Special blessing is pronounced over the feast day
• blessing over the first cup of wine
• No wine allowed between the first & second cups.

 
2. The Urchatz: The washing of the hands
Current practice: urchatz means "and wash,"

• Fingers dipped into water

 
3. Carpas: The eating of the green vegetable
Current practice:

• Parsley is similar to hyssop
• Hyssop being used to apply blood over doorpost.
• Dipped in salt water – tears drip off
• God parted salt waters of Red Sea

 
4. Yachatz: The breaking of the middle Matzah
Current practice: Yachatz means “to divide”

• Plate holding 3 loaves of unleavened bread
• Loaves are wrapped together
• Middle loaf is removed and broken in half
• One half is returned
• The other half, “Afikoman”, is wrapped in linen and hidden for later (for use with the 3rd cup)
• Yachatz is not addressed in Gospels

 
5. Maggid: The Passover Story
Current practice: Maggid means “telling the story”

• The actual Passover story is told (Mishnah)
• From Abraham to Jacob
• From the enslavement in Egypt to the liberation of the Jews
• 2nd cup is poured out (10 drops=10 plagues)
• Hallel is read (Psalm 113 & 114)

 
 6. Rachtzah: Washing of the hands
Current practice: Rachtzah means “washing”

• Dipping of fingers into water

 
7. Motzi: The blessing of He who brings forth bread from the earth
Current practice: Motzi means “the bringing forth”

• Blessing on the bread eaten before the main meal
• “Blessed are You, O Lord our god, ruler of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.”

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8. Matzah: The eating of a small piece of the middle matzah and the upper matzah
Current practice:

• Each participant eats a small piece of the middle and upper matzahs.
• They all recite “Blessed are You, O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who commanded us concerning the eating of the Matzah.”
• Points to the swiftness with which the Jews departed from Egypt.

 
9. Maror: Bitter herbs
Current practice: Maror means “bitter herbs”

• Blessing over a bitter herb
• Bitter herb is dipped in charoset
• Brings tears to the eyes in remembrance of tears shed in Egypt and loss of sons in Nile.
• Eaten with matzah

 
10. Coreich: The sandwich
Current practice: Coreich means “combining”

• 2 pieces from bottom matzah with charoset on one piece and maror on the other
• Eaten as a sandwich
• Charoset & maror replaced the lamb
• Eaten with no blessing

 
11. Shulchan: The eating of the main meal
Current practice:

• Main meal is eaten (no specific menu)
• In Moses’ day, roasted lamb was required
• A different roasted egg was eaten to begin the meal
• The roasted egg was known as the Chagigah and was offered at 9 AM on Passover day
• Since there is no temple the egg was offered in replacement of the lamb
• It is dipped in salt as the sacrifices were salted
• One should not eat or drink too much so they can enjoy the afikoman last.

 
12. Tzafun: The eating of the afikoman; Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper or Communion
Current practice: Tzafun means “the hidden”

• After the meal, the afikoman is returned and eaten as “desert”
• Each person receives the size of an olive
• Judas was not present at this point
• Three compartment bag – Trinity
• Afikoman hidden (burial) and returned (resurrection)

 
13. Bareich: The grace said over the third cup
Current practice: Bareich is the “cup of redemption”

• To the unredeemed Jew the cup points to the future redemption and freedom of the Jews

 
14. Hallel: The singing of the Psalms 113-118
Current practice:

• These Psalms sung over the 4th cup (cup of praise)

 
15. Nirtzah:
Current practice: Nirtzah means “accepted”

• Modern day addition
• Someone states that God is pleased with how the Seder was performed

 
Since 600 AD, scholarly Jews have debated whether there were 4 or 5 cups.

• A 5th cup was poured but never consumed
• They agreed to leave it that way until Elijah comes and settles the dispute.
• It is now named the Elijah cup.
• The door is opened to accommodate his return.

 
For the Christians: the timing of the sacrifice was important.

• The sacrificial animal, which was either a lamb or goat, was necessarily a male, one year old, and without blemish. Each family or society offered one animal together, which did not require the "semikah" (laying on of hands), although it was obligatory to determine who were to take part in the sacrifice that the killing might take place with the proper intentions.
• The sacrificial service took place in the courtyard of the Temple at Jerusalem. Strictly speaking, slaughtering could be performed by a layman, but in practice was performed by priests. The blood had to be collected by a priest, and rows of priests with gold or silver cups in their hands stood in line from the Temple court to the altar, where the blood was sprinkled. These cups were rounded on the bottom, so that they could not be set down; for in that case the blood might coagulate. The priest who caught the blood as it dropped from the animal then handed the cup to the priest next to him, receiving from him an empty one, and the full cup was passed along the line until it reached the last priest, who sprinkled its contents on the altar. The lamb was then hung upon special hooks or sticks and skinned; but if the eve of the Passover fell on a Sabbath, the skin was removed down to the breast only. The abdomen was then cut open, and the fatty portions intended for the altar were taken out, placed in a vessel, salted, and offered by the priest on the altar, while the remaining entrails likewise were taken out and cleansed.
• Only those who were circumcised and clean before the Law might participate, and they were forbidden to have leavened food in their possession during the act of killing the paschal lamb. The animal was slain on the eve of the Passover, on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan,[2] after the Tamid sacrifice had been killed, i.e., at three o'clock, or, in case the eve of the Passover fell on Friday, at two.[3]
• In 2016 Jewish activists pushing for a third temple in Jerusalem attempted to ascend the Temple Mount carrying baby goats intended to be used as Passover sacrifices on Friday afternoon, as they do every year. Jerusalem police detained ten suspects in the Old City for interrogation, and seized four sacrificial goat kids.

 
The Lord’s Supper -
 
John 14:27-31 - 27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful. 28 You have heard Me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe. 30 I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over Me. w31 On the contrary, I am going away so that the world may know that I love the Father. Just as the Father commanded Me, so I do.
Get up; let’s leave this place.” [1]

[1] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Jn 14:27–31). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.