This is It - Episode 15: Passover

The time of Passover and unleavened had come, and when they were making sacrifice two students asked Yeshua, Where do you want us to prepare for the seder?

He told them, Go into town, and you will see a man carrying a water jug. Follow him, and where he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘Our teacher asks, where is a banquet hall why I can eat seder with my students?’ He will show you an upper room, with a table made ready. There you can make preparations.

Later, Yeshua arrived with the twelve. They all sat at table.

Yeshua said, The time of reckoning is at hand. We have riled too many in power. One of you is going to hand me over to the authorities, one sitting among us now.

The mood of the room darkened, and all assembled took on grief.

But he took the bread, blessed it and broke it, and he gave it to them saying, Take this, this is my body.And in that gesture, they remembered his talk about the leavening and stories about bread.

Taking a cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them saying, This is my blood, poured out for all. I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it, renewed, in the realm of the holy one. And with that gesture, they remembered his talk about the vineyard, the vine and the grapes.

At the end of the meal, they sang a hymn and departed toward Mount Olive. 

© 2020 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen and songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com

A brief note about my literary exploration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth: I have undertaken this exercise having read, sung (in several languages), meditated and prayed on the contents of the Synoptic Gospels (as well as the Non-Synoptic Gospels) for at least 45 years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a bit of a library (which comes as no surprise to those who know me), and I try to follow modern scholarship. Here is a partial list of the authors and books that come to mind as I write these episodes:

Ballentine, Debra Scoggins, The Conflict Myth & the Biblical Tradition; Oxford University Press 2015

Erdman, Bart, various titles

Gaus, Andy, The Unvarnished New Testament; Phanes Press, 1991

Herzog, William R., Parables as Subversive Speech; Westminster John Knox Press, 1991

Louden, Bruce, Greek Myth and the Bible; Routledge, 2019

Tatian, Diatesseron; www.earlychristianwritings.com/diatessaron.html

Wajdenbaum, Philippe, Argonauts of the Desert, Routledge, 2011

Ward, Keith, The Philosopher and the Gospels, Lion Hudson, 2011

Yosef ben Maityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus), various writings