In my spiritual journey thus far I have worn many denominational “hats”. Raised Catholic, I was “saved” in an Evangelical Friends meeting and years later became a member of a Southern Baptist Church before moving on to a non-denominational Bible Church. Since taking on Torah observance I have attended a UMJC synagogue and now attend a small unaffiliated Torah community in my area. I have worshipped in settings that boasted over 1,000 in attendance on a Sunday morning, to one that met in a middle-school cafeteria, to my current Torah 
community of roughly ten individuals meeting in a modest rented office space. Indirectly I also have had ties to a Church of Christ which hosted an interdenominational ladies Bible study I taught, as well as an Assemblies of God Church which ran the Christian Elementary School my children attended.
In this multi-faceted journey I have experienced wide variations of observing the Lord’s Supper. “As often as you do this” means different things to different denominations. In the Catholic Church “communion” was a weekly event. In the Baptist, Bible Church and UMJC settings the Lord’s Supper was the first Sunday of the month. In the Evangelical Friends the Supper was observed quarterly (once every three months). The Catholic and UMJC used unleavened bread for remembrance, while in the Evangelic Friends, Baptist and Bible Church leavened white bread was used. 
In the Catholic Church wine mixed with water was taken while in all other churches/synagogues grape juice was used.
In my involvement with the current Torah community (over the past three years) the Lord’s Supper is celebrated at the Passover Seder, once a year. The Afikomen is the bread of communion while the third cup (of Redemption) is the wine of communion. Needless to say the partaking of the elements just once a year makes the Seder an extremely important and inspirational event that I look forward to with much anticipation.
Yet, over the past week I have found myself confronted by an idea which I had not considered before. If the Lord’s Supper was instituted on the evening of the 14th of Nisan (rather than at the Pesach Seder on the 15th), should the Supper be memorialized in the Seder at all? It was pointed out to me this past week, that partaking of the Lord’s Supper at the Seder presents a conflict as related to Paul’s admonitions in 1 Corinthians 11. In teaching the Corinthian believers about the Supper, Paul makes clear that to eat or drink in an unworthy fashion (i.e. not recognizing the bread as symbolizing Yeshua’s body and the wine as symbolizing his blood) is to “be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (v. 29) as well as eating and drinking “condemnation” upon oneself (v. 29).
In the literal instructions for the Pesach in Torah there is no hint of this at all. An unbelieving Jew can partake of the Seder elements without recognizing Yeshua’s sacrifice in them and be absolutely blameless. Hypothetically an unbelieving Jew could attend a Messianic Seder and reject the idea of Yeshua’s body and blood in the bread and wine and have no sin held against him. The celebration of Pesach in itself does not encompass or demand faith in Yeshua, which the Lord’s Supper does require according to 1 Corinthians 11. Therefore, the Lord’s Supper is not to be incorporated into a mo’ad that does not hold one accountable for recognition of such spiritual symbols.
This point was well taken, and seemed to have validity. Suddenly I found myself wondering what to do about this, for the Seder I am anticipating with my Torah community this upcoming week will recognize the Lord’s Supper as part of the celebration. Should I bow out of attending my community Seder? Should I bring up such questions to the leaders of my community, less than a week before the Seder is planned to occur? Should I just celebrate alone at home without the Lord’s Supper being involved? Or should I attend a Seder at a local synagogue as there are many of them to choose from in my area?
The thought of further separation and isolation as I considered this question weighed heavily upon me. Would this be a first in my spiritual journey, a year in which I do not celebrate the Lord’s Supper with fellow believers at all? I could celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the evening of the 14th and thereby recognize what I understand to be the actual date of the event in the most literal sense, but again, this is something which would need to be done. . alone. Though my heart railed against the idea of not celebrating the Seder with my community, my mind chanted the familiar mantra; “if in doubt . . .don’t”.
Therefore, with a mild sense of desperation I have scoured and contemplated Paul’s teachings in 1 Corinthians 11:17-29 over the past several days. Many musings have come to my mind regarding what Paul might be actually communicating here.
Traditionally this passage is understood to be describing an “agape-feast” or fellowship meal setting in which the Corinthians are oblivious to good table manners. Those who are able to bring food to the feast engorge themselves and do not share with those who have nothing to bring. In this way some go hungry while others get drunk. Paul rebukes the believers for such lack of decorum by admonishing them to eat at home instead of over indulging at the fellowship meal and shaming those who go hungry. Aside from this horrible crudity, Paul has taught the Corinthian believers that the bread and the wine must be taken with discernment of the body and blood of Christ in such congregational settings, otherwise one eats and drinks damnation upon oneself.
From this a Eucharistic pattern was formed and Paul’s words “as often as you do this” understood to mean “as often as you come together for a fellowship meal”, which has translated into the modern sense of as often as believers come together in general with various opinions regarding how often the elements of the Supper are to be observed.
But considering the passage detail by detail presents some interesting things. First, the entire context of Paul’s teaching is prefaced on the understanding that there are “divisions” and “factions” among the believers (v.18-19). What does Paul have in mind here? Are such divisions simply between the “have’s” and the “have not’s”, between those of means who can indulge in a meal vs. those of no means who can’t afford to bring food to a feast? Or could it be something else?
Daniel Lancaster, writing in First Fruits of Zion’s Torah Club Volume 5, presents an excellent teaching regarding the ability of Gentiles to partake of the Seder meal, in light of Paul’s admonition to the early believers that they should not be circumcised. Since Torah speaks of only circumcised males partaking of Pesach, wouldn’t uncircumcised Gentile believers be banned from participating at all? After parsing out the terminology used in Exodus 12:43-49, Lancaster looks to the Talmud (Pesachim 96a) to conclude; “An uncircumcised non-Jew is allowed to keep the Seder and Feast of Unleavened Bread. Only regarding the actual lamb-sacrifice is he banned.” [1] With this in mind certainly a faction or schism would naturally exist between Gentile and Jewish believers participating in a Seder meal (in Paul’s day), for the Gentile could not participate in the eating of the sacrificial lamb while the Jew could. Could this be the division Paul has in mind in 1 Corinthians 11 which would lead to Gentile believers going hungry during a Seder meal while their Jewish brethren indulged in eating the sacrificial meat to the point of getting inebriated?
In v. 20 Paul speaks of the believers coming together “into one place” (KJV) or “at the same place” (YLT), the actual Greek phrase being “epi ho autos” (επι το αυτο). Although many versions translate this phrase as simply “to come together”, both the KJV and Young’s Literal understand it to be speaking about a specific place. Since Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was written to all believers in Corinth who occupied numerous places (Chapter 1 verse 2) certainly this must have included thousands of individuals involved in many synagogues throughout the region. At what occasion would the majority of them, or the understood “whole” have met in “one place” or “at the same place”? Could Paul be alluding to the “one place” as Jerusalem where the believers (as a sect of Judaism) would make the pilgrimage required by Torah to observe the Feast of Unleavened bread, which would include the Seder meal?
In v.22 Paul seems to be comparing those who “have houses to eat in” as opposed to those “who have not”. The Greek “oikia” (οικιας) is used exclusively in the LXX to translate bayit which by implication can speak of a “household” or family group. Jewish believers would certainly have family groups or households in which they could partake of the korban Pesach and indulge in the “meal” aspect of it, to their heart’s content. Gentile believers, on the other hand, would have no such family groups and no permission to eat of the korban Pesach (being uncircumcised) at the Seder itself. For a Jewish believer to participate in a Seder in which believing Gentiles are present and to disregard the fact that they are unable to eat of the sacrificial meat, while one feasts away on the meat and wine to the point of inebriation, would certainly be to despise and shame those who are fellow brethren in the Lord.
Paul’s admonition that the believers are coming together “not for the better” but rather “for the worse” (v.17) is due to the teachings regarding the Lord’s Supper that he has already given to them. That the Supper was instituted on the night Yeshua was betrayed, that the bread and wine symbolize his body and blood, that these elements should be partaken of in remembrance of him, and that in doing so the believers proclaim his death until he comes again (v.23-25).
Although the popular understanding is that the Lord’s Supper may be celebrated or recognized any time believers come together and corporately recognize bread and wine/juice to symbolize Yeshua’s body and blood, Paul’s words here encompass but one timeframe; that of “the night he was betrayed”. Of course this causes challenges because of the discrepancies and uncertainties among the Gospel accounts regarding when this night actually occurred (the 14th of Nisan or the 15th of Nisan or other opinions based on a three day and three night “sign of Jonah” approach). But apart from the dilemma of discrepancies in general, all Gospel accounts would agree that the night Yeshua was betrayed is related to or connected with Passover. Pesach is in focus no matter what the dating of this night of betrayal is understood to be.
Because Yeshua is both “our Passover” (1 Corinthians 5:7) and “the Lamb of G-d” (John 1:29,36) it would seem that in Pesach itself is found the best representation and fullest proclamation of Yeshua’s death, as symbolized in the unleavened bread and cup of wine partaken of on that night.
In concluding Paul brings home his point by saying;
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. (1 Corinthians 11:26-29 KJV)
Several things are striking here; first, that the bread and cup Paul speaks of are very specific “this bread” and “this cup”, the bread and cup “of the Lord” which seems to be relating to a very specific time and situation rather than any variable fellowship meal or congregational gathering that might be designated to incorporate the elements of the Lord’s body and blood. This specific bread and cup must be discerned and understood consciously as representing the Lord’s body. This is why Paul says “examine yourself” (i.e. make sure you are aware of what you are partaking of and what it represents).
Although Pesach as taught in Torah carries with it no condemnation for those who do not recognize the elements as symbolizing Yeshua’s body and blood and no guilt for those who do not have faith in him, it would seem that for believers this is not the case. Since a believer understands the symbolism of the bread and wine as being the body and blood of the Master who died on the cross during Pesach, we are then accountable regarding this understanding as we partake of the Seder even if unbelieving Jews are not. For Scripture makes clear that we will be judged on what we know and what we had opportunity to learn.
With these things in mind I plan to head out on Monday to purchase the brisket of beef I ordered from the kosher butcher in a neighboring town, as I have volunteered to provide the brisket for my community’s Seder this year. Little do my fellow congregants realize how close they came to not having a brisket at the Seder, or the presence of the person who volunteered to prepare it.
Although my mind and heart are settled enough at the moment to participate in the Seder this year and the Lord’s Supper incorporated into it, I realize not everything is as black and white as I may have presented and that personal bias is bound to be involved. Other points of contention also need to be addressed including the appropriateness of the Afikomen as the bread of the Lord’s Supper . . .but that will have to wait for a post yet future : )
[1] D. Thomas Lancaster, Non Jews and Passover (An excerpt from First Fruits of Zion’s Torah Club Volume 5), as found at: http://www.bethimmanuel.org/print/203
