The Passover meal (called the Seder) had finished. The Passover is all about mercy. It's all about God not giving us what we deserve - withholding His judgment from Israel.
Now, Jesus (the Jews call Him Yeshua) turns this simple Seder meal into something everyone there recognized instantly: a Jewish betrothal ceremony (a Brit). Who could have predicted that?
In a Brit, the man proposes marriage to the woman. She indicates her acceptance by drinking from the cup with him. God was making an invitation into a relationship: not based on the absence of judgment, but the presence of lavish love. It was revolutionary.
Have a look at this video which explains the connection.
In the ancient Hebrew tradition, too, it was customary for the groom and bride (so betrothed) to call each other husband and wife as soon as she said yes to his proposal of marriage, but not to consummate the marriage until after the groom had gone back home and built a room on his dad's property for him and his bride to live in.
Then when it was done, at any time of the day or night, he could come calling for her (she would be watching for him) - symbolically snatching her away from her parents' house to join him in a procession back to his father's house, and while assembled guests waited outside, the bride and groom would go inside their newly constructed home and consummate the marriage.
Afterward, they would come out and be the guests of honour at a feast, after which there would be up to a week of festivities at the father's house.
I don't need to draw a map. This, from the bread and wine straight through to the marriage supper and the seven days of celebration, is a perfect picture of God's original intention and His unfolding plan: the intimate relationship between Christ and His church, the promise of His coming, the rapture, and the marriage supper of the Lamb.
It shows the passionate desire of the heart of our God to enter into the most profound of relationships - a total union: a melding of spirit, soul, and eventually body that transcends all others.
And the price? Well, the video explains that so well : Jesus' dowry to purchase His bride was His blood... His life. It cost Him everything He had. And He paid it ...just so we could know Him, let Him into the deepest part of us, to keep ourselves only unto Him. So (starting now) He could be intimate with us.
That blows me away.
It's what I now think about whenever I take communion.
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