The Fourth Cup

It all started with a Sunday morning service at the local Evangelical church which my wife and I attended during our last year at seminary. The preacher had just finished an exciting sermon on the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary. But something he said stuck with me. In the middle of the message, he raised a simple question: "In John 19:30, what did Jesus mean when he cried, 'It is finished'? What does the 'it’ refer to?" Instantly the standard Evangelical answer came to my mind: Jesus’ words signify the completion of our redemption at that moment.

The preacher happened to be a fine Scripture scholar as well as one of my favorite seminary professors, so I was taken aback when he proceeded to show quite convincingly that Jesus could not have meant that. For one thing, Paul teaches that our redemption is not complete without Jesus being "raised for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). The preacher also showed how the standard Evangelical answer is taken from theology and read into the text ("eisegesis"), instead of being drawn from the text interpreted in context ("exegesis"). To my amazement, he candidly admitted he didn’t have a satisfying answer to his own question.

I couldn’t hear the rest of his sermon. My mind began racing ahead in search of a solution. It only came after graduation, in my first year as a pastor while studying Scripture in preparing a series of sermons on what we Presbyterians called "the Lord’s Supper."

THE FIRST stage of my discovery process came in studying the Old Testament background to Jesus’ Last Supper. The occasion was the Jewish feast of Passover (Mark 14:12-16). This memorial celebrated God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt. During that fateful night, every firstborn son in Egypt perished except those in Israelite families where a lamb without blemish or broken bones (Ex. 12:5, 46) was slain and eaten as a substitutionary sacrifice. Then Moses led Israel out of Egypt to Mount Sinai, where the Law was given and the covenant was sealed between God and his people through sacrifice and communion.

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The Passover meal was divided into four parts. First, the preliminary course consisted of a festival blessing (kiddush) spoken over the first cup of wine, followed by the serving of a dish of herbs. The second course included a recital of the Passover narrative and the "Little Hallel" (Psalm 113), followed by the drinking of the second cup of wine. The third course was the main meal, consisting of lamb and unleavened bread, after which was drunk the third cup of wine, known as the "cup of blessing." The Passover climaxed with the singing of the "Great Hallel" (Psalms 114-118) and the drinking of the fourth cup of wine.

New Testament scholars see this pattern reflected in the Gospel narratives of the Last Supper. In particular, the cup blessed and distributed by Jesus is identified as the third cup in the Passover Haggadah. This is apparent from the singing of the "Great Hallel" which immediately follows: "And when they had sung a hymn. . . ." (Mark 14:26). Indeed, Paul identifies this "cup of blessing" with the Eucharistic cup (1 Cor. 10:16).

At this point a significant problem arises. Instead of proceeding immediately to the climax of the Passover, the drinking of the fourth cup, we read: "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives" (Mark 14:26). While it may be difficult for Gentile Christians unfamiliar with the Haggadah to perceive the serious disorder this sequence represents, it is not lost to Jewish readers and students of the seder. For them, Jesus skipping the fourth cup could be compared to a priest omitting the words of consecration at Mass. The fundamental purpose or goal of the liturgy seemingly was missed.

Not only is the omission conspicuous, it appears to be underscored by the words of Jesus in the preceding verse: "Truly, I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God" (Mark 14:25). It is almost as though Jesus meant not to drink what he was expected to drink. On the other hand, a few scholars speculate that psychological factors account for Jesus’ forgetfulness. They point out how, subsequently, "he began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful, even unto death'" (Mark 14:32). Perhaps he was too upset to be bothered with liturgical precision in following the rubrics.

WHILE THIS analysis may seem plausible, further reflection renders it improbable. For one thing, if he was so distracted and confused, it seems doubtful Jesus would forget and interrupt the Passover liturgy after expressly declaring his intention not to drink the fourth cup, especially since he went ahead and sang the "Great Hallel." Why would he declare himself so plainly before acting in so disorderly a fashion? His other actions that night indicate a man admittedly distressed but in full possession of himself. Why then did he choose not to drink?

The third stage of my discovery process was reached when the answer to that question seemed to become more evident by my focusing on Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Notice what he prayed: "And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but thou wilt'" (Matt. 26:39). Three times altogether Jesus prayed for his Father to take away "this cup." An obvious question arises: What cup was Jesus talking about?[Some scholars explain Jesus’ language by identifying it with "the cup of God’s wrath" in the Old Testament prophets (Is. 51:17; Jer. 25:15). Surely there is a connection here, but the connection seems less direct than does the primary link suggested by the Passover setting. Note how Jesus’ resolution not to drink "the fruit of the vine" seems to reappear in the scene at Golgotha right before he is crucified: "And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh; but he did not take it" (Mark 15:23). The narrative does not explain his refusal, but it probably points back to Jesus’ pledge not to drink until his Kingdom is manifested in glory. Incidentally, the synoptic Gospels often recount sayings of Jesus combining imagery of banquet feasts with his Kingdom glory (Matt. 22:1ff; Luke 22:15ff).]

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GRADUALLY these Passover and Kingdom themes from John’s Gospel began to converge in my mind as I reapproached the question of Jesus’ meaning in saying, "It is finished" (John 19:30). For one thing, I noticed that my King, Priest, and paschal victim, in his "hour of glory" while suffering on the cross, made a profound gesture: "After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), 'I thirst.'"

Jesus was thirsty long before this closing moment of his life. His words, therefore, must reflect more than a desire for a last drink of fluid. He seems to have been in full possession of himself as he realized that "all was now finished." Whatever it is that "was now finished" seems to be directly connected to his utterance, which he spoke "to fulfill the Scripture." More things fall into place upon reading what followed his expression of thirst: "A bowl of sour wine stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth" (19:29). Only John noticed that hyssop was used, the branch prescribed in the Passover law for sprinkling the blood of the lamb (Ex.12:22).

This verse reveals something significant. Jesus had left unfinished the Passover liturgy in the upper room by not drinking the fourth cup. He stated his intention not to drink wine again until he came into the glory of his Kingdom. As we have seen, he refused some on one occasion, right before being nailed to the cross (Mark 15:23). Then, at the very end, Jesus was offered "sour wine" (John 19:30; Matt.27:48; Mark 15:36; Luke 23:36). But only John tells us how he responded: "When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished'; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (19:30).

AT LAST I had an answer to my question. It was the Passover that was now finished. More precisely, it was Jesus’ transformation of the Passover sacrifice of the Old Covenant into the Eucharistic sacrifice of the New Covenant. I learned Scripture teaches that the Passover sacrifice of the New Covenant began in the upper room with the institution of the Eucharist, not merely with Jesus being crucified on Calvary, as I was taught and had been teaching. In Jesus’ mind, his Eucharistic sacrifice as the Passover lamb of the New Covenant was not finished until Calvary. In sum, Calvary begins with the Eucharist and the Eucharist ends with Calvary. It is all of one piece.

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