What is True Messianic Breaking of Bread?

[Alex Tennent]

Was The Last Supper every suppose to be a new ritual or just a better understanding of the Seder?

Hi Visionary, and thank you for your question. I am sure it was not supposed to be a ritual, otherwise all the churches would not have it so wrong by all using unleavened bread in their ritual, instead of the regular bread that the Messiah held and broke (in a parable). The scripture says he very often spoke in parables (Matt 13:34, Mark 4:34), but after the Jewish disconnect the RCC misunderstood the parables at his last supper and created their ritual. When the Protestants left the RCC they accidentally brought the ritual along, thinking it was what the Lord wanted and meant (but they dropped the Transubstantiation part). Some people believe it was a rehearsal for a seder, but I do not see it that way. They see it that way because they try to harmonize the English translations which really make it look like it was a Passover (because of the RCC tradition handed down). But the earliest folowers of the Messiah (mostly Jewish) knew that Jesus was crucified on the 14th day, and that the meal he had (at his last supper) was just a meal, and not a Passover. In his last supper parables he was teaching new covenant truth, that we the believers are the body of Christ, and members of it (symbolically pieces of the one bread). And that is what the Jewish apostles went out teaching, that we are now the body of Christ (Messiah) and we are members of his body. We are also pieces of the one bread. Thats what they understood from the Messiah's parables, where he broke the one bread into pieces, and then said partake, this is my body. Paul understood that this is why there was one bread in Jesus parable:
NAS 1 Corinthians 10:17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.

 

[AbbaLove]

Thanks for all your informative replies. Looking forward to adding your book to my libray.

http://themessianicfeast.com/

By the way you might find the following Messianic ebook of some interest ... The Torah's Goal?
($3.21 w/tax)​

 

[Alex Tennent]

Thanks for all your informative replies. Looking forward to adding your book to my libray.

http://themessianicfeast.com/

By the way you might find the following Messianic ebook of some interest ... The Torah's Goal?
($3.21 w/tax)​

Thank you so much AbbaLove. I also looked at the book you recommended, and I really like the subject:
Being Jewish is not easy! Being a Jewish follower of Yeshua is even more difficult. As Jews, we have to deal with growing anti-Semitism worldwide. As Messianic Jews, we are often rejected by our own families. Spiritual leaders in the Jewish community tell us we are no longer Jewish if we believe in “that man.” Within the Body of Messiah we are often misunderstood by our Gentile brothers and sisters in Yeshua who may not have a clue about our very acute identity struggles with which Gentile believers typically do not have to face. (end quote). It has always amazed me how someone is portrayed as being less Jewish for following the Jewish Messiah, but I know a lot of history has led to this (and many deceptions by our enemy too). Looks like a great book and I will be getting one!

 

[AbbaLove]

After reading the Introduction to "THE MESSIANIC FEAST - Moving Beyond the Ritual" and reflecting on the 11:58 Vimeo interview what strikes me is that rituals whether across Christiandom or within Messianic Judaism they are nearly impossible to change (even when suspect) after hundreds of years of man's religious indoctrination.
http://themessianicfeast.com/sample-chapters/

What audience do you think will look upon your book more favorably, non-denominational Protestants or Messianic Judaism?

Is it still too early for you to get a sense as to whether or not Messianic Judaism will be as accepting of your research when it comes to understanding "The True Breaking Of Messianic Bread" as demonstrated by Yeshua to His Disciples at the "Last Supper" and as later instructed by Paul to the Corinthian Messianics?

 

[Alex Tennent]

You are so right AbbaLove, and I think that is part of why the Messiah warned of traditions of man (Mark 7:8, 9, 13). Once they are entrenched and believed they are very difficult to overturn. Originally I believed my audience would be Pentecostal or non denominational fellowships, and I really thought the interest from Messianic fellowships would even surpass. But there were a few things I did not anticipate. The first is that for any pastor to bring these truths forth it would probably mean a church split, because teaching the bread was unleavened, and questioning the ritual will get many members extremely upset. So far I have had four pastors see the points in the book as true, and only one of them began to bring things to their church. That pastors wife told me that the people rose up and got very upset at the idea of leavened bread at the last supper, and he had to give up the teaching. So if this is indeed truth from the scripture, as I believe is thoroughly proven, we have a situation where the Lord is not allowed to be the head of the church, due to fear of what the people will say about scripture truth. That pastor did not even go the next step, which was to then question the Communion ritual, because the people would have gone ballistic. Two other pastors told me they see my book as truth, but they have not taken the step of bringing any of it to their church, and no longer communicate with me.
I had initially believed that the Messianic fellowships would love the accurate history of the "Fourteenthers" chapter, and that they would love seeing these things juxtaposed to the Jewish history I bring out. I also felt that they would be more open because they did not have the Communion ritual tradition holding them back. But so far I have mostly found closed doors there too. Those that I have mailed free books to do not acknowledge the book, and do not respond to emails (some of them pretty well known). I did have one leader of a Messianic fellowship that I had known 20 years ago (that I knew really had a heart for truth). I met with him and he was really liking the book, and talked about changing his teaching, because he was seeing my points on the leavened bread at Passover, but we have both been very busy and have not gotten back to each other from those initial meetings. So I said all that to say it has really been an uphill battle to get the book to catch on, as there are many doors that are locked shut. I think that Lulav starting this thread and also the one by Visionary is the best response and open discussion I have had yet : ) Thanks again AbbaLove for your excellent point and question.

 

[Alex Tennent]

PS AbbaLove, I think one of my favorite chapters it titled "The True Jewish Communion and the Messianic Feast." In that chapter I go into what communion was to the Jews long before the new covenant came in. I also tie in the 12 Showbread with Jewish history and the last supper parables. I couldn't resist adding a link to that chapter in this discussion! So here it is for anyone who might be interested: http://themessianicfeast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/TMF_Course_6.pdf

 

[AbbaLove]

PS AbbaLove, I think one of my favorite chapters it titled "The True Jewish Communion and the Messianic Feast." In that chapter I go into what communion was to the Jews long before the new covenant came in. I also tie in the 12 Showbread with Jewish history and the last supper parables. I couldn't resist adding a link to that chapter in this discussion! So here it is for anyone who might be interested: http://themessianicfeast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/TMF_Course_6.pdf

Your thoroughly researched book offers a spiritual benchmark for a fresh renewal to the saying, “Food for Thought.” Being that you are testing the waters for feedback have you yet sent a copy to any Messianic Congregation(s) or Messianic organization in Israel (e.g. One For Israel). Do you now believe that "the Lord's Meal" should be observed by Messianic Jews every Sabbath.

Do you have a sense that there may be a Messianic Congregation in Israel that would be more receptive to observing "the Lord's Meal (Last Supper)" regularly on the Sabbath. You need not mention the congregation, just wondering if you get a sense that the first Messianic congregation(s) that will act upon your research is more likely to be in Israel or in America. Perhaps there is already a Messianic Congregation in Israel that already observes the essential elements of the 'Breaking of Bread' as an inclusive part of their Sabbath oneg fellowship meal.

Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, wrote of the Essenes—another Jewish group that lived in Israel in his day that also held a solemn service with breads:

They work until about 11 A.M. when they put on ritual loincloths and bathe for purification. Then they enter a communal hall, where no one else is allowed, and eat only one bowlful of food for each man, together with their loaves of bread. They eat in silence. Afterwards they lay aside their sacred garment and go back to work until the evening. At evening they partake dinner in the same manner. During meals they are sober and quiet and their silence seems a great mystery to people outside.​

Their timing also seems to emulate the workings of the Temple, as they bathe for ritual purification at 11 am to be ready by the after-noon period. Josephus noted elsewhere that at noon the priests (having already bathed) would be ready at the Temple to begin the process toward the evening offering. (page 195)

Do you have any reason to believe that some of the Essenes of Yeshua's days were more likely or less likely to become a follower of Yeshua as Messiah and Lord. It doesn't take a strectch to imagine that there may have been some Essenes present when the five thousand were fed or at the Feast of Shavuot when the presence of Ruach HaKodesh was manifested.

Hebrews 11:37-38 (CJB)
37 They were stoned, sawed in two, murdered by the sword; they went about clothed in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, mistreated,
38 wandering about in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground! The world was not worthy of them!

 

[Alex Tennent]

Your thoroughly researched book offers a spiritual benchmark for a fresh renewal to the saying, “Food for Thought.” Being that you are testing the waters for feedback have you yet sent a copy to any Messianic Congregation(s) or Messianic organization in Israel (e.g. One For Israel). Do you now believe that "the Lord's Meal" should be observed by Messianic Jews every Sabbath.

Do you have a sense that there may be a Messianic Congregation in Israel that would be more receptive to observing "the Lord's Meal (Last Supper)" regularly on the Sabbath. You need not mention the congregation, just wondering if you get a sense that the first Messianic congregation(s) that will act upon your research is more likely to be in Israel or in America. Perhaps there is already a Messianic Congregation in Israel that already observes the essential elements of the 'Breaking of Bread' as an inclusive part of their Sabbath oneg fellowship meal.


Do you have any reason to believe that some of the Essenes of Yeshua's days were more likely or less likely to become a follower of Yeshua as Messiah and Lord. It doesn't take a strectch to imagine that there may have been some Essenes present when the five thousand were fed or at the Feast of Shavuot when the presence of Ruach HaKodesh was manifested.

Hebrews 11:37-38 (CJB)
37 They were stoned, sawed in two, murdered by the sword; they went about clothed in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, mistreated,
38 wandering about in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground! The world was not worthy of them!

I think Messianic fellowships in Israel would very possibly be open to my book but I have not yet found a way to access them. I will look into the "One for Israel" fellowship and thank you for mentioning that. I would be glad to give some free books or ebooks out, so if you know of any other fellowships that might be interested I would be glad to hear. As for the Lord's meal each Sabbath, I believe that that Course 6 link shows that the new testament followers were partaking of the true bread, the spiritual bread of life, and they were doing this whenever two or three gathered together (as Jesus said he would then be in their midst, Matthew 18:20). And yes, I would think that many Essenes followed the Messiah, just as some Pharisees (Acts 15:5) and Sadducees (Acts 6:7). At one time he was so popular that a pharisee exclaimed the whole world had gone after him (John 12:19). I'm sure you know of those verse but just thought to add them in. So I agree with you that some of the Essenes would have believed.

 

[AbbaLove]

I think Messianic fellowships in Israel would very possibly be open to my book but I have not yet found a way to access them. I will look into the "One for Israel" fellowship and thank you for mentioning that. I would be glad to give some free books or ebooks out, so if you know of any other fellowships that might be interested I would be glad to hear.

He Will Make A Way
​

A few copies of your timely book would be a treasured addition to One For Israel's Library. Can envision it even being incorporated as a reference textbook at Messianic Schools of Higher Learning in Israel as well as secular and perhaps even a few Rabbinic libraries in Israel. Hopefully, the Lord will provide the means for you to someday make your way to Israel. Have you ever considered a teaching career in Israel.

Send a couple copies to Myles and Katharine Weiss at: Zola Levitt Ministries ... http://www.levitt.tv/ ... have enjoyed watching the recent interviews with Ron Cantor.

Am just beginning reading the chapters available at ... http://themessianicfeast.com/sample-chapters/ ... alot to take in

 

[BukiRob]

I imagine you would love [Oneg] "pot luck" every Sabbath... A lot of people would. It has its benefits. Our congregations has it once a month.

Mine does it every shabbat

 

[Grafted In]

I'm going to take the chance of posting here though I am not a Jewish believer. My reason is because of in Luke chapter 22 and Mathew chapter 26, Jesus refers to the last supper as The Passover meal.
Perhaps I overlooked mention of these portions of Scripture and why I do not have understanding as to their meaning or are you suggesting they are wrongly translated?

 

[Alex Tennent]

He Will Make A Way
​

A few copies of your timely book would be a treasured addition to One For Israel's Library. Can envision it even being incorporated as a reference textbook at Messianic Schools of Higher Learning in Israel as well as secular and perhaps even a few Rabbinic libraries in Israel. Hopefully, the Lord will provide the means for you to someday make your way to Israel. Have you ever considered a teaching career in Israel.

Send a couple copies to Myles and Katharine Weiss at: Zola Levitt Ministries ... http://www.levitt.tv/ ... have enjoyed watching the recent interviews with Ron Cantor.

Am just beginning reading the chapters available at ... http://themessianicfeast.com/sample-chapters/ ... alot to take in

Thank you so much AbbaLove, I really appreciate that! What an honor it would be to teach in Israel. I was there for 3 weeks many years ago and it was the best vacation I have ever taken. I used to watch Zola way back when I was a fairly new believer, I always loved him. He was a real trail blazer in those days. And thanks also for the tip on the Weiss's and Ron Cantor, I will have to check out some of those videos there. And if you continue reading I would be glad to hear any of your thoughts along the way!

 

[Alex Tennent]

I'm going to take the chance of posting here though I am not a Jewish believer. My reason is because of in Luke chapter 22 and Mathew chapter 26, Jesus refers to the last supper as The Passover meal.
Perhaps I overlooked mention of these portions of Scripture and why I do not have understanding as to their meaning or are you suggesting they are wrongly translated?

Hello Grafted in and thanks for your question. I think you meant Matthew 28, but yes, the short answer is that they were mistranslated. It is true that the English in those scriptures makes it seem very obvious that the last supper was the Passover, but the Scriptures were translated from Greek to English 1500 years or so later, and by that time the Roman tradition that the last supper was the Passover was firmly entrenched. If you want to read those chapters in my book I would probably recommend three of them (I will add a link to them at the end of this message), but you might read the introduction first to see where it is all going. Then, the chapters you might consider are:
1. The Jewish Disconnect and the Fourteenthers. In this chapter we see that the Messianic Jewish fellowships (who had many Gentiles among them) had doctrinal differences with the church in Rome (the world power in their day), and the Jewish believers were then painted as heretics and parricides and were cut off completely (many were martyred). These Jewish followers of the Messiah (mocked by Rome as Fourteenthers) believed that the Messiah was crucified on the 14th day Passover, and therefore knew that the last supper could not have been the Passover. This Jewish disconnect is how several doctrinal misunderstandings became passed down through history as supposed fact.
2. Then I would read Course 1, called "The Messiah Held One Leavened Bread." This chapter shows how the idea that the last supper was the Passover (English translations notwithstanding) could not possibly have been true because they were eating regular daily leavened bread at this meal. At the last supper they were still under Mosaic law, and God had said that anyone who eats anything leavened at Passover would be cut off from the nation, and this would have the Messiah and the disciples sinning a huge sin before God, and Christ not being sinless (so we know it was not the Passover).
3 Then the chapter that goes into the English translations is more difficult, but I tried to make it so that anyone without knowledge of Greek, or a new student of the scriptures, could understand what it is saying. I hope I was successful in that. That chapter is titled "The Three Major Greek Keys that Unlock the Gospels." In that chapter I go into Matthew 28, Mark 12, and Luke 22 which in English portray it was the Passover, however I show how they should have been translated, and offer substantial proof there. Paul called Christ "our Passover," not our "day late Passover." God knew the day His son would be crucified and commanded that day for Moses to offer the first Passover lamb (and subsequent lambs). God's law was clear and it was not allowed to have a Passover sacrifice two days in a row. And He commanded the legal time of the sacrifice to be "between the evenings" of the 14th day (exactly when Jesus/Yeshua was crucified). There is another chapter called "Between the Evenings" that can be accessed in the following link also, in case anyone is interested. All the best Grafted in, I hope these chapters help answer your question. Here is the link to those chapters: http://themessianicfeast.com/sample-chapters/

 

[Alex Tennent]

Thank you so much AbbaLove, I really appreciate that! What an honor it would be to teach in Israel. I was there for 3 weeks many years ago and it was the best vacation I have ever taken. I used to watch Zola way back when I was a fairly new believer, I always loved him. He was a real trail blazer in those days. And thanks also for the tip on the Weiss's and Ron Cantor, I will have to check out some of those videos there. And if you continue reading I would be glad to hear any of your thoughts along the way!

PS AbbaLove thank you much for the following words too! He Will Make A Way (I am not high tech enough to make them blue like you did!)

 

[Grafted In]

Thank you, Alex. I will check them out.

 

[Grafted In]

Thank you so much AbbaLove, I really appreciate that! What an honor it would be to teach in Israel. I was there for 3 weeks many years ago and it was the best vacation I have ever taken. I used to watch Zola way back when I was a fairly new believer, I always loved him. He was a real trail blazer in those days. And thanks also for the tip on the Weiss's and Ron Cantor, I will have to check out some of those videos there. And if you continue reading I would be glad to hear any of your thoughts along the way!

Zola was who lit the fire in me regarding these things. I loved that man. I stumbled across his tv program in the early 80s shortly after becoming born again.

 

[Alex Tennent]

Zola was who lit the fire in me regarding these things. I loved that man. I stumbled across his tv program in the early 80s shortly after becoming born again.

Yes, he was sure a special man. I think he was an early help for me to start looking at the scriptures through the first-century Jewish perspective, instead of the somewhat Roman grid that was handed down.

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

Alex, the one thing that always baffled me was why did the current Messianic movement partner with Western theology and not the older Eastern Orthodox theology? Eastern Orthodoxy is the offspring of the fourteeners in the East, although even it has succumb ("judaizers") somewhat to Rome until 1054. The Eastern churches have always used unleavened bread. Even though I am Orthodox, I still try and adhere to the initial teachings of John, Polycarp and their Jewish successors of our church Fathers. Shalom

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

http://messiahsmandate.org/messianic-jews-in-the-second-century/

 

[Hoshiyya]

Alex, the one thing that always baffled me was why did the current Messianic movement partner with Western theology

Because MJ arose in the West. It's a Western religion. You might as well ask "why does Mormonism have more similarities to Protestantism than to Copticism ?" Because it descended from, and is a reaction to Protestantism, and not Copticism. Nothing baffling to it.