Jesus instituted the Holy Communion during the Pesach Celebration of the Old Covenant

A covenant, in its most general sense, is a solemn promise to do or not do something specified.  A covenant, in contrast to a contract, is a one-way agreement whereby the covenantor is the only party bound by the promise. A covenant may have conditions and prerequisites that qualify the undertaking, including the actions of second or third parties, but there is no inherent agreement by such other parties to fulfill those requirements. Consequentially, the only party that can break a covenant is the covenantor

Among a series of covenants the last two are usually called Old and New Covenants.  The Old Covenant was mediated by Moses with Israel while the New covenant was mediated by Christ with all mankind.

Genesis 15:1-21

The Abrahamic Three-Fold Covenant was foundational to all other Biblical Covenants between Yahweh and His people:

•           The promise of land:
 Israel's possession of the Promised Land Deut 30:1-10

•           The promise of kingly descendants in the Davidic Covenant through which the Messiah is promised — 2 Sam 7:12-16

•           The promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham is fulfilled in the New Covenant in Christ — Jer 31:31-40; Luke 22:17-20

This covenant was ratified with the blood of the bullocks and culminated in a Covenant Dinner which was presided over by Yahweh in human form – Jesus himself.

Whom did they see? Yahweh with a human form.  Jesus in His Glory.

This defined a 

Every year on the 4^th of Nissan the memory of this covenant was celebrated as Pesah.  It celebrated the great liberation of Israel from under the yoke of Egypt.  It was accomplished by wonders and a with a mighty hand.

Exo 12:12-13   For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Passover celebrates the passing over of the angel of death over the household marked with blood.

The memorial dinner consists of eating the Passover lamb.

It is done once a year on the fourteenth of Nissan even today by the Jews.

The Seder is family-based ritual is derived from a verse in the Bible: Vehigadta levincha' bayom hahu leymor ba'avur zeh asah Adonay li betzeyti miMitzrayim - "And you shall tell it to your son on that day, saying, 'Because of this God did for me when He took me out of Egypt'" (Exodus 13:8). The words and rituals of the Seder are a primary vehicle for the transmission of the Jewish faith from grandparent to child, and from one generation to the next just the same way as Christmas and Easter celebrations are supposed to be.  Some Sephardi and Oriental Jews call the service the Haggadah, as it constitutes the act of narrating. The full name for the ceremony is Seder Haggadah, "the order of narration"; the word "Seder" is applicable to any ceremony with a set order,

Passover at the Time of Jesus

At the time of Jesus, Passover was the major festival of the Jews which was celebrated with great pomp and details.   Jews from all over the world will throng Jerusalem to celebrate this great event.  Joachim Jeremias, a noted scholar, asserts that the population of Jerusalem would grow by another 150,000 at Passover in contrast to 25,000 who live in the city.  

Soon after the return of the exile to build the second temple, the Seder was elaborated by the Pharisees.  After the destruction of the Temple in AD 70  which resulted in the cessation of sacrifice, additions were made which essentially included the Hagada (The Story telling).  The Four questions, the Four Sons, the vast scripture readings were the development of this period. 

Even though Passover was celebrated by the families, by the time of Jesus   chabura replaced the family as the sociological unit of the Passover festival. Josephus says that wrote that in order to celebrate the Passover, a person should be at least 30 years old and not fewer than ten persons, but as many as twenty, should gathered around each sacrifice (J.W. 6. 423-25; cf. Ant. 3.248).  Thus the Last Supper was a chabura with Jesus presiding and twelve disciples.

The Seder starts with the elimination of all Chametz (Yeast) from the house.  Yeast is a symbol of sin in the New Testament.  No leaven should be found in your household

“Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are”
1 Corinthians 5:7

Themes of the Seder

Slavery and freedom

The rituals and symbolic foods associated with the Seder are. slavery and freedom. The rendering of time for the Hebrews was that a day began at sunset and ended at sunset. Historically, at the end of the day of 14^th and beginning of the 15th of Nisan which is soon after the sunset in Egypt.  The event celebrated are:
1.  providing a sacrifice so that the the angel of death passing by will not touch the first borm of the Israel while it destroyed the first born of all – both man and beast – which were not under the sign of cross on the lentels of the homes with the sacrificial blood of lamb of pesah.
2.  The escape to freedom from under the yoke of slavery of the Egypt into the wilderness crossing over the impossible barrier of the Redsea.

During the seder participants eat the matzo marked with the wounds of lashes under Egyptian masters (the "poor man's bread"), maror (bitter herbs which symbolize the bitterness of slavery), and charoset (a sweet paste representing the mortar which the Jewish slaves used to cement bricks).  Then there is an elaborate dinner when they  eat the matzo  and 'afikoman', and drink the four cups of wine, in a reclining position diping vegetables into salt water in the royal fashion.

Royal Banquets of the period in reclines position.

But today it is done sitting around tables in chairs,

The Four Cups

There is an obligation to drink four cups of wine  during the Seder. The Mishnah says (Pes. 10:1) that even the poor are obligated to drink the four cups. Each cup is imbibed at a specific point in the Seder

Four Cups of Passover Wine
are interpreted variously.  The unanimous agreement is on its explanation based on  Exodus 6.6-7 depicting four levels of delicerence:

Cup 1 "I will bring you out“ [deliverence] Kiddush (קידוש)

Cup 2 "I will rid you of their bondage" [freedom] Magid' (מגיד)

Cup 3  I will redeem you" [redemption] Birkat Hamazon (ברכת המזון)

Cup 4 "I will take you for my people and I will be your God" Hallel (הלל)." [consummation]

The Vilna Gaon relates the Four Cups to four worlds: this world, the Messianic age, the world at the revival of the dead, and the world to come.

The Abarbanel relates the cups to the four historical redemptions of the Jewish people: the choosing of Abraham, the Exodus from Egypt, the survival of the Jewish people throughout the exile, and the fourth which will happen at the end of days. Therefore it is very important.

Seder Plate

Traditional arrangement of symbolic foods on a Passover Seder Plate

The Passover Seder Plate (ke'ara) is a special plate containing six symbolic foods used during the Passover Seder. Each of the six items arranged on the plate have special significance to the retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The seventh symbolic item used during the meal—a stack of three matzot—is placed on its own plate on the Seder table.

The six items on the Seder Plate are:

• Maror and Chazeret; Two types of bitter herbs, symbolizing the bitterness and harshness of the slavery which the Jews endured in Ancient Egypt. For maror, many people use freshly grated horseradish or whole horseradish root. Chazeret is typically romaine lettuce, whose roots are bitter-tasting. Either the horseradish or romaine lettuce may be eaten in fulfillment of the mitzvah of eating bitter herbs during the Seder.
• Charoset; A sweet, brown, pebbly mixture, representing the mortar used by the Jewish slaves to build the storehouses of Egypt.
• Karpas; A vegetable other than bitter herbs, usually parsley but sometimes something such as celery or cooked potato, which is dipped into salt water (Ashkenazi custom), vinegar (Sephardi custom) or charoset (older custom, still common amongst Yemenite Jews) at the beginning of the Seder.
• Z'roa; A roasted shank bone, symbolizing the korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice), which was a lamb offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and was then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.
• Beitzah; A roasted egg, symbolizing the korban chagigah (festival sacrifice) that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and was then eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.

Order of the Seder

 Kadeish (blessings and the first cup of wine)

Kadeish is Hebrew Imperative for Kiddush. The Kiddush is normally said by the father of the house.

Ur'chatz (wash hands)

In traditional Jewish homes, it is common to ritually wash the hands before a meal.

Karpas (appetizer)

Each participant dips a vegetable into either salt water .

Yachatz (breaking of the middle matzah)

There are three matzot in a pouch with three sections.  The middle  matzot  is broken in two. The larger piece is hidden, to be used later as the afikoman, the "dessert" after the meal. The smaller piece is returned to its place between the other two matzos.

Magid (The telling)

The story of Passover, and the change from slavery to freedom is told.

Ha Lachma Anya (invitation to the Seder)

The matzot are uncovered, and referred to as the "bread of affliction". Participants declare (in Aramaic) an invitation to all who are hungry or needy to join in the Seder. Halakha requires that this invitation be repeated in the native language of the country.

Mah Nishtanah (The Four Questions)

 Here the children asks questions and the parents explain the reason for the speciality of this day as a memorial to redemption

Ma nishtana ha lyla ha zeh mikkol hallaylot?
Why is this night different from all other nights?

1. Shebb'khol hallelot en anu matbillin afillu pa‘am eḥat, vehallayla hazze sh'tei fe‘amim.
   Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip [our food] even once, but on this night we dip them twice?
2. Shebb'khol hallelot anu okh’lin ḥamets umatsa, vehallayla hazze kullo matsa.
   Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either leavened bread or matza, but on this night we eat only matza?
3. Shebb'khol hallelot anu okh’lin sh’ar y'rakot, vehallayla hazze maror.
   Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables, but on this night we eat bitter herbs?
4. Shebb'khol hallelot anu okh’lin ben yosh’vin uven m'subbin, vehallayla hazze kullanu m'subbin.
   Why is it that on all other nights we dine either sitting upright or reclining, but on this night we all recline?

The Four Sons

The Haggadah speaks of "four sons"—one who is wise, one who is wicked, one who is simple, and one who does not know to ask. Each of these sons phrase the question, "What is the meaning of this service?" in different ways. The Haggadah recommends answering each son according to his question, using one of the three verses in the Torah that refer to this father-son exchange.

The wise son, who inquires "What is the meaning of the statutes and laws that God has commanded you to do?", is answered with "You should reply to him the laws of pesach: one may not eat any dessert after the paschal sacrifice.", which seems at first glance to be a nonsequitur. This has been interpreted, however, as the son who already knows the facts becoming impatient with their recitation and wishing to skip over them to a deeper analysis; the answer is that it is absolutely required to retell the facts of the story publicly, for the edification of all attendees, whatever their level of knowledge.^[8]

The wicked son, who asks his father the seemingly similar, "What is this service to you?", in fact differentiates himself by the disinterested vagueness of his question, and is thus seen to be isolating himself from the Jewish people, standing by objectively and watching their behavior rather than participating. Therefore, he is rebuked by the explanation that "It is because God acted for my sake when I left Egypt." (This implies that the Seder is not for the wicked son because the wicked son would not have deserved to be freed from Egyptian slavery.) Where the four sons are illustrated in the Haggadah, this son has frequently been depicted as wearing stylish contemporary fashions.

The simple son, who asks, "What is this?" is answered with "With a strong hand the Almighty led us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage."

And the one who does not know to ask is told, "It is because of what the Almighty did for me when I left Egypt."

Some modern Seders have taken to referring to the "Sons" as "Children", and some have added a fifth child. The fifth child can represent the children of the Shoah who did not survive to ask a question or to Jews who have drifted so far from Jewish life that they do not participate in a Seder. For the former, tradition is to say that for that child we ask "Why?" and, like the simple son, we have no answer.

  Enumeration of the Ten Plagues

 Here the story telling continues

 With the recital of the Ten Plagues, each participant removes a drop of wine from his or her cup using a fingertip.

1. Dam (blood)—All the water was changed to blood
2. Tzefardeyah (frogs)—An infestation of frogs sprang up in Egypt
3. Kinim (lice)—The Egyptians were afflicted by lice
4. Arov (wild animals)—An infestation of wild animals (some say flies) sprang up in Egypt
5. Dever (pestilence)—A plague killed off the Egyptian livestock
6. Sh'chin (boils)—An epidemic of boils afflicted the Egyptians
7. Barad (hail)—Hail rained from the sky
8. Arbeh (locusts)—Locusts swarmed over Egypt
9. Choshech (darkness)—Egypt was covered in darkness
10. Makkat Bechorot (killing of the first-born)—All the first-born sons of the Egyptians were slain by God

 Song of Dayenu

 The song Dayeinu,  proclaims that  God continues to redeem his people to its ultimate ponts.  It would have been enough if God stopped at any point.  But He continues to its fullest extant.   This  obligate us to give thanks to Him.

Kos Sheini (Second Cup of Wine)

Magid concludes with the drinking of the Second Cup of Wine.

Rohtzah (ritual washing of hands)

The ritual hand-washing is repeated, this time with all customs including a blessing.

 Motzi Matzo (blessings over the matzot)

Lifting all three matzot, we recite the regular blessing for bread, then release the bottom matzo and recite the special blessing for the mitzvah of matzo. We then eat a portion of matzo from the top two matzot while leaning. (We can add more from other matzot as necessary for all the people at the table but we leave the third matzah for the Korech.)

 Koreich (sandwich)

The matzo and maror are combined, similar to a sandwich, and eaten.  

Shulchan Orech (the meal)

The festive meal is eaten. Traditionally it begins with the hard-boiled egg on the Seder plate.

 Tzafun (eating of the afikoman)

The afikoman, which was hidden earlier in the Seder, is traditionally the last morsel of food eaten by participants in the Seder.

Each participant receives an olive-sized portion of matzo to be eaten as afikoman. After the consumption of the afikoman, traditionally, no other food may be eaten for the rest of the night. Additionally, no intoxicating beverages may be consumed, with the exception of the remaining two cups of wine.

In some families, the children discovers the hidden half of the  afikoman and  are rewarded for it.

 Bareich (Grace after Meals)

  Kos Shlishi (the Third Cup of Wine)

The drinking of the Third Cup of Wine.

 Kos shel Eliyahu ha-Navi (cup of Elijah the Prophet)

In many traditions, the front door of the house is opened at this point. Psalms 79:6-7 is recited in both Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions, plus Lamentations 3:66 among Ashkenazim.

Most Ashkenazim have the custom to fill a fifth cup at this point. This cup is traditionally called the Kos shel Eliyahu ("Cup of Elijah"). Traditionally, Elijah the Prophet visits each home on Seder night as a foreshadowing of his future arrival at the end of the days, when he will come to announce the coming of the Jewish Messiah. Some Jewish feminists place a Cup of Miriam filled with water beside the Cup of Elijah. The Passover Seder is traditionally connected with the Messianic age.

 Hallel (songs of praise)

 Read Psalm 136,  .  

Afterwards the Fourth Cup of Wine is drunk and a brief Grace for the "fruit of the vine" is said.

Nirtzah

 The Seder concludes with a prayer that the night's service be accepted. A hope for the Messiah is expressed: "L'shanah haba'ah b'Yerushalayim! - Next year in Jerusalem!" Jews in Israel, and especially those in Jerusalem, recite instead "L'shanah haba'ah b'Yerushalayim hab'nuyah! - Next year in the rebuilt Jerusalem!"

 This is the summary of the Seder in the Jewish tradition.  There are variations depending of the group and culture.

It was this seder in which Jesus himself presided and changed it into a New Covenant.  We will now see the changes He did and what they mean.

Jesus established the New Covenant at such a Pesah dinner.

Jesus was again presiding over the New Covenant dinner in direct situation with the Covenant dinner in mount Zion over the Old Covenant with the elders of Israel.   This time he was a man - God incarnate - so he could touch people. God is in the midst of His people. He validated the New Covenant with his own blood as we will see.

How did He alter the old covenant dinner into a new covenant dinner?

Essentially what Jesus did was to reinterpret the first covenant. 

If the first covenant was a celebration from the bondage of slavery of Egypt, the new covenant was a celebration from the bondage of slavery of Sin.

First covenant was only for Israel, but the new covenant embraces the whole mankind.

Matzah - Unleavened Bread
Notice the stripes and the wounds

The Matzah Is An Object Lesson Of What Jesus’ Body Symbolises’ in Health And Wholeness Through The Holy Communion

The Three Matzas in Three layers,  What do they really represent?

 Traditional Matza Pouch with three pockets

The three matzas represents the unity of Trinity Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

At the beginning of the Seder, the middle matza is broken into two and the larger portion is hid in the room and the smaller portion is put back into the middle pouch. This declares the mystery of the incarnation.  God send His son into the world to save sinners While on each he still retained the godhead,  Jesus was both man and God.  God took on human form and dwelt among us.  This part is called Afikomen. One interpretation of the three Matza is that they represent, God, Priest and Man.  The middle piece represents the Priest who mediate between Man and God.

Afikoman ( אפיקומן, based on Greek epikomen or epikomion [επί Κομός]), means "that which comes after" or “one who is yet to come” which means the expected mesiah.  This is a half-piece of matzo from the middle matza among the three, which is broken in the early stages of the Passover Seder and hidden among the people  to be eaten as a dessert after the meal.  Traditionally the Afikomen part would be broken, wrapped in a linen napkin as Jesus himself was wrapped in linen for burial.  He would be hidden  buried,   would be resurrected, and distributed himself to everyone who believed in Him  As Jesus  did this, he was conscious that this middle piece of matza represented His own, spotless body given for the redemption of His people. As the matza is striped and pierced, His own body would be striped and pierced, and it is by those wounds that we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). This middle piece of matza, or the Afikomen, is our communion bread.

Based on the Mishnah in Pesahim 119a, the afikoman is a substitute for the sacrificial lamb Korban Pesach, which was the last thing eaten at the Passover Seder during the eras of the First and Second Temples and during the period of the Mishkan. The Gemara states that it is forbidden to eat any other food after eating the afikoman, in order to keep the taste of matzo in our mouths

The seder cannot conclude until it is found.  There are various seder traditions, however the most common is the children hunt for the Afikoman.  Once found, it is in essence held for ransom and purchased back by the leader.  There is a reward for those who find the Afikoman. Once the leader has retrieved the Afikomen, he breaks it up into pieces and distributes a small piece to everyone seated around the table. It is widely believed that these pieces of Afikomen bring a good, long life to those who eat them.

It is this afikamon that Jesus took and said, “This is my body”

It had all the stripes and breaks.

Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.  But he was wounded (pierced) for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  Isaiah 53:4 – 5

Which came back to life and became life to everyone who eats it.  Those who eat the Afikomen will never die.

The Four Cups

It is this third cup that Jesus took and  said that it was his blood that propitiates for the sin of man.

Mat 26:27-28  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins

.

This is our communion cup.

It was this that Jesus referred when He asked the disciples  "Can you drink the cup I drink?" (Mark 10: 38)

Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom

The fourth cup is the final phase – the ultimage salvation which includes the redemption of our bodies and the union with God himself as his bride.   The fourth cup will be poured in the Kingdom at the wedding party when we will all join with Jesus to drink it in the Kingdom of God.

Elijah's Cup

The Jewish people expect Elijah to come at Passover and announce the coming of the Messiah (Malachi 4:5). So a place is set, and a cup is kept for Elijah to appear bringing in the good news of the coming of the Mesia and the beginning of the Mesianic era.     At the end of the seder meal, a child is sent to the door to open it and see if Elijah is there. Every year, the child returns, disappointed. To show the expectation, Elijah’s cup is filled from the cups of others.   The cup is poured out as an act of disappointment.

“but I tell you that Eli'jah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands."  (Mat 17:12)

This is the law of the New Covenant

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Joh 13:34-35)

If the Old Covenant started a Community of Law, the New Covenant is a Community of Love.

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares Yahweh, "I will put my Law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know Yahweh,' for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares Yahweh, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."  Jer 31: 33-34

The Hebrew word for marriage is Kiddushin and means set apart, sanctification or holiness.  It comes from the root word Kodesh which means holy, to be set apart and Kadash, which means sanctified and separated from evil. God has elevated marriage to a holy state by introducing Himself to the relationship and thus, we have "Holy Matrimony." Just as God is holy, we are to be holy as it says in Leviticus 11:44:

In biblical times, a Israeli bridegroom proposed by offering the Kiddush cup.  If his chosen woman accepted his marriage proposal, she expressed it by sipping from the cup and was now betrothed and promised in marriage to him.  

Jesus kept the same wedding  

custom after the Passover meal, offering the Kiddush cup to His disciples. Now, when believers take Holy Communion, they are entering into or renewing their wedding vow to Yeshua, our Bridegroom.  However, as we can see in Revelation 18, Satan would entice all to drink from His cup of wine of wrath and commit fornication with her. For we are betrothed to our Savior now.  We must remain faithful to Him by not partaking in the ways of the world and remain separate.

If the offer is not accepted immediately, the groom will leave the cup on the table and return after some time to see if it is accepted. This gives time for the woman to think it over.

This is what Jesus did.  Church (the body of believers) is always called the Bride.  Those who have accepted the marriage proposals form the Church.

Jesus offered the Kiddush to the disciples after he himself have sipped on it.  When you take the cup it also is a symbol of marriage proposal. When you take this cup during the Communion ceremony you are agreeing to be the bride of Christ.

If his chosen accepted his marriage proposal, she sipped from the cup the she was now betrothed and promised in marriage to him.

Covenant was final, sealed in blood, and legally binding, 

 In the ancient times, the Jewish Betrothal occurred one or two years before the actual wedding (or Nuptials) and involved making a covenant. The Hebrew word for covenant is B'rit and was actually quite more serious than an engagement today. 

The marriage will take place only after the groom prepared a place for his bride to come home. This usually takes a year or two.

Joh 14:1-2 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

Joh 14: 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.