Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper

by Brant Pitre

At the risk of being anachronistic, Judaism at the time of Jesus was much more like Catholicism (priests, leading worship centered on sacrifice), whereas rabbinic Judaism after the Temple’s destruction was much more like Protestantism (Scripture teachers, leading worship without blood sacrifice).

Fascinatingly, we have evidence that, in the first century A.D., the Passover lambs in the Temple were not only sacrificed; they were, so to speak, crucified.

“An examination of the rabbinic evidence … seems to show that in Jerusalem the Jewish paschal lamb was offered in a manner which resembled a crucifixion.”