There is perhaps another hint of eschatology in the Last Supper. Craig Evans suggests that the broken piece of bread which Jesus distributes is the afikoman (ἀφικόμενος, אפיקומן, Wikipedia). At the beginning of the Seder, a small portion of bread is broken off, to be consumed at the end of the meal. The bread represented the whole of the Jewish people and the broken portion represented “what the Messiah will eat when he returns to celebrate with Israel.”(Evans, Mark 8:27–16:20, 390).
This was first suggested by David Daube (He That Cometh), although D. B. Carmichael, (“David Daube on the Eucharist and the Passover Seder” 45–67) finds additional support for this understanding of the bread in Melito of Sardis, a second century writer who creates a “Christian Haggadah.” Melito uses the term ἀφικόμενος twice with reference to Jesus as the coming Messiah.
If the breaking of the bread does reflect the afikoman tradition, then it explains how Jesus could say that bread somehow represented him and his body. The bread already represented something, the Messiah. Jesus is making a claim that he is in fact the Messiah when he breaks the bread. This is how the disciples understood breaking of bread in Luke 24 as well. If the breaking of bread was a messianic self–revelation then it would be strong evidence in favor of the Last Supper as a messianic banquet.
Unfortunately there is no solid evidence that this traditional use of the bread was current in the first century, so Evans suggestion may not be helpful in showing that the bread is an allusion to messianic themes.
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The afikoman uses unleavened bread. However the Greek word for the bread used in the last supper, throughout the Gospels, is artos (leavened bread) as opposed to azumos (without leaven) hence the last supper is not the Passover sedar. This makes sense in light of how Paul describes Jesus becoming “sin for us”. Also notice that Jesus doesn’t qualify the symbol of the bread like he does with the wine (the shedding of blood for the new covenant), because the artos is self evidently symbolic of sin.
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The afikoman uses unleavened bread. However the Greek word for the bread used in the last supper, throughout the Gospels, is artos (leavened bread) as opposed to azumos (without leaven) hence the last supper is not the Passover sedar. This makes sense in light of how Paul describes Jesus becoming “sin for us”. Also notice that Jesus doesn’t qualify the symbol of the bread like he does with the wine (the shedding of blood for the new covenant), because the artos is self evidently symbolic of sin.
I have been reading a few posts on this feast and the bread. One article I looked at says that there would have been three types of bread (matzot). The three were believed to represent Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but could later be thought of to represent the trinity. They say that the second bread was the one that would have been broken in half. Interesting because Isaac was an only son that was going to be sacrificed and now Christ is represented by the broken bread. Isaac was already an allusion to the Messiah. I don’t know how accurate these articles have been. (Maybe you can speak to these ideas more)
Another idea that I have only heard about is the allusion to the scars of Jesus. I have been told that the bread used had stripes in them and that they represented the Messiah being flogged. Again I don’t know how true this is. If these two ideas are true, then there are a lot of Messianic themes in this feast.It would be interesting to know your thoughts.
Even if there doesn’t seem to be a lot of evidence for the Afikoman being a part of the Passover it is still an interesting idea of revel, especially for a Christian. If this idea of breaking a piece of bread off before the meal (representing what was left for the Messiah when he returned), and eating it at the end was true that it simply reaffirms our beliefs and ideas about Passover. Jesus himself used the bread as symbolism for his body, and this knowledge would add on to these ideas, and add to Messianic themes like Evans thought. Thinking about the different representations of Jesus body may help us to better understand Passover, especially when partaking in communion today. “Deuteronomy 16:1 Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night.” Even in these times they were celebrating the exodus of God’s people, and the disciples would soon be experiencing a new form of exodus, one that would break of the body of Jesus, much as the Afikoman referred to and so did Jesus himself.