I have been trying to find out the why’s of ‘the fruit of the vine’. I understand and have read about the Passover. I think I understand the meaning of the Lord’s Supper in relation to the Passover. I know why the bread is represented to be Jesus’ body, and that Jesus said he was the Bread of Life. And his blood is represented by the fruit of the vine, which is grape juice. But why grapes? Was this a part of the Passover, or did Jesus choose it from his era as being a drink that was common then? Was it easier to obtain? I don’t understand this part.<\/p>\n\t
Jesus selected two things to help us remember his death: unleavened bread and fruit of the vine. “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom<\/em>” (Matthew 26:26-29).<\/p>\n As you pointed out, the bread represents Jesus’ body and the fruit of the vine (grape juice) represents his blood.<\/p>\n Why grape juice? I would suspect that it is because it looks a bit like blood. “Binding his donkey to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes<\/em>” (Genesis 49:11). Grapevines are something that grows in most parts of the world and it was readily grown in Israel. Unfermented grape juice was a part of the Passover meal (nothing with yeast was allowed in the house at Passover (Exodus 12:15)).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I have been trying to find out the why’s of ‘the fruit of the vine’. I understand and have read about the Passover. I think I understand the meaning of the Lord’s Supper in relation to the Passover. I know why the bread is represented to be Jesus’ body, and that Jesus said he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[147,146],"class_list":["post-12797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-communion","tag-lords-supper"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18280,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-fermented-grape-juice-wine-be-used-in-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":12797,"position":0},"title":"Can fermented grape juice (wine) be used in the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please answer me with biblical texts the following questions or doubts I have: Which kind of wine (intoxicating fermented wine or non-fermented wine) should be used during Lord's Supper celebration? Can we commit sin by using fermented or alcoholic wine during the Lord's Supper celebration? It is alleged that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27384,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wasnt-wine-used-during-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":12797,"position":1},"title":"Wasn’t wine used during the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was thankful for the short piece on\u00a0Jesus not having long hair\u00a0and not being handsome. I wanted to correct you, though, in your interpretation of the commandment to observe Passover in Luke. It was wine, not grape juice. Nowhere can you find the Greek words written by Luke or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2664,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-the-lords-supper-be-served-with-one-cup\/","url_meta":{"origin":12797,"position":2},"title":"Should the Lord’s Supper be served with one cup?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The texts in the gospels concerning the Lord's Supper all say \"and when he took the\u00a0cup ... \" denoting one cup. Does this bind one cup? Why or why not? Thank you for your help. I met a one cup brother and sister at a gospel meeting and we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65447,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-lords-supper-taken-only-once-a-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":12797,"position":3},"title":"Was the Lord’s Supper taken only once a year?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day. A friend of mine told me that the breaking of bread in Acts 20:7 is not the Lord's Supper or Passover because it is only a breaking of bread without the grape juice as stated in the context. The breaking of bread is a celebration of Jesus'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56357,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-lords-supper-cannibalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":12797,"position":4},"title":"Is the Lord’s Supper cannibalism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can I change someone's mind on how she views the Lord's Supper? I have a relative who said she believes taking the Lord's Supper looks like cannibalism. How can I change her mind about that? Answer: I don't know if I can help. In order to have a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/misconceptions-about-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":12797,"position":5},"title":"Misconceptions About the Lord’s Supper","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Osamagbe Lesley Egharevba via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 4, No. 2, April-June 2024 One of the acts of worship the New Testament church engaged in was the Lord's Supper. It is also called \"the breaking of bread\" (Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7), \"the Communion\" (I Corinthians 10:16), or \"the Lord's table\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/communion-300x200.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}