Sister Cyber
Member
Is it important "when" the disciples ate Jesus? Perhaps, yes. It is bad enough that it's taught worldwide that Jesus died on a cross between two criminals who hung beside him who were alive when they were taken down from their respective crosses. It's also bad enough that many don't understand that Jesus had a plan mapped out before he was hung on a cross and his disciples followed the plan so well that he was able to eat breakfast with them after he left the tomb and hung out with him 40 days before he sacrificed his life for them.
People are mislead to misunderstand what a sacrifice meant to Jesus and his disciples.
In the Jewish law found in Exodus and Leviticus, there were rules for the murderous sacrifice of innocent animals in the temple, and different animals were used for different purposes. For instance, they might have killed an animal in their herd to atone for wrongdoing or to pray for protection or well-being. What a barbaric SIGHT it must have been! No matter how you cut it (pun incidental...), the ritual was a gory mess if you can picture it The priest would slaughter the animal as strictly outlined so it would be kosher for eating, splash its blood on the sides of the alter grill and "burn" (cook) the body on the alter grill so that the fragrant smoke would ascend.
And you are correct; at the last supper before THE LAST Supper, Jesus did admonish his disciples at the mock-rehearsal, "saying, This is my body which is given FOR YOU: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed FOR YOU." (Luke 22:19)
I disagree, and anyway, how would you know unless you were at the Council of Nicea when they selected the books to in clude in the canonical gospel stories?
You know, my friends, cannibalism is not an unusual fact of life for those from some other cultures. For some, live spiders, ants, roaches, bugs and maggots are delicacies, but you would probably perish the thought of letting certain things you are unfamiliar with consuming cross your lips, and that is understandable. That's why he lost "many" disciples and was left with just twelve, amen? (See john 6:66-67: "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?")
Americans, with the exception of the likes of Hanibal Lector and others, prefer a Western diet consisting of cooked fish, meats of all sorts of animal species like birds (chicken, turkey, quail, duck...), other animals like cows, goats, buffalo, pig..... Understand that mankind is a species of animal and realize that there are some cannibal animal species who also eat their own kind. For example, just the other evening I was watching an Animal Planet episode of "Weird, True and Freaky" where the Tasmanian Devil eats all the offspring that don't make it to one of her limited-number of nipples as soon as they're born. There are spiders like the Black Widow that consume other Black Widow spiders, there are insects that consume other insects of their kind, snakes that consume other snakes, fish that consume other fish, birds that consume other birds, wild animals that consume other same wild animals, and people who consume other people. And look at the area of the world where all of those events were said to have taken place. It is an area a hop, skip and a jump near where cannibalism is known even to this day to be a part of the people's culture.
Cannibalism may be seen as a horrific act in our modern world, but the further back in history you go, the less that is the case. In many parts of Africa and Polynesia people only ate those they admired. It was the highest form of respect and honor, and yes, it was a way of quite literally becoming "one" with the person that was revered, to in some way, create a spiritual connection from within in a very literal sense.
For instance, in 1824, Brigadier-General Sir Charles McCarthy was killed fighting the Ashanti. They ate his heart and lined his skull with gold to make it into a ceremonial drinking cup. They did that to honor his bravery as a warrior. It might seem bizarre to our modern sensibilities, but to a more primitive society... nope, not at all in the least bit. Things have changed since then though, and nowadays cannibalism is more often the act of a twisted mind and/or considered taboo.
In the bestseller (urban science-fiction?) book entitled Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (great book!), it was an honor to grok with each other and to be grokked by others. In Mr. Heinlein's invented Martian language, "grok" literally means "to drink" and figuratively means "to understand," "to love," and "to be one with."
I honestly do not imagine that it had to be a gory mess either, although I do admit to being puzzled by the christian's proclaimed desire to be covered with and/or washed in blood.
In fact, I imagine them being as neat and clean about it as possible so as not to leave any evidence of what they did and of more significant importance, in order to lend credence and validity to the story Mary Magdalene and the other women told.
When people think "cannibals," usually a vision that comes to mind is of insane-looking (black) people huddled over a fresh corpse with blood smearing their face and hands, smiling at the camera with raw meat hanging from between their teeth, or they might have other visions consistent with how the powers-that-be in today's society impress upontheir minds by freakishly portraying through the media the way they would have an innocent, ignorant, misguided or simply blood-and-gore thirsty audience believe a modern-day cannibal ought to look, displaying tremendously negative attitudes and behavior, thus obliterating and otherwise defiling the sacredness of honor and respect demonstrated in the ancient act of cannibalism to turn it into the horribly degrading taboo it is viewed by many as today... (Wow, that was one really long sentence!)
Lions and animals in the wild eat like that because it is their nature, but Human Beings are trained to cook their meat and season the animal's body parts well to enhance the flavor. Further, unlike wild animals, Human Beings do not eat with their faces to the plate, but are taught to use utensils and napkins, take small bites, chew quietly with their mouths closed and other etiquettes of table manners, having one meal with 3 forks, 3 knives, 3 spoons....
Back then, they ate with their fingers, but I don't believe they used napkins in those days though ~ I think they licked their fingers and wiped their mouths with the back of their hands in a politely discreet kind of way. That reminds me that I shared in either the Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur discussions some encounters I had with a little orthodox jewish boy in September 2009 when he informed me quite matter-of-factly that they were not allowed to ever cut their meat off of bones with a knife; they have to tear it away from the bone with their fingers or eat the meat right off the bone using their teeth.
Perhaps the linens they brought with them to the tomb were probably used as tablecloths (or groundcloths) to aid in an easy clean-up....
