Eating Like the Romans did

So, sorry this is a little late. I know I said I'd get this out like a week or a week and a half ago or something. I'm sure you all know how school can get as finals week approaches. I'm having to find time to go to Bethlehem, write papers, study for finals, and get packed to go home. It's crazy, but I'm really enjoying it and these last few weeks have been good ones.

So! After much anticipation, the Triclinium Meal.

The Triclinium Meal is a Roman style meal in which the tables are arranged in a “U” shape so that entertainment can be done in the middle, while people eat, and the servers can easily bring food via the center. The tables are low to the ground and, instead of chairs, everyone reclines on pillows. So, everyone lays down, leaning on their left elbow, leaving your right hand free to eat. Also, fun fact, if you were really Roman, then you ate till you were full, forced yourself to throw up under the table, and continued eating. That's what I call feasting like a boss. So, during the time of Jesus, this is how people had feasts. Someone would rent out a building for, say, passover, and eat this way. The host would sit in the second chair on the right side of the “U”, with his most beloved guest in front of him, and the host in the third seat.

This is exactly what we see in the Bible for the last supper. Jesus “reclined at table, and the apostles with Him” (Luke 22:14). He was the host. His most beloved disciple, John, reclined with his head on the chest of Jesus, and Jesus reclined with His head on the chest of Judas, the guest. Across the table from them, was Peter, in the last seat, who had remembered that those who place themselves last are first. He would have been right in view of Jesus, across the way. Think about the setting of this here. Just previously to this, while the upper room was being prepared, Judas agreed to betray Jesus. And here he is, at dinner, with Jesus' head resting on his chest. He's laying on his chest as He announces to His disciples that one of them will betray Him. John, on his chest, leans back and asks who it is (John 13:25). He tells them that whomever he dips bread with, will be the betrayer. Then he dips a piece of bread, and gives it to Judas. Jesus turns to Him and says, “What you are going to do, do quickly” (John 13:28). I can only imagine what Judas is thinking at this point and how fast his heart is beating, which Jesus can quite obviously hear. Judas gets up to leave, which would almost be seen as rude, and Jesus assures the disciples that it was alright. Shortly after, Jesus looks across the way to Peter and predicts his denial. That night, they leave to go back to Bethany, over the Mount of Olives, it's late at night and on the way he asks them if they can stop by the garden to pray. This wouldn't have been unusual. It's something Jesus did with them countless times. And while He's praying and exhorting the disciples to pray with Him, Judas appears with the people to arrest Him and Judas kisses Him. Peter then strikes the servant of the high priest with his sword, and cuts off his ear. What's interesting about this part, is that, with John being in the first seat at the dinner, it was his job to protect Jesus. That first seat is reserved for the favored guest and the person who is also supposed to protect the host. But John doesn't strike the man. Peter, so earnest to be favored by Jesus strikes the man. Also, in Jewish thought, the Messiah was supposed to physically fight the Romans and restore Israel to its people. I'm sure that Peter saw the guards coming to take Jesus, and thought that this was their time to begin the rebellion. Jesus, however, corrects Him, says His peace, and goes with them. From here on out, one by one, all the disciples leave Jesus except for John. All the men who said they would never leave Him, all of His friends, do leave Him. Judas is then paid his 30 pieces of silver, which you would hope is a lot of money, but it is the same amount of money to be paid to someone when one person's ox accidentally gores another person's servant. It was a small wage to be paid for the death of our Savior. So the guards first brought him to Caiaphas, the high priest. The trouble about being the high priest, or any person of position in Jerusalem, during this time is that you had to appease the Jewish people and Rome. And Rome's policy, was to keep the people happy. Caiaphas couldn't condemn Him by law, without the Sanhedrin. But everyone was gone for passover. So he sent Him to Pilot, when the morning came. Standing before Pilot, Jesus is almost quiet about His accusations and does not try to defend Himself. He lets the people do what they're going to do. Pilot, who was not very loved by his people, needed to appease them in this crucial moment. If they were going to crucify Him, they had to do it before sunrise, before shabbat began. It would have been strange to convict and punish a man within 24 hours, so Pilot asked the people what they wanted. And they wanted Him dead. So Jesus was beaten within an inch of His life, and, with open gashes on His back, is forced to carry His cross to His death. He is nailed on the cross, eye level with His condemners, so that they may look in His eyes while mocking Him, and His only family around is His mother and John. He looks at John and says, “This is your mother”, and looks at His mother and says, “This is your son”. Replacing to her the son which she is now losing. And as the passover lamb is being sacrificed in the temple, so our Savior Jesus is being sacrificed for us. So He died for us, with few friends around to love Him, all of them having scattered. Some of His disciples, such as Nicodemus, were probably powerful enough to have delayed or stopped His death but didn't. I can only imagine what the disciples felt later on as they recorded the events of His death, finally having understood why He had to die.

This is the story that the president of our school told us, while we were laying down and eating, at our own Triclinium meal. The whole room was dead silent. I've never heard the story told in such a way. In such a calm and chilling way and I'll certainly never think of Good Friday the same way again.

Here are a few pictures to give you a general idea of a Triclinium meal.  Of course, we have a lot of people, so people were sitting on the inside of the "U", when that isn't technically right.