Page 10 - News and Views Autumn WInter 2024

The words of ‘Institution’ at the Eucharist. Len Wigg

Recently some of us received an e-mail from Tom Sanders which mentioned a conversation he had with
some Evangelicals who were ‘passionate’ about being ‘washed in the blood’. I am aware that some Poole
Friends have already discovered the importance of Aramaic in studying the New Testament and the
Gospel of Thomas. I am indebted to several books by Neil Douglas-Klotz written between 1994 and 2022
for what follows.

Seventy years ago it was thought necessary to study Hebrew and Greek in order to grasp the nuances of
texts in the Bible. The earliest Christian writings are by Paul, fluent in Hebrew but written in Greek, the
language of the dominant country around the Mediterranean. But Jesus grew up in an area where
Aramaic was the spoken language for the vast majority of the population in the whole Middle East, from
at least the third century BCE. Aramaic is similar to Hebrew in being written right to left, but using only
consonants. When spoken, vowels sounds are added to make sense.

As an example, the word for ‘blood’ is DaMa which is also used for juice, wine, sap, and essence. The
precise meaning is thus grasped from the context. We may notice that it shares the same root –
consonants - as the word aDaM. If we look at the passage in Matthew 26: 27-29, the mention of ‘fruit of
the vine’ clarifies that it is ‘wine’ but the use of ‘fruit’ opens up another range of possible connections,
since that word can include human offspring. ‘Vine’ comes from a verb describing the formation of a
body. When a vine grows
the branches spread out from the root, just like a family tree!

‘Adam’ reminds us of the creation of primal humans, before even the divisions of ‘chosen’ and ‘not
chosen’ dramatically played out later. The Passover ritual remembers the freedom from slavery in Egypt
and the preservation of the ones ‘chosen’. The word for preserving life has links with forgiving debts.
Among the earliest laws in Leviticus some were about erasing debts after every seven years, in order to
maintain a healthy community. Thus a releasing of bondage and untangling the old memories and hurts
becomes possible. The ‘blood’ can release us to forgive ourselves and also others.

The Aramaic word for bread is LaKHMa but this root KHM also means a kind of sacred sense of wisdom
and being, described in Proverbs 8 and especially verses 22-24. So this is both material bread and also
‘wisdom’ and understanding –food for all forms of growth. When you speak this word, the ‘h’ needs an
open breathing mouth, while the ‘ma’ is the eternal cry of the mother, both personal and mother earth.
The root word can also mean a corpse or body. Our food is essentially composed of dead things, clearly if
you are not a vegetarian. But also the seeds which comprise bread and the vegetables plucked from the
earth are dying. The Passover bread was a reminder of the suffering. There is also a Holy Wisdom who
invites us to a common table: ‘Come and eat my bread, drink the wine which I have mixed’ - spoken by
Wisdom in Proverbs 9:5.

The early church did not know of these nuances because of the dominance of Greek philosophy and
language, also the Jewish understanding of the Passover which shaped the way the early church,
especially in the west, developed creeds and established orthodoxy.

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