In the Matthaean version of Luke
22:20, the words are added, “for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:28). Carter
notes this is not a reference to forgiving personal or individual sins. The
term ἄφεσιν (“forgiveness” or “release”) is the same word as used in Leviticus
25 (LXX) where it is translated fourteen times as “a Jubilee” and “year of
Jubilee,” and refers to a “massive social and economic restructuring (return of
land; freeing of slaves . . . remission of debt, etc.).” Seen from this
perspective, Jesus’ impending death establishes a new covenant in which those
under sin (i.e., under a world ruled by the oppressors) will be set free in a
restructured world where God, not the elites, will rule. (R. Alan Streett, Subversive
Meals: An Analysis of the Lord’s Supper Under Roman Domination During the First
Century [Eugene, Oreg.: Pickwick Publications, 2013], 190)
