Passover

In 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, Paul is writing to the Corinthians and condemning them for the factions that had been created in the church and how those factions have caused a failure to participate in the Lord's supper as one body. In verses 17-22, he tells them that if some of them are eating the food and drinking the wine that they brought without participating in this meal with everyone (including the poor), then they are not practicing the Lord's supper. The rich were gathering in their corner, the followers of Paul in their corner, and the followers of Apollos in their corner (see 1 Cor. 3). Paul cannot commend them for this because they were despising the church of God and humiliating those who had nothing.

So in verses 23-26, Paul reminds them of what he learned from the Lord about how to practice the Lord's supper. And we discover there that the Lord's supper is not about the rich, or the poor, or Apollos, or Paul. It is about Christ and what He fulfilled in the New Covenant.

After reminding them of this, in verses 27-34, he corrects their thinking about factions and basically tells them that if the Lord's supper is not a participation in the entire body together, then those who do it eat and drink judgment to themselves because they have disconnected themselves from the body of Christ. Because they made judgments upon others, which caused them to disconnect themselves from them, they failed to judge themselves. Therefore, those who fail to judge themselves and judge others instead, are judged by the Lord, and are disciplined.