26As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”
27And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it,28for this is my blood, which confirms the kcovenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the asins of many. 29Mark my words—I will not drink bwine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
30Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
To really appreciate this, we need to know a little bit about the Passover feast. During the meal the cup of wine is drank from 4 times. Specific words, prayers and songs are said between each cup. What Jesus did, completely interrupted this ceremony. To a knowledgable Jewish reader of that time, it was obvious that Jesus was changing everything here.
You see, the Passover was a celebration of the Old Covenant between God and Israel. The basics of that covenant were rather simple. If Israel obeyed the Lord and loved him with all their strength, he would be their God and they would be his people. Well Israel had completely failed to uphold their part of the covenant, as all of us have. No one can keep it, we are all too sinful. And according to that covenant sin equals death.
So now Jesus is interrupted the old celebration and creating a new celebration which says “I will die for you. My body will be broken and my blood shed in your place. You need to take this sacrifice into yourself. It needs to be the food that sustains you and the drink that gives you life. Through this meal you are becoming one with me and with my sacrifice…one with my death and my life.”
Obviously I am paraphrasing greatly there, and I’m sure I am doing this incredible moment no justice at all. I am sorry God. But try to realize that God is timeless. When we partake of this meal we are one with the Lord at the Last Supper and one with the Israelites at the first Passover in Egypt and one with each other. It is all the same meal, the same sacrifice, the same God and if we participate with faith and sincerity, we both die and rise with Christ.
Lord, I know I have only scratched the surface of what you did at this meal. I know I cannot comprehend it or explain it. Forgive my shortfallings and bless this by helping me to live in the unity and life that you intended when you first broke this bread and shared this wine. Beginner’s Online Bible Study *obbs*
