Introduction
Last week we studied the “last supper” that Jesus had with his disciples. We noted how Jesus was in control of the events that were leading to his sacrifice as the Passover Lamb. This morning we will see how he transformed a ritual, meant to commemorate the greatest deliverance of God’s people, into a new ritual to commemorate and give assurance that the sacrifice he was about to make would bring about a far greater deliverance.
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As I pointed out last week, Jesus and his disciples are participating in the Passover meal ritual. The meal itself is a ritual to remember the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. They are eating and drinking prescribed food at prescribed times and reciting set liturgies and scripture. I don’t want to speculate at what point Jesus performs the above actions which constitute our Lord’s Supper. I can end up emphasizing ideas that may not even be justified. The one idea for us to take is that Jesus is establishing a new Passover to celebrate, which is now known as the Lord’s Supper. Let’s try to understand what he is signifying with the elements of his new ritual.
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
The first element is the giving and eating of bread. Note what Jesus does. He gives thanks, or blesses the bread. Then he breaks it; next he gives it to the disciples. Finally, he refers to it as his body. What is the significance of his ritual? Commonly, we are told that the significant act is the breaking of the bread. Jesus is saying, “This is my body broken for you.” The bread then reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice.
But note that Mark does not record Jesus making the statement that his body is broken; nor does Matthew; nor does Luke. John does not record the ritual. The only reference is in 1 Corinthians 11:24. However, unless you are using the King James or New King James, you will not find the term “broken” used, and the New King James will note an optional reading. Indeed, it would be odd for Jesus to emphasize his body being broken when other scripture emphasizes that his body was not broken.
32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced” (John 19:32-37).
John wants to assure us that no bones were broken. This would fit in well with the analogy of Jesus being the Passover lamb. A prescribed rule was that no bones of the lamb may be broken (Exodus 12:46).
The emphasis is not that Jesus’ body is broken for us but that it is given for and to us. Certainly the image of breaking the bread conveys the idea of sacrifice, but it also conveys the idea of being partialed out to his disciples. They all partake from the same loaf, i.e. the same body. And they all eat their share. The bread is not passed around whole for the disciples to touch one at a time. It is broken so that it might be partaken by all his followers. In one sense each disciple is now united to Jesus and to one another through him. It is union, or rather communion, that the bread symbolizes.
The next element is the cup, or wine.
23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of the a covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them.
Jesus again gives thanks, gives the cup of wine (the same word used for giving the bread), and the disciples drink, apparently from the same cup. He then explains the significance of this element. The cup of wine symbolizes the blood to be shed (or poured out) for the covenant that he is making.
Jesus’ body was not broken on the cross, but his blood was truly shed and that was required of the Passover lamb. On the first Passover his blood had to be shed and then spread on the doorposts of the house to save the firstborn son from death. Though in succeeding Passovers, the spreading of blood on the doorposts was not required, the lamb still had to have his blood shed. In Jesus’ day, that blood was poured out on the altar in the temple, surely as an atonement for those sharing in the meal.
The writer of Hebrews provides a helpful commentary on what the shedding of blood means. 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:15-22).
Take this passage and Jesus’ comment that this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, and here is the meaning you get. Jesus has replaced the old covenant made for Israel through Moses with a new covenant that extends to all God’s people who call on the name of Jesus. The old covenant was characterized by the law which the Jews were to obey. The sacrificial system of sacrificing animals was the means that the Jews thought they were making atonement for their sins, i.e. the times they disobeyed. Under the old covenant, I had to obey the law. My problem was that I did a bad job of obeying. Thus I needed to follow through with sacrifices to atone for my sins and redeem my life which ought to be forfeited. This was the covenant mediated by Moses.
What did Jesus do through his death, or through his shedding of blood which means the same thing? First, he ransomed his people from the death sentence of their sins. The sacrificial system did not work that well. As the Hebrews writer says, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (10:4). He was able to ransom, or redeem, his people by fulfilling the demands of the old covenant, which was to die for the sins of the transgressors. Having fulfilled the demands of the old covenant, he now could mediate a new covenant with new conditions.
Think of it this way. I own a football team. I want you to be my quarterback. The problem is that you are the quarterback of another team, which owns your contract and which has already paid you in advance. That team owns you and the only way it will release you is that I buy out the contract. I pay the money that you in effect owe the team. Only when I fulfill the terms of your other contract can I then put into effect a new contract with a brand new set of conditions.
The terms of this new covenant that Jesus mediates through his blood are far superior to those of the old, for Jesus fulfills them himself. We are saved not by our own righteousness, but by his. Think of it this way. Under the old law, blood was used to consecrate people and objects, i.e. to make them holy. When Aaron and his sons were consecrated to be priests, blood was literally smeared on them. Under the new covenant we are made holy by the blood of Jesus.
To go back to the Lord’s Supper. That evening of the last supper of Passover, Jesus informed his disciples that through the shedding of his blood he was establishing a new covenant of grace that would be based on his one time sacrifice. He was making a covenant for us with God. We would be accepted by God, based not on how well we fulfilled the conditions of the law, but on how well Jesus fulfilled the conditions through his obedience and sacrificial death.
To review. Jesus gave the bread to his disciples to symbolize his communion with them and their communion with one another. He gave the cup to symbolize the new covenant he was establishing for them through the shedding of his blood.
And then, as if to lend further solemnity and resolve to the sacrifice he is soon to make he adds: 25 “I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.” Jesus will not drink it again before he fulfills his mission. And then when does drink of “the fruit of the vine,” it will be at the banquet table prepared for all those who belong to his kingdom when he returns. He and his disciples, in keeping with the Passover custom, then sang a hymn, most likely one or more of the Hallel psalms, 113-118. 26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. They went out for him to meet his death.
The Lord’s Supper
The last supper of Jesus and his disciples inaugurated what we today celebrate as the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. What is going on when we participate?
Typically, we think of the Lord’s Supper as a sort of memorial service, a time to remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us. It is Luke who records that Jesus did indeed say, “do this in remembrance of me” (22:19). Paul spells this out in the passage I read every time I serve communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Twice he quotes Jesus as saying, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
But just what is it we are to be remembering? The typical Christian remembers this way: “Here is Jesus’ body broken for me and his blood shed for me. Oh, what a terrible sacrifice he made for me, oh what suffering. And how have I repaid him? Oh, the sins I have committed. And to tell the truth, I haven’t been thinking about his sacrifice for me lately. I am so ungrateful. I feel so bad.”
Preachers often think this way – not about themselves, but their people! “Remember how Jesus died for you? Remember his suffering for you? And what kind of gratitude have you been showing with your sinful ways? You need to straighten up!” Poor Jesus. He did so much for us and we so easily forget about him. It’s a good thing he started this memorial service so he wouldn’t be forgotten.
Look, what Jesus wanted us to remember are the benefits that he gave us through his death. He wasn’t saying to his disciples, “Promise you won’t forget me,” like a friend might say to another when he moves to another town. He was saying to them, he says to us, “Don’t forget when the times get tough what it is I have accomplished for you. Don’t forget, first of all, that I am with you always. This bread is my body given for you. As it nourishes and becomes a part of you, so I am with you and always present to make you strong. This cup? Don’t forget, when you sin and are tempted to despair, that I have made a new covenant for you by my blood. You are marked by my blood. I have consecrated you as unbelievable as that may seem.
Do you see what I am getting at? We do not do the Lord’s Supper for the sake of Jesus; Jesus calls us to participate for our sake, for our good. If we can get this into our heads, we will not be shaken by the thought of how we possibly could be worthy of coming to the Lord’s table. It is precisely because we are not worthy, that Christ bids us to partake of him. Do you want to know what you have to offer to Jesus at the Lord’s Supper? Here is what you have: your sinful thoughts and desires; your words and actions that have hurt your neighbors and friends; your failures to live up to God’s laws; your weak faith in Christ and your half-hearted love for God; your memories, not of what Christ has done for you but of what more you have expected of him; your doubts and worries – these are the offerings you bring to the table. And what can you expect in return? Well, he tells you – take this bread to remember that I am still with you. Your sins have not torn you away from me. You are still mine. Take this cup to remember the covenant I have made for you. Your sins are still forgiven. We come to Jesus as sick people; he receives us as our Physician. We come to him poor in righteousness; he receives us as one who gladly and freely gives his righteousness and blessing.
Believe me, those disciples needed to hear and receive the institution of the first Lord’s Supper. They were about to go through their greatest valley of darkness when the Lord would be taken from them, and experience the despair of their own abandoning of their Lord. We no less need this sacrament to hear yet again the comforting and assuring words of our Lord and to see, touch and taste the bread and cup that tells us we still belong, the covenant is still ours, the blood that was shed still cleanses.
