While we were meeting Sunday, two bombings occurred during Palm Sunday services in Coptic churches in Egypt. The blasts killed 47 and injured about 100 others. As the The New York Times notes, “the attacks constituted one of the deadliest days of violence against Christians in Egypt in decades.” This is the reality of our meeting this morning. Not that I am expecting any particular attack, but the reality of death, is all about the remembrance of Good Friday, and our communion celebration in particular. Matthew 26 itself is devoted to preparing for the cross. Before chapter 26, has been the preparation that God had made, the preparation of the religious leaders, the preparation of Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus who anointed Jesus with costly perfume, and the preparation of Judas. And now, beginning in verse 17, we come to the preparation of the Lord Himself as He begins to prepare for His own death. It involves the last Passover, the establishment of His table. It involves a time of exhorting the feeble disciples. It involves a time of intercessory prayer before the Father in the garden of Gethsemane. All of these elements Matthew gives us as parts of the preparation for the death of Jesus Christ, which, of course, is a climax of His life and ministry.
But in Matthew 26 the Passover Jesus was now concluding with the disciples was the last divinely sanctioned Passover ever to be observed. No Passover celebrated after that has been authorized or recognized by God. Significant as it was under the Old Covenant, it became a remnant of a bygone economy, an extinct dispensation, an expired covenant. Its observance since that time has been no more than a religious relic that serves no divinely acknowledged purpose and has no divinely blessed significance. To celebrate the Passover is to celebrate the shadow, after the reality has already come. Celebrating deliverance from Egypt is a weak substitute for celebrating deliverance from sin. In fact, Christ ended the Passover and instituted a new memorial to Himself. It would not look back to a lamb in Egypt as the symbol of God’s redeeming love and power, but to the very Lamb of God, who, by the sacrificial shedding of His own blood, took away the sins of peoples around the world that would believe in Him. In that one meal Jesus both terminated the old and inaugurated the new. By historically linking Passover and Lord’s Supper so closely together Jesus also made clear that what was essential in the first was not lost in the second. Both point to him, the only and all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of his people. Passover pointed forward to this; the Lord’s Supper points back to it.( Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew (Vol. 9, p. 908). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.)
To properly partake of communion, the Lord’s Supper, we partake in His death. It is our sin that sent Him to the cross and each time we participate in communion we properly remember His death.
In preparation for the Cross, Jesus’ institution of the new memorial consisted of three primary elements: 1) The Directive (vv. 26a, 27), 2) The Doctrine (vv. 26b, 28), and 3) The Duration (v 29).
1) The Directive (Matthew 26:26a, 27),
Matthew 26:26a-27 26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; (this is my body.”) 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, (ESV)
It is not certain as to what part of the meal they were eating at this time, but the supper was still in progress, and our Lord instituted the new memorial in the midst of the old. At some point in the meal, Judas leaves and the other disciples receive the blessing of a new covenant meal, in which the Passover is transformed into the Lord’s Supper. There were traditionally four cups drunk at the Passover feast, each cup relating to one of the four promises in Exodus 6:6–7. Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper between the third and fourth cups.(Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 96). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Showing this forth, first, we see that Jesus took some bread and offered a blessing of thanks to His heavenly Father, as He always did before eating (see, e.g., Matt. 14:19; 15:36). The unleavened bread was baked in large, flat, crisp loaves, which Jesus broke into pieces before He gave it to the disciples with the instruction, “Take, eat.” The fact that He broke the bread does not symbolize a broken body, because John makes clear that, in fulfillment of prophecy, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken” (John 19:36; cf Ps. 34:20), just as no bones of the original Passover lambs in Egypt were broken (Ex. 12:46). (Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew (p. 659). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.)
Shortly after that, verse 27 records that he took a cup, and when he had given thanks again, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of/from it, all of you.” The verb behind given thanks is eucharisteo, and it is from that term that we get Eucharist, as the Lord’s Supper is sometimes called. As would be expected, all eleven disciples drank of it (Mark 14:23). All believers should partake, as Jesus’ explicit directive, of the disciples’ obedient example, and of Paul’s later teaching (see 1 Cor. 10:16, 21; 11:28).
Those two acts of Jesus were normal features of the Passover, in which unleavened bread was eaten and diluted wine was drunk at several points during the meal This was probably the third cup, called the cup of blessing. Paul refers to it by that name in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16). It is from the King James translation of that verse (“ … is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?”) that Communion, another name for the Lord’s Supper, is derived. A few verses later Paul refers to this cup as “the cup of the Lord” (v 21).
Illustration: 653 Leonardo Da Vinci’s Cup
When Leonardo da Vinci was forty-three years old, the Duke (Ludovinco) of Milan asked him to paint the dramatic scene of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples: Working slowly and giving meticulous care to details, he spent three years on the assignment. He grouped the disciples into threes, two groups on either side of the central figure of Christ. Christ’s arms are outstretched. In his right hand, He holds a cup, painted beautifully with marvelous realism. When the masterpiece was finished, the artist said to a friend, “Observe it and give me your opinion of it!” “It’s wonderful!” exclaimed the friend. “The cup is so real I cannot divert my eyes from it!” Immediately Leonardo took a brush and drew it across the sparkling cup! He exclaimed as he did so: “Nothing shall detract from the figure of Christ!”( Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 237). Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.)
2) The Doctrine (Matthew 26:26b, 28)
Matthew 26:26b, 28 26 (Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat;) this is my body.” 27 (And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,) 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (ESV)
Breaking the unleavened bread was a normal part of the traditional Passover ceremony. But Jesus now gave it an entirely new meaning, saying, “This is My body.” The original unleavened bread symbolized severance from the old life in Egypt, carrying nothing of its pagan and oppressive “leaven” into the Promised Land. It represented a separation from worldliness and sin and the beginning of a new life of holiness and godliness. As Jesus holds up a loaf and declares, “This is my body,” no one listening will ever imagine that he is claiming the bread to be the literal extension of his flesh. Moreover, in Aramaic these sentences would have been spoken without a linking verb (“is”), as simply, this, my body and this, my blood. (Blomberg, C. (1992). Matthew (Vol. 22, p. 390). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
By His divine authority, Jesus transformed that symbolism into another. From now on the bread would represent Christ’s own body, sacrificed for the salvation of many. Luke reports that Jesus added, “given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (22:19), indicating He was instituting a memorial of His sacrificial death for His followers to observe. It is almost impossible for us to conceive of the astonishment and indeed horror with which this group of Jewish disciples would hear those words for the first time. To eat the flesh and drink the blood of a person is an abomination in almost every culture. To Jews it was utterly beyond the pale (Green, M. (2001). The message of Matthew: the kingdom of heaven (p. 273). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.).
In saying the bread is His body, Jesus obviously was not speaking literally. A similarly foolish misunderstanding already had caused the Pharisees to ridicule Him and many superficial disciples to desert Him (see John 6:48–66). Jesus’ figurative statement about eating His body was no more literal than His saying He is the Vine and His followers are the branches (John 15:5) or than John the Baptist’s calling Him the Lamb of God (John 1:29).
As the disciples drank of the cup Jesus said in verse 28, “This is My blood of the covenant.” The word “covenant” refers to an arrangement established by one party that cannot be altered by the other party. In other words, God established the covenant and humans can only accept or reject it; they cannot alter it in any way. Under this new covenant, Jesus would die in the place of sinners. Unlike the blood of animals, Jesus’ blood would truly remove the sins of all who would put their faith in him. And Jesus’ sacrifice would never have to be repeated; it would be good for all eternity (Hebrews 9:23–28). ( Barton, B. B. (1996). Matthew (p. 516). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.)
When God made covenants with Noah and Abraham, those covenants were ratified with blood (Gen. 8:20; 15:9–10). When the covenant at Sinai was ratified, “Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words’ ” (Ex. 24:8). When God brought reconciliation with Himself, the price was always blood, because “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22; cf 1 Pet. 1:2). A sacrificial animal not only had to be killed but its blood had to be shed. “The life of all flesh is its blood” (Lev. 17:14), and therefore for a life truly to be sacrificed, its blood had to be shed.
Jesus therefore did not simply have to die but had to shed His own precious blood (1 Pet. 1:19). Although He did not bleed to death, Jesus bled both before He died and as He died-from the wounds of the crown of thorns, from the lacerations of the scourging, and from the nail holes in His hands and feet. After He was dead, a great volume of His blood poured out from the spear thrust in His side. Obviously there was nothing in the chemistry of Christ’s blood that saves. And although the shedding of His blood was required, it symbolized His atoning death, the giving of His unblemished, pure, and wholly righteous life for the corrupt, depraved, and wholly sinful lives of those who one day He would draw unto Himself.
Representative of the giving of that sinless life was the pouring out of that precious blood for many. Jesus says that his blood is poured out “for many,” not for all. Cf. Isa. 53:12; Matt. 1:21; 20:28; Mark 10:45; John 10:11, 14, 15, 27, 28; 17:9; Acts 20:28; Rom. 8:32–35; Eph. 5:25–27. Nevertheless, “for many,” not for just a few. Cf. John 1:29; 3:16; 4:42; 10:16; 1 John 4:14; Rev. 7:9, 10 (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew (Vol. 9, p. 911). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.).
Is was poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. That blood made atonement for the sins of Gentile as well as Jew, who place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The many includes those who trusted in God before Christ died as well as those who have and will trust in Him after His death. It is his own imminent death that is the basis of his new interpretation of the Passover (France, R. T. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew (p. 993). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co.).
Communion
• (Pass out bread)
• Leaven in bread represented sin. It is our sin that caused the death of Christ. This should make a difference in our lives as we recognize our need for Christ and who He is: 1 Corinthians says:
1 Corinthians 5:6–8 6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
• (Pass out Juice)
• The shedding of Christ’s blood fulfilled the picture of the shedding of the blood of the Passover lamb. As 1 Peter 1 declares:
1 Peter 1:18–21 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (ESV)
o Through the shedding of His blood we have faith and hope
In the remembrance of Communion, this immediate observance is not the end. In Matthew 26, we finally see:
3) The Duration (Matthew 26:29)
Matthew 26:29 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (ESV)
Since the divinely-ordained Passover remembrance ended when Jesus celebrated it that night with His disciples, any observance of it since that time has been based solely on human tradition, the perpetuation of an outward form that has long since lost its spiritual significance. But for those who belong to Jesus Christ, that event in the upper room began a new remembrance of redemption that the Lord will honor until He returns in glory.
Fruit of the vine was a common Jewish colloquialism for wine, which Jesus told the disciples He would not drink with them again until that day when He would drink it new with them in His Father’s kingdom. Jesus’ vow to abstain from wine was made before the fourth cup, which traditionally was drunk after the recitation of these words: “I will take you as My people, and I will be your God” (see commentary on 26:20–22). Jesus reserved the drinking of this cup for the future restoration. …sharing it with the disciples, and then pledging that together they would finish this celebration in the kingdom of God (see also Isaiah 25:6; Luke 14:15; Revelation 3:20; 19:6–9).( Barton, B. B. (1996). Matthew (p. 518). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.)He had instructed them to remember Him in the eating of the unleavened bread, which represents His sacrificed body, and in the drinking of the cup, which represents His shed blood as a sacrifice for sin. “Do this,” He said, “as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:25). That memorial was to continue until that day in His Father’s kingdom. No particular timetable for celebrating the Lord’s Supper is commanded here. The early church apparently included it at the culmination of a “love feast” or fellowship meal (cf. Acts 2:42; 20:7–12; Jude 12).( Blomberg, C. (1992). Matthew (Vol. 22, p. 392). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
The Lord’s promise to drink with the disciples in that future kingdom was another assurance to them of His return, an assurance that would take on intensified meaning after His death, resurrection, and ascension. “When I return to (consummate) My kingdom,” He promised them, “you will all be there and you will all drink the cup new with Me.” In other words, the Lord’s Supper not only is a reminder of our Lord’s sacrifice for our sins but also a reminder of His promise to return and share His kingdom blessings with us. From those words we learn that the end of this present age does not signal the end of this observance. The Lord’s Supper therefore points both to the past and to the future, both to Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary and to the messianic banquet (Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, p. 539). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
(Format note: Outline & some base commentary from MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985). Matthew (Mt 26:25–29). Chicago: Moody Press.)
