Matthew 26:26-30 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
At the last supper we see Jesus telling the apostles to eat of him and to drink of him. In this scene Jesus gives himself completely to his beloved apostles. Take and eat of the bread, for this is my body. Drink this cup of wine, this is my blood of the covenant. We know this scene as the blessed communion or the sharing of the sacramental elements. As Christians we do this often to remember the foundation of Christianity. There are no substitutes for this redeeming message: good works, dedication, sacrifice, self-immolation, self-deprecation, righteous acts, and the like do not bring eternal life. The process of making humans acceptable to a holy and sinless God, a magnificent Eternal Entity, rest exclusively on the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. John the Baptist who served God with much dedication and sacrifice recognized this truth of Christ alone as men’s righteousness. The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:35-36) The sacrament the apostles shared with Jesus was the sole reason that these men around this meal would risk their lives in the future. They would face death constantly, not for telling the people they should be good and not sin anymore; they would risk their very existence to tell people that eternal life rests in the man called Jesus. They had a story to tell of a man dying on the cross for the sins of the world and then in three days rising from the grave to life eternal. Around the Lord’s table celebrating the Passover, their task of telling the world of this Good New was being formulated. Jesus said, eat of me and drink of me and you will participate in life forever. For only this covenant will make you holy and acceptable to my Father. Because of what I have done for you, you will be called God’s children forever. The Passover meal is an essential scene in the Bible. By partaking of these elements with his disciples, Jesus identified them as family members in God’s plan for salvation. As He presented the bread and wine to his disciples, Jesus was revealing that He is the gate to God’s dominion. He knows there is no other way to satisfy the Father’s will than through his broken body and the shedding of his blood. His Father is in the business of eradicating sin from man’s soul. As Jesus said, you must be born again to inherit eternal life. You must be in the nature of a creature who can exist forever with the Father God. John the Baptist understood the mission of Jesus when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God." He knew Jesus was consecrated to God, so much so that John was not worthy to untie the straps of Jesus’ sandals. Of course, we must assume the Spirit of God taught the truth of the Messiah to John in the wilderness. He spent many hours alone with God, listening to the Holy Spirit, for he was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb. But even under these wonderful circumstances of John the Baptist’s birth and life, Jesus would tell people, you must be holier than John if you want to have eternal life. Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matthew 11:11) The gate to eternal life, to the Kingdom of God, had not materialized before John’s death. Jesus’ sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection occurred after John’s death—THE WAY would come after his demise.
Jesus Christ is THE WAY to eternal life. This meal with his disciples was to implant in them that He and only He is THE WAY. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) After Jesus departed from this earth, the disciples preached THE WAY everywhere they went. They knew of Jesus’ mighty works; they lived with Jesus, conversed with him, heard his thoughts about life and people. But for them, He was not THE WAY until his crucifixion and resurrection. Then this sharing the elements at the Lord’s table became a reality to them. Jesus had shared bread with them before. He fed the five thousand men and their families with bread and fish. They had seen him do something far beyond reality, feeding people with only five loaves and two fish. They knew Jesus’ hands could create reality out of nothing. Of course, they might have understood as Paul states so clearly that their father Abraham’s faith rested on two ideas: God can create something out of nothing and that He can resurrect the dead. The disciples had seen Jesus literally fulfill Abraham’s first cardinal understanding of God: creating something out of nothing by feeding large crowds of people with food that they did not possess. They also will see the raising of Lazarus from the dead; they will also discover Jesus is alive after his death. In this Lord’s supper, Jesus introduced them to something far beyond their imaginations. He told them eternal life comes from Jesus’ very being. They must eat of him and drink of him to have life evermore. They could conceive of Jesus coming as the Messiah to conquer nations and make Israel great again. They could conceive of things that their senses can perceive, but to know God intimately, to be part of his family was a step too far for their fleshly minds. But Jesus as He was sharing the elements with them was giving them notice that they would be part of him in an intimate way. With Jesus they would be a part of God’s cherished family at God’s right hand. Even though they had seen many miracles and heard Jesus teach many things, Jesus was revealing to them God’s mysterious plan of salvation that was held in his being from the beginning of time. We, the church, through the taking of communion celebrate God’s great plan of redemption: changing people from transient dwellers on earth to children of God, living in a permanent home with God.
We who are alive in Jesus Christ, who have partaken of his death and risen to eternal life by the faith that Abraham had, can thank God for the fulfillment of this mysterious plan from the beginning of time. We were once dead as Abraham and Sara’s bodies were dead, but now new life has sprouted within us. And not only that, we are now in full possession of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us as God’s promise that He is with us. For we are known as the Temple of God or the place where God dwells. Ever since the Holy Spirit fell on everyone who was waiting upon God in Acts 2, we have the promise of God for the indwelling Spirit within us. The disciples were told to wait until this act of the fulness of the Spirit was fulfilled, and on that day of Pentecost, tongues of fire rested on God’s people. As John said, I baptize with water as a sign of repentance, but Jesus, the Christ, will baptize with fire, the sign of eradication of sin and dross in people’s lives. Of course, this takes place within the souls of men who already have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus identifies himself with men’s needs by asking them to drink of his blood and to accept his body as theirs for salvation’s sake. This transformation is supernatural in man’s souls, moving from man’s likeness to God’s likeness, from the impure soul to the purity of God. To have this transformation to righteousness, Christ had to be a man, to take the place of humans in the flesh. By identifying with men and women in the flesh, He could take the penalty of sin which is death upon himself. This would satisfy the wrath of God on sin. Even though their souls are cleansed by Christ’s work on the cross, they still dwell in the wilderness of life, so the Spirit of God is with them to guide believers until the time they can leave this world behind. We, who are in the church, celebrate this happy knowledge of Jesus with us by participating in the Lord’s Supper. We know Jesus because the Holy Spirit’s voice speaks truth about life to our inner souls. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. (John 3:34-36) Jesus prayed that we would be one with him and that we IN HIM would be one with Father God. We have achieved that wonderful place of being one with God. Jesus hands us the bread to eat, He gives us his blood to drink, and we become one with God. Brothers and sisters, eat and drink, for you have been made alive IN GOD. He has prepared us for that glorious day when we will be with him!
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