Memorial of Body and Blood

Memorial Day is one of those holidays whose significance I did not appreciate as a child. However, the older I get, the more I lean toward it being our most important national holiday. Think about it. Without American Colonialists laying down their lives there would be no 4th of July. Without Americans laying down there lives in wars following our nation’s independence there would be no freedom like we know it today in America. We truly owe a debt to those who have laid down their lives to protect and sustain our freedom!

There is one memorial, though, that surpasses even Memorial Day, and it is something that we are to observe every first day of the week. It is the Lord’s Supper, a memorial of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Instituted on Passover

Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper toward the end of the Jewish Passover feast (Mt. 26:17-26a). The Passover commemorated the greatest single redemptive event known to Israel prior to the coming of Christ—the exodus, when God delivered the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage (Ex. 12). Passover was a memorial to be observed every year as a reminder and opportunity to teach God’s deliverance (Ex. 12:26-27). Remembering what God has done is a key element in remaining faithful (Deut. 4:9; Hos. 4:6; 1 Tim. 4:6).

According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (G. W. Bromiley, editor), on Passover eve in Jesus’ time, twenty-four divisions of priests came early to the temple. They burnt all leaven and began the sacrifices. Each Jewish family head was to slaughter his own lamb. The blood was drained and tossed against the base of the altar. Each lamb was skinned and its fat and kidneys were removed to be burned on the altar. Each offerer then carried his lamb out of the temple court to prepare the Passover meal. In addition to roasted lamb, the meal consisted of several symbolic elements, consumed at specific points throughout the night, including bitter herbs and unleavened bread. At various intervals, cups of fruit of the vine were consumed. There were ritual hand washings and the singing of Psalms 113-118, known as the Hallel. Jesus would have followed the normal course of the Passover meal.

Remembrance of Jesus’ Body

As Jesus and His disciples were gathered in the upper room eating the Passover meal, “Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body” (Mt. 26:26). There is no doubt that the bread Jesus used was unleavened (cf. Ex. 12:8, 15-20). The word “it” in “blessed it” is not in the original language but is supplied by the translators. “Blessed” does not emphasize the bread but suggests that Jesus praised God in prayer (cf. Josh. 22:33; Lk. 2:28). Jesus took the bread, which we would recognize more like a wafer, and broke it so that all might have a piece. This does not represent a “broken body,” for not a single bone in Jesus’ body was broken (Jn. 19:33 cf. Ex. 12:46; Num. 9:12; Ps. 34:20). The KJV’s (and NKJ’s) rendering of “which is broken for you” (1 Cor. 11:24) is not found in the older manuscripts of the New Testament and seems to have been added by later scribes who adhered to the false doctrine of “transubstantiation,” which says that the bread and fruit of the vine turn into the literal flesh and blood of Jesus. Jesus commanding them to “Take eat; this is my body” is not cannibalism, but is symbolic. The purpose is to remember what Christ did through His body. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:4-5).

Remembrance of Jesus’ Blood

After Jesus distributed the bread as a memorial for what He was about to do with His body, “he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mt. 26:27-28). The “cup” is not emphasizing the container but the contents, which was “fruit of the vine” (Mt. 26:29). “All” refers to those present. All were to drink the fruit of the vine. The idea of a “priest” drinking on behalf of others is foreign to Biblical teaching. The grape juice symbolically represents Jesus’ “blood of the new testament” (cf. the “blood of the covenant,” Ex. 24:8). A “testament [covenant, NKJ]” is an agreement, or contract. It becomes operative at death (Heb. 9:16-17).

Jesus’ blood being “shed...for the remission of sins” is clearly sacrificial language. The prime object of Christ’s death was the remission of sins! Reconciliation with God has always required blood (Gen. 15:9-18), so that “without shedding of blood is no remission” of sins (Heb. 9:22). The good news of the “new testament” is that Jesus substituted His blood for ours (Isa. 53:4-12; 2 Cor. 5:21)!

Remembrance in the Kingdom

Jesus concludes, “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Mt. 26:29). This would be the last time Jesus would be in the flesh with His disciples at a meal such as this. A few more hours and the old Passover would have served its purpose, having reached its fulfillment on Calvary. The bread and fruit of the vine are taken from their old Passover significance and given new meaning in the Lord’s Supper. “Drink it new” shows that the companionship that was to be broken by Jesus’ death would be restored in His kingdom. The emphasis on Jesus’ death is not to give a sense of somber finality, but a joyful anticipation of new life made possible by His death.

The where of Jesus’ drinking it new is in “my Father’s kingdom,” which is the church (Mt. 16:18-19; Col. 1:13), but when did Jesus “drink it new” with His disciples? Luke records, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7 cf. 1 Cor. 16:1-2). Note that “upon the first day of the week” is not qualified. Thus, since every week has a first day, the Lord’s Supper is to be observed every first day of every week. There is no greater memorial than that of Christ’s death!