Communion Part 6 - Communion

Following on from Communion Part 5 - Hebrews & Ephesians this post was to be the last in a six part mini-series. 

 

However now it is the penultimate part of what has just become a seven part mini series; so let's get going: 

Matthew 26: 17, 18, 19  & 20; ''Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master [Teacher] saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover a thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. Now when the even [evening] was come he sat down with the twelve''

Jesus probably had an existing agreement with the owner of a large house as such a room was unlikely to be available at short notice in Jerusalem at the time of passover without prior a arrangement.

Matthew 26: 26; ''And as they were eating Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body.''

"Jesus took bread... ''This is my body'', during the Passover feast the head of the Jewish household took bread in his hand and would say, ''This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt.''   By these words, Jesus, at a stroke, changed the whole significance and emphasis of the feast from looking backward to the redemption of God's Old Covenant People from misery and slavery in the land of Egypt to looking forward in faith to the redemption of God's New Covenant People from sin accomplished by his atoning blood shed on the cross.

Matthew 26: 27, 28 & 29; ''And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink [Drink ye from it all of you] ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission [forgiveness] of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.''

''The cup'': during the Passover meal three cups were passed around by the Jewish householder ; the third, which is probably being referred to here, being know as the ''cup of blessing''.

"Shed for many for the remission of sins'' is a clear statement by Jesus that his sacrificial death was the way to enable God to forgive sin.

''That day'' refers to that great time when Jesus will come again in glory and majesty.

''My blood of the new testament'':  this is a direct reference to Jeremiah 31:31 & Exodus 24:8 (both see below); the latter referring to the Covenant with Moses (the Old Covenant) being sealed with blood. (The Greek word testament here in Matthew is better translated as ''covenant''):

Jeremiah 31: 31, 32, 33 & 34;  ''Behold the days come saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the LORD. 

 

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward [mind] parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.''

Exodus 24: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8; ''And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments [ordinances]: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said we will we do. And  Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an alter under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 

 

And sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.  And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the alter.  An he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, all that the LORD hath said we will do and be obedient.

 

And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.''

So, Holy Communion, or the Lord's Supper as it is sometimes known, was instituted by Jesus on the eve of his death. 

Paul advises that we as God's New Covenant Children should conduct a similar simple 'ceremony' by sharing bread as a token of his broken, sacrificed body and by sharing the cup representing the shedding of Jesus' redemptive, atoning blood:

 

1 Corinthians 11: 23, 24, 25 & 26; ''For I have receive of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

 

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This is my cup of the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show [proclaim] the Lord's death till he come.''

Just as the Old Testament Children of God were required by Him to remind themselves of what God had done for them through the ritual of the Passover feast, so we as the New Testament Children of God need to take time to reflect on the enormity of what Jesus, the Son of God, has done for each and everyone of us.

But, Paul goes onto issue a solemn warning to all those who wish to share and partake in this simple ceremony:

1 Corinthians 11: 27, 28 & 29; ''Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily [in an unworthy manner], shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of that cup.  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation [judgement] to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.''

To be concluded in the last part of the mini-series Communion Part 7 - Flesh, Spirit, a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation and a Peculiar People of God.