Thursday, April 2, 2015
Matthew 26:26-27 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
THURSDAY: FEEDING HIS FATHER'S CHILDREN
On that particular evening at the table in the upper room, with His disciples gathered around Him, there was something that made the tone of the evening even more somber. Yes, Christ had told them that He would be leaving them; that He must, there in Jerusalem, " ... suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matthew 16:21). Now that time was near.
But Jesus would not withdraw His bodily presence from them altogether. He would continue to come to them each personally and give them the same body and the same blood that He was about to offer on the cross to pay for sin, in order to continue to assure them and all believers of the forgiveness of their sins -- to the strengthening of their faith. This is what He did when He instituted the Lord's Supper on that first Maundy Thursday.
On the cross Christ gave Himself into death to purchase forgiveness of sins for all people, as it is written, "In [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7). He gives assurance of this in the Lord's Supper. And He meant that they should continue to receive this comfort in the Lord's Supper, for He says, "Do this in remembrance of Me ..." (1 Corinthians 11:24f).
Sure, we know this now, looking back on the Gospel accounts. But did the disciples know what was going on that night? Consider that it was no night for picture language. It was a night for plain talking. When Jesus said, "Take, eat, this is My body ..." He meant it. When Jesus said, "This is My blood ..." that is what He meant. Receive My body and blood and be certain that your sins are forgiven.
Imagine being there, having the Lord Jesus comfort you face to face. That's what would have happened had we been there in the upper room. But that is what happens to us here as we celebrate the Lord's Supper and thereby receive His very body and blood. While we weren't actually there in the upper room, Jesus Himself is here as He says, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). And He comes to each of us personally in the Lord's Supper, with the bread and wine and the Word of God, giving us the very same body and blood that He sacrificed on the cross to pay for our sins. He comes to you individually and says, "Take, eat; this is My body ... Drink from it all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
