Matthew 26:26, commentary and pictures

On the night before His crucifixion at the Passover supper, as they were eating, Jesus took the unleavened Passover bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples to eat as the emblem of His broken body. His words that the bread is His body mean that it is a sign or emblem of His unblemished body given as a sin-offering, not changed into His actual body, for bread affected by fermentation could not represent Him because fermentation symbolizes sin and death. By this act He instituted the Lord's Supper as a memorial of His death, in which He as the spotless Lamb of God gave Himself for the redemption of the fallen world, joining it to the Passover and identifying Himself as the great antitype of the paschal lamb whose slaying had prefigured Him. The old system of types pointing to His death was ending and reached its fulfillment when He died on the cross, and the service He established was to be observed often by His followers in every land and age to remember His sacrifice for the remission of sins and their continual dependence on Him. The claim that priests in the mass can turn the bread into Christ's actual body supplants this scriptural ordinance with a blasphemous heresy claiming power to create God. The ordinance of humility is appointed to come first as preparation for rightly receiving the emblems, yet participation is not to be restricted, for even Judas received the bread while cherishing betrayal as Jesus offered him repentance, and each person is to partake publicly as a witness of accepting Christ as a personal Saviour.

Setting and Bread

The supper was the Passover supper eaten on the night before the crucifixion. After it Jesus went with the disciples to Gethsemane, a quiet garden near Jerusalem where He often went with them to pray to His heavenly Father for strength. As they walked He talked with them and taught them, but He became strangely silent as they neared the garden. That same night, after breaking bread and giving it to the disciples as His body and giving them the cup as His blood, He entered the garden with a heart full of sorrow under the weight of the sins of the world.

As they were eating He took the unleavened Passover bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples to eat. He gave it as the emblem of His broken body and invited them to eat it. The bread represents His body, which He was about to give as a sin-offering, and His unblemished sacrifice. Because fermentation symbolizes sin and death, bread affected by fermentation could not represent Him.

The words that the bread is His body mean that it is a sign or emblem of His body. The bread is not changed into His actual body.

Sacrifice and Passover Fulfilled

Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper in this act as a memorial of His death, in which He as the spotless Lamb of God without blemish gave Himself for the redemption and salvation of the fallen world. The bread of the Supper represents His body, which He was about to give as a sin-offering. The Passover had commemorated Israel's deliverance from Egypt and pointed forward to Christ. The innocent lamb slain in Egypt, whose blood sprinkled on the doorposts caused the destroying angel to pass over the homes of Israel, prefigured Him as the sinless Lamb whose merits alone avert the judgment and condemnation of fallen man.

In obedience to the Jewish law and its divinely appointed ordinances He joined the Lord's Supper to the Passover and identified Himself as the great antitype of the paschal lamb. The old system of types and ceremonies pointing to His death was ending, and its type reached its fulfillment when Christ died on the cross. The service He established was to be observed by His followers in every land and age, to be commemorated often so believers would remember His sacrifice for the remission of the sins of all who believe and receive Him. It keeps His followers mindful of His betrayal and crucifixion and of their continual dependence on Him for salvation.

Ordinance and Discipleship

The Lord's Supper is the scriptural ordinance that the mass supplanted. In that supper Jesus gave bread to His disciples as a sign of His body, and the bread is not changed or literally transformed into His actual body. The claim that priests can turn the bread and wine into Christ's actual body and blood replaces the scriptural ordinance with the sacrifice of the mass, and to claim such power to create God is a blasphemous heresy.

The ordinance of humility was appointed to come first as preparation for rightly receiving the communion emblems. Pride, rivalry, and differences between believers must be put away, and the heart cleansed, so they can enter fellowship with God. At the sacramental supper Jesus gave the bread as the emblem of His broken body and invited the disciples to eat it, and Judas was present and received the bread even as he cherished his plans to betray Jesus. Jesus shared the sacrament with Judas even though He knew Judas would betray Him, thereby offering the betrayer opportunity to receive Him, repent, and be cleansed from sin.

His treatment of Judas and the other disciples teaches not to abandon people who are in error, but to avoid leaving them exposed to temptation and to seek their restoration. He washed the disciples' feet because they were faulty, and all but Judas were brought to repentance. Participation in the supper is not to be restricted, for Christ intended it to be commemorated often so believers would remember His sacrifice for the remission of the sins of all who believe and receive Him. Each person is to take part publicly as a witness of accepting Christ as a personal Saviour, who gave His life to rescue that person from death.