This Do In Remembrance Of Me

Luke 22:7-20 describes the last supper up to the cup after the meal. Sunday school will teach you this is the broken body of Christ and the new testament in his blood. They get that from the text; it was, after all, what Jesus told his disciples.

Many people look at the last supper without consideration for the fact that the last supper was the Passover. Many people read what Jesus said in verses nineteen and twenty, about his body and his blood, without a thought for the many things he did not say.

Jesus asked so little for himself, but he did ask this one thing in verse nineteen. He asked of them, and of us, to “do this in remembrance of me.” He did not ask us to sculpt statues or paint pictures of him. He did not ask to have additional holidays instituted on his behalf. He asked one thing only – that the Passover be observed.

The Passover was and is a celebration of deliverance. It was observed, unchanged, from the time of Moses to the time of Jesus. It was the same every year. An unblemished lamb was slain and eaten. The blood of the lamb was applied to the delivered and was the sign by which they were spared from the penalty of death.

What we must notice about the last supper is that it was not described as containing a lamb. The main fair was bread and wine. There was an obvious shift in symbolism; Christ became the lamb. He became the sign through which men are to be spared the penalty of death. Yes, instead of death, those to whom his blood is applied are to find deliverance and new life.

His suffering was foreshadowed in the symbol of the Passover bread while his blood was foreshadowed in the symbol of the Passover wine – produced via crushing. The symbols did not commence in the last supper, but were existent in the preceding appellations: 'bread of life' and 'true vine'.

If therefore, the Lamb of God took on the symbols of bread and wine, it behooves the seeker to know just how these items figured into the Passover.

The Matzah, or unleavened bread, was central to the meal as not everyone was able to eat lamb. The matzah was also known as the 'bread of affliction' and was meant to represent a life without sin. The Passover meal, as I understand it, contained a stack of unleavened bread (at least three) each separated from the other by a napkin. The middle loaf was the one to be 'broken' at the meal. One might easily see the significance of the middle loaf in a stack of three as an indicator of Jesus' order in the Trinity.

I have taken information from https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-passover-foods/ and recommend you read the full article. This what the article says about the unleavened bread: “The most significant part of the Seder meal occurs when the Yachatz is picked up after the Karpas (parsley dipped in salt water) is eaten. The Yachatz is a single pouch containing three Matzah. The single pouch symbolizes unity. The middle Matzah is then removed, broken in half, and wrapped in a cloth. This is called the Afikomen. Jewish tradition says that the three Matzahs represent the Jewish people, the priests, the Levities, and the people. Jewish tradition does not know why the middle Matzah is broken. They do not know when this part of the Seder was established. However, for Christians the symbolism is obvious. The Yachatz represents our one and only God and the three Matzah represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The breaking of the middle Matzah symbolizes the punishment and death of Jesus Christ. It is important to note that Matzah is stripped and has holes. One-half of this broken Matzah is then wrapped and put away until just before the third cup. This symbolizes Jesus’ burial and resurrection on the third day. The Passover Seder is a great reminder of what Jesus Christ did for all of us. We can be delivered from the bondage of sin when we believe in Jesus Christ and ask Him to forgive our sins. ”

The cup of wine mentioned in Luke 22:20 was the final of four cups throughout the meal. The article goes on to list them in this manner:

Cup of Sanctification. It symbolized Israel’s deliverance from being under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Cup of Deliverance. It symbolized Israel’s deliverance from their bondage.

Cup of Redemption. It symbolized God’s promise to redeem Israel from with an outstretched arm.

Cup of Praise. It symbolized the fact that God took the Israelites to be His people.

As to whether Jesus drank alcoholic wine or grape juice, that is still hotly debated. Psalm 104:15 seems to reference alcoholic wine when it states, “And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,” but one must know that natural wine back in those times only reached an alcoholic state of three to four percent. His adversaries also accused Jesus of being a winebibber, which would also suggest an alcoholic content.

However, as concerns the Passover, there is a contention that since they had no leaven in the bread, they would have no leaven in the wine. The natural fermentation of wine in those times was accomplished only from the sugars in the grape. No leaven was added. It is supposed that that new wine was grape juice only, but there is no indication that new wine was fresh from the vat or no more than a day old. There are words from the original texts of Greek and Aramaic that support wine as unfermented juice. Let the reader judge for him or herself.

The Passover significance of the bread and the wine are clear enough. Jesus asked that we eat the Passover bread of affliction and life and drink the Passover wine of praise with him in mind. He was the lamb of God; his body was the middle loaf of matzah, broken on the cross. His blood was the new testament poured out to release us from the penalty of death. Thus, we belong to Christ and to God. We are given a kingdom by Christ as Christ was given a kingdom by God.

It is a Passover of spiritual symbols that brings us to our promised land. Jesus asks that we partake of this spiritual Passover in remembrance of him.