While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Matthew 26:26 – 30

Matthew does not elaborate on what was going on between the people in that Upper Room in Jerusalem on the night of the Passover.  Other writers did.  Matthew records the central feature, however, the meal itself.

It must have startled the disciples when Jesus, as the feast progressed, took the loaf into his hands, broke off a piece and said, “Take and eat; this is my body.”  Jesus interrupts the Jewish ritualized meal by holding the broken piece of bread and then making the extraordinary claim that his disciples can “eat” him like they eat the Passover Lamb or the broken bread.  So, Jesus gave each a piece of the unleavened bread which they then ate.  They probably did not know what they were doing!  Nothing like that ever happened before.

Then the Lord took the common cup in his hand and said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  I doubt whether the disciples really understood what Jesus was saying.  They knew later, of course, when the Holy Spirit revealed the reality of the death of the Lamb as the death of Jesus himself.

As they passed the cup among themselves, they were sharing all that flowed from Jesus’ sacrificial death that enabled the forgiveness of sins, the central blessing offered by God on that day.

As was the custom, they sang a hymn and then went out to the Mount of Olives, only a short distance away.

I stand amazed. A bit of bread and a sip of wine, offered freely by Jesus, ushered in a new day.  That body and blood, soon to be offered, is my only hope today.  It is as simple as that. It is a joy to know that I have brothers and sisters all over the world today who share this drink and bread with me and with one another, together with all sinners who need forgiveness.