Mat 26:30 | KingComments | STEP | While they are eating the Passover, the Lord institutes the Lord’s Supper. He wants His disciples to remember a dead Savior. It is no longer about a living Messiah. That is all over. They should also no longer think back to the liberation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. With Christ, and with a dead Christ, a totally new order of affairs begins. He institutes the Lord’s Supper by taking “bread” – not a piece of the Paschal lamb. That bread speaks of His life as Man on earth. It represents His body that God has prepared for Him ( ; ). After He has taken the bread, He gives thanks, not for the bread, but to God. As the Messiah, He leads His disciples in praising God. Then He breaks the bread as the symbolic act for surrendering His body to death. And so He gives it to the disciples. Only Matthew explicitly mentions that He gives it “to the disciples”. Matthew presents the Lord Jesus as the Messiah. The Messiah takes as King, the lead in everything and His disciples follow Him. But they can only follow Him if they unite themselves with a dead Messiah. We see that in the words which the Lord then speaks. He invites them to take and eat of His body that has been surrendered to death. By taking it they receive part in everything He is. They do not need to look at their own unworthiness. By eating of it – only Matthew mentions this – that is to say, by feeding spiritually on Him, it also becomes part of them internally and they become conformed to Him. The cup is also a symbol of what He is going to do. He knows that the cup for Him means that He will shed His blood. Yet He gives thanks for it because He looks at the result. He will shed it “for many for the forgiveness of sins”. The fact that the blood is shed ‘for many’ indicates that it goes beyond only Israel. The new covenant is made only with Israel, just as the old covenant was made only with Israel ( ). The foundation of this new covenant is the blood of Christ. However, the powerful effect of the blood of Christ reaches far beyond Israel alone. Among the “many” who will receive the forgiveness of their sins on the basis of the blood of Christ are all people of all times who have, with remorse, repented to God for their sins. It also applies to all who belong to the church. That’s why the Lord’s invitation is: “Drink from it, all of you.” The Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of a dead Jesus Who, by dying, broke with the past, laid the foundation for a new covenant, secured the forgiveness of sins, and opened the door for the Gentiles. They are all allowed to drink from it. The Lord Himself does not participate in the cup. The cup speaks not only of His suffering, but also of the joy of the result of His work. In Matthew, that result is the establishment of His kingdom in public glory and majesty. It has not come that far yet. He is rejected by His people, and thus He is separated from His people as far as their joys on earth are concerned. They must expect Him as a Companion in better days in the joy He has gained for them, for He will come back to be their Companion in that joy. Then He will drink it “new” with them, which is in a new way, of “the fruit of the vine”. He will do this with them in “My Father’s kingdom”, which is the heavenly part of the kingdom. After these assurances, they end the meal with the singing of a hymn. That hymn consists of singing Psalms 113-118. Then they all go outside, where it is already dark, on their way to the Mount of Olives.

‏ Matthew 26:30

Institution of the Lord’s Supper

While they are eating the Passover, the Lord institutes the Lord’s Supper. He wants His disciples to remember a dead Savior. It is no longer about a living Messiah. That is all over. They should also no longer think back to the liberation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. With Christ, and with a dead Christ, a totally new order of affairs begins.

He institutes the Lord’s Supper by taking “bread” – not a piece of the Paschal lamb. That bread speaks of His life as Man on earth. It represents His body that God has prepared for Him (Heb 10:5-7; Psa 40:6-8). After He has taken the bread, He gives thanks, not for the bread, but to God. As the Messiah, He leads His disciples in praising God.

Then He breaks the bread as the symbolic act for surrendering His body to death. And so He gives it to the disciples. Only Matthew explicitly mentions that He gives it “to the disciples”. Matthew presents the Lord Jesus as the Messiah. The Messiah takes as King, the lead in everything and His disciples follow Him.

But they can only follow Him if they unite themselves with a dead Messiah. We see that in the words which the Lord then speaks. He invites them to take and eat of His body that has been surrendered to death. By taking it they receive part in everything He is. They do not need to look at their own unworthiness. By eating of it – only Matthew mentions this – that is to say, by feeding spiritually on Him, it also becomes part of them internally and they become conformed to Him.

The cup is also a symbol of what He is going to do. He knows that the cup for Him means that He will shed His blood. Yet He gives thanks for it because He looks at the result. He will shed it “for many for the forgiveness of sins”. The fact that the blood is shed ‘for many’ indicates that it goes beyond only Israel. The new covenant is made only with Israel, just as the old covenant was made only with Israel (Heb 8:8). The foundation of this new covenant is the blood of Christ.

However, the powerful effect of the blood of Christ reaches far beyond Israel alone. Among the “many” who will receive the forgiveness of their sins on the basis of the blood of Christ are all people of all times who have, with remorse, repented to God for their sins. It also applies to all who belong to the church. That’s why the Lord’s invitation is: “Drink from it, all of you.”

The Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of a dead Jesus Who, by dying, broke with the past, laid the foundation for a new covenant, secured the forgiveness of sins, and opened the door for the Gentiles. They are all allowed to drink from it.

The Lord Himself does not participate in the cup. The cup speaks not only of His suffering, but also of the joy of the result of His work. In Matthew, that result is the establishment of His kingdom in public glory and majesty. It has not come that far yet. He is rejected by His people, and thus He is separated from His people as far as their joys on earth are concerned.

They must expect Him as a Companion in better days in the joy He has gained for them, for He will come back to be their Companion in that joy. Then He will drink it “new” with them, which is in a new way, of “the fruit of the vine”. He will do this with them in “My Father’s kingdom”, which is the heavenly part of the kingdom.

After these assurances, they end the meal with the singing of a hymn. That hymn consists of singing Psalms 113-118. Then they all go outside, where it is already dark, on their way to the Mount of Olives.