“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,’” Matthew 26:26-28.
The evangelist Matthew records the words of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. It is also commonly known as the Sacrament of the Altar, the Lord’s Table, and Holy Communion.
At the time, Jesus was celebrating with His disciples the Old Testament Passover Festival, which was instituted by God on the night the children of Israel prepared to leave the land of Egypt. Thereafter, annually they celebrated the Passover Festival. Jesus was celebrating it for the last time. During that last celebration, He instituted the Lord’s Supper, which is to be celebrated in the Church until Jesus comes again.
While they were eating, Jesus took some of the unleavened bread on the table, bread made without yeast, broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body,” then He took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you . . . This is My blood.” When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, in, with, and under the bread, Jesus gives us His true body. In, with, and under the wine, He gives us His true blood. The bread remains bread and the wine remains wine, but the body and blood of Jesus are really present in the Lord’s Supper.
In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul wrote, “Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup,” 1 Corinthians 11:27-28. Scripture makes it very clear that the bread is not changed into the body and the wine is not changed into the blood of Jesus. Yet He also did not say, “This represents My body . . . This represents My blood.” Jesus said, “This IS My body . . . This IS My blood.”
The bread and wine are received like any other food in a natural manner by those who attend the Lord’s Supper. Jesus’ body and blood are received with the mouth, however in a supernatural manner. We speak of a sacramental eating and drinking because it occurs only in the Sacrament of the Altar. The HOW we leave to the Lord!
The blessing offered to each communicant is the forgiveness of sins. The blessing is received by believing these words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins!” Each time we come to the Lord’s Table, we come to receive Jesus’ body and blood as a pledge, “Your sins are forgiven! Go in peace!” What a blessing was left for us by the Savior who was born in Bethlehem when He celebrated the Passover Festival for the last time and instituted the Lord’s Supper! Thanks be to God for His unspeakable Gift!
“We eat this bread and drink this cup,
Thy precious Word believing,
That Thy true body and Thy blood
Our lips are here receiving.
This word remains forever true,
And there is naught Thou canst not do;
For Thou, Lord, art almighty.
Though reason cannot understand,
Yet faith this truth embraces;
Thy body, Lord, is everywhere,
At once in many places.
How this can be I leave to Thee;
Thy word alone sufficeth me,
I trust its truth unfailing.” Amen.