Commandment 56: Jesus Gave His All.
“Take, eat this is my body. . . drink, this is my blood.” Mt. 26:26-28
As we ‘round the corner headed for the finish line it is appropriate that this command from the Lord immediately precedes his trial and crucifixion, his resurrection and ascension to the Father, and the sending of his little flock out into the world. By this time those who stood with Jesus had already had many opportunities to turn back as others who once followed Him had done. Yet they did not do so and now, sitting with the Lord at their final meal together in the upper room, Jesus was about to connect all of the dots that He had revealed to them during their period of discipleship.
It was the Passover. While temple servants hurried about preparing for the annual sacrifice of the Passover lamb, the true Lamb of God was giving his last instructions to those faithful follower’s he called Apostles. Those whom he had chosen several years before were with Him now on this holiest of all Jewish days, preparing to eat their Passover meal with the Son of God himself.
Always instructing, Jesus revealed again to them that one of them would betray Him. As they wondered among themselves who it could be, He gave them bread saying, “Take, eat this is my body.” He then took the cup of wine saying, “Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
All that Jesus had said and done up to this point was preparation for their appointed mission as apostles, now God’s chosen Lamb was about to complete the work that he had come to perform and thus enable them to receive the Power from on high that would follow his return to the Father as the conquering Son. Judas Iscariot was about to fulfill his role as the prophesied son of perdition. The table was now set for the redemption of humanity from the horrific results of the the fall that took place in the Garden of Eden.
Earlier in his journey Jesus had told his disciples that whoever would eat his flesh and drink his blood would have eternal life. (John 6:55) Many left off following Him that day saying that his words were too hard to hear and not to be understood. Now he offered the same again to the twelve men seated before Him and they took it gladly, possibly thinking it was another parable of which he would explain the meaning to them after the meal. Little did they know that their Master was soon to be arrested, accused, convicted and crucified. All that He had tried to warn them of was about to take place.
How beautiful for the disciples was this final evening with the Master, and yet solemn as he exposed to them the fate that awaited Him the following day. The body of God’s sacrificial Lamb would be broken for them and for the world, and his blood poured out to redeem mankind from their alienation from God. He offered himself for a world that was about to deny and reject Him, and put Him to death on a cross.
Jesus called them to be the first of those who would taste immortality and freedom from sins curse through the cup of his blood. To eat of his body and become brothers of Messiah, joint heirs with the second Adam and join the ranks of a Royal Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.
To eat of the Body of Christ is to be released from the curse of Adam’s disobedience, and to become one with God’s person, purpose and mission of redemption; to renew one’s strength for the battle that is now raging and that will do so until the end of this age. To drink his blood is to recognize and admit the need for cleansing and sanctification that can only come through the precious blood of God’s Holy Son, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev. 13:8) This greatest of all testimonies to God’s forgiving love, that before we were even created, He prepared a way for us to be brought out of the exile of sin, and find oneness with our Creator.
Now, judgment no longer to be merely postponed year after year, God is about to punish his own Son and place all of man’s sin and rebellion upon the broken body and poured out blood of Jesus Christ. No longer will He pass over the sins of the people of God year to year, He will remove them forever and cast them into the Sea of Forgetfulness. As the hymn writer later proclaimed:
“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.”
The Levitical system of laws and rules that held the Jewish people together from the days of Moses until now was about to be put under the knife. Just as Jesus had cursed the fig tree saying, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever” (Lk 21:19) his sacrifice would once and forever do away with the Law as an efficacious answer to mans separation from God. After his death and resurrection there would be no fruit left on the Old Covenant to justify only the small race of Abraham’s descendants. Now the veil of the Old Temple would be torn in two, opening a new and living way for all who would believe in God’s Chosen Lamb. A new and living way where the Son of God boldly proclaims, “Whosoever will let him come and find peace with God.”
Now on this night, in this hallowed room borrowed for the occasion, Jesus instituted the first communion of the New Testament and prepared to fully establish that Covenant through the shedding of his holy blood upon the cross of Calvary, where in anguish he would finally cry out, “It is finished!”
Craig Marlatt