It continues to amaze me. The longer I study the Word of God, the more I learn. One brother has written that we need to study the unknown verses; we need to study even harder the verses that we think we know. In preparation for the lesson on the Lord’s Supper this morning, I looked at Matthew 26:26-29 — a passage that many of us can probably quote having heard it so often. What are some lessons we can learn from this passage?

Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper after having eaten the Passover. The Passover was instituted before the death of firstborn in Egypt. According to Exodus 12-14, it was a time of remembrance, and a time of celebration. In other passages, it is called the Feast of Unleavened bread, to remind the children of Israel of the haste in which they had to leave Egypt. Hence, we eat unleavened bread, and drink the fruit of the vine in remembrance of the body and blood of the Lord.

Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and then passed it to his disciples. Notice that it was Jesus’ disciples that partook of the bread, not just anyone. Also notice that in all of the accounts of the Lord’s Supper, each one explicitly states that this is the way the Lord passed out the bread. Today, in keeping the Lord’s Supper, we must do the same. We must remember His body; His body which was whole, and then broken by Himself. His body which He willingly broke for the sins of all mankind.

He then took the cup, blessed it and passed it to his disciples. We see that the disciples took of the loaf, as well as the fruit of the vine — not just one part of it. We note that as Jesus passed this out, the important thing is NOT the container, but the contents — the fruit of the vine. We know that Jesus did not turn “into” the fruit of the vine, nor the loaf, and in like manner neither of these “turn into” or become the actual body nor blood of Jesus.

The fruit of the vine represents the blood of Jesus — the blood that ratified the new covenant; the blood that brings about the remission of sins. Each time we partake we should remember what it cost Jesus to bring about the remission of our sins. We should remember that it is our sins that put Him on the cross.

We also know that Jesus partakes of this each time we do in the kingdom. He is in our presence, in our midst! It is fellowship — fellowship with God, fellowship with one another. As we pass the loaf, as we pass the fruit of the vine, we are saying to one another that you are my brother, you are my sister because of what our Savior did on the cross. Let us think about some opinions concerning things we do: When just a few leave on Sunday evening and go to a separate room, is this promoting fellowship? When we take the Supper going on vacation or camping, just by ourselves, are we promoting the fellowship Jesus died to bring about?

Finally, we note that the early disciples partook of the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week (Acts 20:7). Paul stressed that because some missed it they were sick and some sleep (1 Corinthians 11:30). Would we miss a physical meal — would our bodies allow such? What about our spiritual bodies?