The Bread and the Wine

Welcome to the Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast. The communion meditation today is based on a passage of Scripture from the New Testament, Luke 22: 7-20. All Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission

As you listen to the episode today, my hope is that you will be encouraged from the time spent meditating on what Jesus has done for you. You are a special person; the one Jesus died to save!

Transcript

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "The Bread and the Wine." I read from Luke 22: 7-20. All quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission.

7 Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.”

9 “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him.

10 He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, 11 say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 12 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” 13 They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

14 When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. 15 Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. 16 For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”

17 Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”

19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.

Jesus was present in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. On this occasion, He was there not only as a requirement of God's Law, but He was also there to fulfill God's Law. Our neighbors, the Jews, observed the same annual celebration of the Passover beginning at sunset on April 12th this year. In the Passover celebration, the Jews remember how the blood of the lamb spread on the two doorposts and the lintel of the doorframe of their house saved them from the death angel; he passed over them. They also remember how they were then set free from slavery in Egypt that same night. The fifteen steps of the seder, or order, for the Pesach, or Passover, meal is prescribed by the Haggadah. The basic elements of the seder are first found in the Mishnah, the teachings and interpretations explaining how to live the Torah, and date to 200 AD. The first step of the seder is the Kadesh in which the leader recites the Kiddush, the blessing over the wine. The first two lines follow, "Blessed are You, Lord Our God, King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the vine." In step seven, Motzi Matzah, the leader blesses the unleavened bread in two blessings as follows: first, "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth," and the first two lines of the second, "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to eat matzah."

We can imagine Jesus leading His disciples in these prayers that were part of the old covenant. At this same Passover meal, Jesus now reveals the new covenant. He is the Passover Lamb of God, and He will offer His life, His blood, for the forgiveness of sins to save humankind from death. He now asks His disciples to assemble to partake of the bread and drink wine from the cup to remember His suffering and death on the cross. And not only annually as in the Passover celebration, but He invites His disciples to remember Him as often as they choose. For Jewish Christians, perhaps the weekly observance of the Sabbath transitioned to become a weekly gathering on the first day of the week, Sunday, His resurrection day, to bless the wine and the bread to remember Jesus. Today, we assemble as Christians have for over a thousand years to remember Jesus in this way. Let us pray.

Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Thank-you, Abba, Father, for sending Jesus, the Lamb of God, to offer His life to save us. We thank You for the gifts of the wine and the bread and we partake of them just as Your Son asked us to do. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26: 26-28 (NLT).

26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.

27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.

And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"

Until next time, from Numbers 6: 24-26, "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace."

Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!