TRANSLATION MATTHEW 26:26

While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf, said the blessing on it, broke it and gave it to his pupils, saying, “Take, eat, this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying “Drink from this, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins. Amen, I tell you, that I will not again drink of the fruit of the vine until I drink it new with you in the Rule of my father.”

After singing a hymn, they went out to the Hill of Olives.

Various scriptures lie behind this narrative, which go back to the original tellers of the Jesus story: Exodus 24:8 which mentions the blood that seals the covenant of God and the people; and Jeremiah 31:31ff which prophesies a new covenant in which sins will be forgiven.

Teasing out the connections between the death of Jesus and the sacrificial tradition of the Hebrew bible is a never-ending task, because that tradition was used from the earliest days of Christian faith to interpret the life and death of Jesus. Did Jesus himself use it to interpret his own life? Matthew, following Mark, shows him doing so. It certainly links with Matthew’s magic realism since the weakness and apparent defeat of Jesus, seen as sacrificial, become immensely powerful. Some scholars rule out the possibility of knowing Jesus’ self-consciousness; but we can know what the gospels tell us, such as in this case, Jesus readiness for sacrifice and his unshakeable confidence in the Rule of God.

So what does Matthew want his readers to understand in this passage?

1. That the Lord’s Supper as practiced by the Assemblies of Jesus goes back to him and is a great gift to all his followers.

2. That it showed Jesus readiness for sacrifice. He would not simply be killed but would give himself up, trusting that this was his Father’s way. God had attempted to persuade people to his way through Jesus, whose death would be a further act of persuasion.

3 That it showed Jesus’ faith in GOD’s Rule. Was Jesus daft? What was there about his peoples’ rejection that he didn’t understand? Jesus might ask back, “What is God’s Rule if not his communication of love for all his creatures, and his utter refusal of power and violence?”

4. That the new covenant established by Jesus is one which fulfils the prophecy of Jeremiah by putting God’s law in people’s hearts and forgiving their sins.