Day 55: Jesus shows that He’s the sacrifice
At the beginning of the 2005 film Nanny McPhee, Mr. Brown’s seven children have come up with yet another plan for scaring their latest nanny away. The nanny runs to the funeral home where Mr. Brown works screaming, “They’ve eaten the baby!” Of course, the children haven’t really done this. But they’ve hidden the baby in a large pot, and they’re eating chicken legs to prank the nanny. In today’s passage, Jesus makes a claim to His disciples that would have shocked them about as much as the nanny was shocked. Except that He’s not joking.
What did Jesus take and break while His disciples were eating (v. 22)?
What did Jesus say to His disciples about the bread He’d just torn up (v. 22)?
How do you think the disciples would have felt when Jesus did this?
It was normal for the host of a Passover meal to take bread, bless it, break it, and pass it out. But what Jesus says about the bread here would have been shocking! Not only was He saying that His body would be all torn up, He was also inviting His disciples to eat His body, pictured in the bread.
What did Jesus do with the cup of wine in verse 23?
What did Jesus say the wine they were drinking was in verse 24?
What did Jesus say about His covenant blood in verse 24?
A covenant is a binding promise or agreement. For example, God makes a covenant with Abraham when He promises to make his descendants as many as the stars (Genesis 15:18). Covenants were often confirmed with a sacrifice. For example, after the Israelites agree to the law God had given them, Moses takes the blood of sacrificed bulls and sprinkles it on the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exodus 24:8). But Jesus is making a new covenant in His own blood.
The idea of blood being “poured out” would have made Jesus’ disciples think of animal sacrifices in God’s temple. Jesus says that His blood of the covenant is poured out “for many.” Matthew’s gospel adds, “for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
How does Jesus’ claim that His blood is poured out “for many” remind you of our memory verse in Mark 10:45?
When does Jesus say He will drink wine again (v. 25)?
Jesus is God’s King, and one day He will come back in power and glory to take up His kingdom over all the world. This meal with His disciples prepares them for His death and also points them forward to when He comes again. The apostle Paul explains it like this:
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23–26)
This is why most churches celebrate the “Lord’s Supper” either every week or every month as a reminder of Jesus’ death for us.
Praise God that Jesus’ body was broken for you and His blood was poured out for you! Pray that you would always be amazed by this and that you would look forward to when Jesus comes again!