Matthew 26: 20- 30
A New Covenant
20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” 22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?” 23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” 25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.” 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Today we are going to talk about ‘Covenants’. There are 8 Covenants instituted by our Great and Almighty God El Shaddai (Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit). God always keeps His promises. You might not know that some of these are conditional and some are unconditional. So, I want to list them for you and let you know what they mean to you personally.
. 1) the Covenant of loyalty (Conditional)
Our Holy God created the angel’s immortal. Satan and one third of the other angels fell as you know and they remain in their sinful condition forever. When our Holy God made man and woman He made them mortal. He made a conditional covenant with Adam in the garden of Eden. Adam was supposed to obey all God’s commands to earn the right to eat from the tree of life and merit eternal life. Adam rebelled against God and earned instead death and condemnation for himself and all his descendants (Genesis 2: 17 – 18: Genesis 3)
Since we all come from Adam we are under this same covenant and guilty of failing to keep it (Romans 5: 12; 1 Corinthians 15: 21 – 22). Because God Is Holy, all mankind is at enmity with Him based on our own imperfect works. Furthermore, because we now have a sinful nature due to the corruption resulting from Adam’s fall, you commit more sins that heap more guilt upon us. We therefore need a Savior to deliver us from this doom.
. 2) The Covenant of Grace (unconditional)
Our Great and Merciful God gives us this Covenant promise right away as we learn in Genesis chapter 3: 15 that He will provide a Savior. We will learn later in Genesis chapter 22 that this Deliverer Is God Himself. We will learn how this happens from the teaching in the book of Romans chapter 5 verses 12 through 21 that we are saved by grace through faith in the Holy Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and this is not our doing, it is the gift of God to us. Thank You our Holy God.
Because we are sinful we can never keep God’s law perfectly and be pure to stand in His presence. Through faith in Christ Jesus alone, we are declared righteous in His sight, are forgiven all our sins, and have peace with our Creator God and He even adopts us into His family. Wow!
. 3) The Noahic Covenant (unconditional)
In this Covenant our Creator God made a promise to Noah to never again bring a flood to destroy the earth by flood. As a sign of this promise He placed a rainbow in the sky.
We need to think about the bow. It is an interesting fact. You see this bow was our Majestic Rulers ‘bow’ for war. What He did was put in on a shelf in the sky to show that He will never declare war against all us humans. Thank You Merciful God.
. 4) The Abrahamic Covenant (Unconditional)
The Covenant of Grace is further developed in our Holy Father Yahweh’s promise to Abraham. He promised Abraham that all the families of the earth would be blessed. He fulfilled this through Adoni Yeshua, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
All who receive Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior are the true heirs of Abraham and have the rights and privileges thereof.
. 5) The Mosaic Covenant (Conditional)
The Mosaic Covenant was a conditional agreement between God and the people of Israel that was mediated by Moses (Exodus chapter 19 through 24). The people of Israel had to fulfill God’s stipulations in this covenant to stay and prosper in the land God had given them. Ultimately, they failed to keep His covenant. In His love He kept giving them other chances to return to His land as He has so do again in 1948.
This covenant was extremely important because first of all it showed the nation of Israel and us that it is impossible to keep His Law so we need a Savior. Second it provided a path for God’s Holy Son to come into the world and be the perfect Son of Man who would accomplish complete and perfect obeying.
6. The Davidic Covenant (Unconditional)
. Our Holy God promised David that One of His descendant would rule forever. David’s future son would be greater than he ever would. Our Lord Jesus Christ Is David’s Greater Son Who was true and faithful.
Our Lord Jesus Who Is the King of Israel and all the earth for eternity deserved and earned the right to Rule. Thank you, Lord Jesus my King.
. 7) The New Covenant (Unconditional)
The New Covenant ushered in the new creation. This covenant is new in relationship to the old (Mosaic) covenant, but both are part of the Abrahamic Covenant. While Moses was the mediator of the old covenant between God the nation of Israel, Christ Is the mediator of the New Covenant between God and believers through His finished word of redemption in His life, death, and Resurrection. While the Old covenant required national obedience, the new covenant requires faith in Christ, the perfectly obedient Son of Israel.
While the new covenant requires faith in Christ, this faith itself as a mentioned is a gift from God, given to all who trust in Christ as their Savior. As a Christian, you can rejoice that you have peace with God, eternal life, and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and are being conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus.
. 8) The Covenant of Redemption (Conditional)
Without the Covenant of redemption, the only other covenant in this list that could exist is the first one, the covenant of works. The covenant of redemption was established before creation and is the pact between the Holy persons of the Trinity in which the Father sends the Son, our Lord Jesus to do the work of redemption. The Son submits to the Father’s will and the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of the Son’s accomplished work to believers. As a reward for His obedience, the Father gifts the Son with Glory and everlasting kingdom.
There is only One real and living God and He Is Good. Put your faith in Him.
The instituting of the Lord’s Supper is enveloped within a picture of the total failure of His chosen Apostles, one in betrayal and the others in great fear, emphasizing that what Jesus Is to go through is something that He must go through alone. This aloneness was necessary to the fulfilment of God’s purpose, for in the very nature of things none other could have a part in the carrying through of the essential saving activity of God in Jesus.
Matthew gives a picture that he wants to build up. It is a picture of Jesus’ triumph and compassion in the face of the failure of those whom He loved. Matthew focusses in on the new covenant against a dark background of betrayal and failure. He is bringing out that the light is shining amid the darkness of man’s failure and ignorance.
This would not be the first Passover that they had celebrated together, for we must remember that Jesus and His disciples would probably have celebrated several Passovers together in the previous two or three years. This was not their first time together in Jerusalem. They would therefore feel that they were very much aware of how the feast would go, in the same way as it always had.
We may surmise how each of these previous feasts would have gone, following the normal Passover ritual. After Jesus had blessed God and they had drunk the first cup of wine mingled with water, they would partake of the bitter herbs dipped in salt. At this point Jesus, as the leading figure, taking the father’s role, might well say something about the bitterness of the afflictions that Israel had suffered in Egypt. Then after a second cup of wine He would take bread, break it, bless God and hand it to His disciples, reminding them of how the bread was unleavened because of the haste with which the children of Israel had left Egypt, and that it was the bread of affliction (Deuteronomy 16.3).’ (This was the pattern in later centuries). All of them would feel themselves as once again participating in that deliverance, and would see it as a reminder of the great deliverance yet to come. They would feel this even more because they believed that somehow this promised deliverance was at some stage to be connected with Jesus.
The bread having been eaten, along with bitter herbs and other vegetables, all would partake of the Passover lamb whose blood had been offered in the Temple and poured out on the altar, and this would immediately be followed by Jesus again blessing God and then, after giving thanks, offering the third cup of wine, ‘the cup of blessing’, mingled with water. An explanation would at some stage be given of the significance of the Passover lamb. Jesus would have pointed out at this stage that the blood of the lamb had been given so that the firstborn sons of Israel might be redeemed from the avenging angel, and that that blood had been poured on the lintel and the doorposts as a sign of their trust in the promises of God, that is of His covenant with them, made with Moses on the basis of His covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3.7-22), in which they were trusting.
This would shortly probably be followed by a fourth cup of wine and the singing of the Hallel (Psalms 115-118), at which point the feast would be over.
But at this Passover a totally new picture was to be drawn by Jesus, and it takes little imagination to realize the shock that it must have been to the disciples when the time-honored feast was suddenly taken over by Jesus and portrayed as pointing to something wholly different. They must indeed have wondered what was happening. Had it been anyone but Jesus they would have been horrified and might well have protested. It was a sign of their complete confidence in Him that they did not do so. Had the Chief Priests known about it they would certainly have considered their charges of blasphemy totally justified, for Jesus openly took the emphasis away from God’s activity in deliverance and focused it on Himself and His own act of deliverance. The general pattern was being followed, but its significance was being completely altered.
• The significance of the dipping and consumption of the bitter herbs now rather pointed to the fact of the bitterness of a betrayal of a different kind, the betrayal of Jesus, the representative of Israel (see 2.15) by one of His Apostles. ‘He who has dipped his hand into the dish with Me will betray Me’.
• The bread no longer pointed to the afflictions of Israel, but to the affliction which was to be heaped on Jesus, from which His disciples and all who believed because of their preaching would benefit. ‘This is my body.’
• The Passover lamb with its shed blood was combined with the cup of blessing, and Jesus declared over the cup (depicting the cup of suffering - 20.22; 26.39), ‘this is My blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’.
• Matthew then connects the promise of the certainly of the coming of the Kingly Rule of His Father with the Hallel (verses 29-30).
The Hallel includes many ideas, including the following:
• It speaks of God being their help and their shield (Psalm 115.9-11), and the One Who will multiply blessing to His people from Heaven (Psalm 115.12-15;), so that they will bless the Lord (Psalm 115.18).
• It speaks of the One Who will deliver them from death to life even when they are greatly afflicted (Psalm 116.8-10), so that they will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord (Psalm 116.13).
• Thus, they will offer to Him the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord (Psalm 116.17), praising Him for His covenant love towards them (Psalm 117.2), for He is their strength and their song, and has also become their deliverance (Psalm 118.14).
• The gates of righteousness will be opened to them for them to enter in (Psalm 118.19), because He is their salvation (Psalm 118.21), and this because the stone which the builders rejected has become the headstone of the corner (Psalm 118.22).
• Thus ‘blessed is the One Who comes in the name of the Lord’ (Psalm 118.26;).
Here are all the elements of the ‘drinking of the fruit of the vine (depicting rejoicing and celebration) in the Kingdom of His Father’. As Jesus said, ‘I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you within My Father’s Kingly Rule’, for then salvation will have been accomplished and they will have received life out of death.
20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve.
The evening introduced the new day of the 15th of Nisan, the time for partaking in the Passover (the Jewish day began in the evening). At this meal it was specifically required that they ‘recline’, that is, lay on cushions at the tables so as to partake of the meal. The reclining indicated the joy and certainty of the meal and its significance. Up to this point therefore the meal follows the normal pattern. The reclining was intended to indicate the restfulness of the hearts of the participants because of their confidence in God and His certain deliverance.
On the tables would be dishes containing unleavened bread, vegetables, sauces and bitter herbs. The unleavened bread symbolised both the need for the removal of corruption (all leaven was to be removed from their houses) and the haste with which the original participants expected to have to leave (no time to leaven the bread). The bitter herbs symbolized the bitterness of life that had been theirs and the afflictions that they had endured. There would also be enough wine for the passing around of four cups.
It is interesting that Jesus has restricted those at the meal to the twelve. It makes it very clear that He has something very special to say to them
21 And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
And it was during this meal that Jesus dropped His first bombshell, declaring that one of those present was about to betray Him, that is, was about to ‘deliver’ Him up. This must have occurred at some time after the pronouncing of the initial blessing. To Judas, who probably thought that he had covered his tracks well, this must have come like a bolt of lightning. He must have frozen in his tracks. How did Jesus know? And to all the disciples, who probably thought of betrayal in a lesser way, it must have struck home at their consciences. They knew that they were always letting Him down.
22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”
The seriousness with which Jesus had spoken struck home to all present except one, and they were all deeply sorry at the thought. Such was their awareness of their own weakness that each thought it just possible that it might be himself, probably not in the full sense of which it was true of Judas, but in the sense of in some way letting Jesus down at a moment of crisis. This possibly brings out how tense they were all feeling. They were doubtful and yet self-confident, for they knew something of themselves and yet knew also that they loved Him.
23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.
In the place where normally mention would be made of Israel’s betrayal by Egypt Jesus then replied that the one who would betray Him would be one of those who was dipping his hand in the dish with Him. This dish probably referred to the dishes of bitter herbs dipped in salted water which in typical Jewish fashion were shared. All would be dipping in it together. It was a poignant reminder to Judas of the enormity of his betrayal (the shared dipping indicated unity and friendship), while simply indicating to the remainder that the betrayer was one who was present at the meal. The activity He described, which indicated friendship and fellowship, would come home poignantly to the one to whom He was hinting, without being obvious to all (we have no indication at any stage that any of them recognized that He meant Judas). It was, however, an indication of the unforgivable deceit of the person in question. In Middle Eastern eyes to eat from the same dish was an expression of loyalty and friendship. It was not considered honorable to do it with someone towards whom there was an intention to act with hostile intent. Thus, it heightened the level of betrayal.
24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
Jesus expresses His confidence that what is to happen is what has already been foretold and purposed by God. He knows that in the Scriptures His destiny is clearly laid down, and therefore that what is to happen could not be otherwise. Thus, by his betrayal Judas will unwittingly be carrying out the will of God. For when the Son of Man (Jesus) goes to His death, just as ‘it is written’ in the Scriptures and therefore must inevitably be, it will be because God’s purposes are being accomplished. It will be because what is written in the Scriptures is simply coming about. It is not Judas who has thought of it. His is just the evil hand that brings it about through his own sinfulness and treachery. It is God Who has purposed it, and in it God’s purposes are coming about through the activities of evil men. ‘As it is written.’ We note once again Jesus full confidence in the truth of the Scriptures, and His confidence that His life is bringing what is written in them to its climax.
Nevertheless, that does not excuse the perpetrator of the crime. What he does, he does willingly. And therefore, he should note the consequences. Woe will come on the one through whom the Son of Man is betrayed, indeed such woe that it was good for that man if he had never been born. It is a final appeal and warning to Judas.
There is here a solemn warning for us all. As God works out His purposes in history, which purposes sweep onwards in the fulfilling of His good pleasure, we too work out our purposes in our own small part of history, and we too are accountable for every one of them.
25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.”
At His words Judas the Betrayer looked at him, being no doubt not a little disturbed, and challenged Him saying, ‘Rabbi, is it I?’ And Jesus replied, ‘It is you who have said it.’ It was an indirect positive affirmation turning the question back on the questioner. He knew it because he was guilty! Now Judas could have no doubt that Jesus knew what was in his heart. But his heart was now hardened and he could not draw back. His question, as with the other disciples, is put in a form that demonstrated that he expected a negative answer. How could he do otherwise in a crowded room? But perhaps up to this point he had still hoped that he was undetected. Now, however, he knew differently.
It is noteworthy that in Matthew’s Gospel Judas is the only one who is depicted as addressing Jesus as ‘Rabbi’. From that moment Judas was doomed, for instead of breaking down in repentance he hardened his heart, and his opportunity for repentance had slipped away.
We are so used to the Lord’s Supper that this moment can almost pass us by unmoved. It was, however, as sensational as anything within the career of Jesus. He had made many remarkable claims, as we have seen, but none more remarkable than this. For Jesus was here taking over the most precious ceremony known to the Jews, a ceremony instituted by God, centered on God and pointing to God’s great deliverance, which had been carried on year after year in the same way, and turning it into a remembrance of Himself and a portrayal of the salvation that would be wrought through Him. If Jesus had not been of unique heavenly status this would indeed have been blasphemy of the most supreme kind. The institution of the Lord’s Supper was the clearest of indications that Jesus saw Himself as on the divine side of reality.
Moreover, central to it was the fact of His own death as a sacrifice, sealing the new covenant in His blood, in the same way as Moses had sealed the old covenant in blood so long before (Exodus 24). And it was, among other things a covenant that provided for the forgiveness and removal of sins. Here then the full significance of His death is being portrayed. He will save His people from their sins (1.21). Whatever else we read into the passage this must not be overlooked. It is central to Jesus’ thinking, and to Matthew’s purpose in writing the Gospel. And participation in the Lord’s Supper involves recognition that it is through Him and His death on our behalf that we receive the forgiveness of our sins.
The connection of the giving of the Lord’s Supper with the Passover is very relevant. Both were feasts of deliverance, and both would be continually repeated in remembrance of that deliverance. At the first Passover the deliverance was yet to take place. In all later Passovers the participants looked back to the first Passover and its already accomplished deliverance, and in spirit became a part of that deliverance. The first Passover consisted of a meal in which the participants by eating it were closely involved in God’s external activity. It was the earnest (guarantee) of their deliverance. And they were aware that what they were eating had been offered as a substitute for their firstborn sons. God had provided a ransom, and all were participating in it. Later participants looked back to in remembrance and ‘participation by faith’, and they too would remember that they had had to ransom their firstborn sons (Exodus 13.13; 34.20; Numbers 18.15-16).
A similar situation applies to the Lord’s Supper. This initial institution has in mind the events that will occur on that night and in the following day, while all later participation will look back to that night and its accomplished deliverance. In the original institution those who participated were being called on to recognize in it an ‘earnest’ (guarantee and sample) of the offering of Jesus as an offering and sacrifice. It portrayed the guarantee of their future salvation and deliverance. And they would themselves also to some extent share in the fall out from Jesus’ afflictions. But those who participated in the future would ‘participate’ in it by faith, looking back to the one sacrifice for sin forever as it was offered at the cross, and responding to it in their hearts by faith. They would be proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes again (1 Corinthians 11.26).
There is no question about the fact that all the Gospel writers see Jesus as having taken over the Passover symbolism, making it applicable to what He was about to do. Passover retires into the background, because a greater deliverance has taken over. The bread was no longer to be the bread of the affliction of the people, symbolic of the bread eaten by the original people so long before as they waited for deliverance from all their afflictions, but was to be the bread of the affliction of this One Who represented the people, God’s Son (2.15), and indicative of all the afflictions that He bore for them in His body on the cross. It was to speak of His brokenness on that cross. The Passover lamb was replaced by the One Who was being offered up on the cross, shedding His blood for the forgiveness of sins, and offering to feed His people as they came to Him and believed on Him (John 6.35; 1 Corinthians 5.7).
Behind this new portrayal, the New Testament sees several strands:
• 1). He is the perfect Passover sacrifice, offered on behalf of His people as a ransom on their behalf (20.28; John 1.29; 1 Corinthians 5.7), in which they participate by eating the bread and drinking the wine, just as Israel of old participated in the old deliverance, when they ate of the feast, looking back to the time when their firstborn were redeemed from the activity of the Angel of Death through the shedding of the blood of the lamb at the original Passover, and its application to their houses, and all that as a first fruit of their own deliverance from Egypt. Thus, through the centuries they had participated in all that was happening by eating the Passover lamb and the accompanying unleavened bread, and inevitably drinking wine. They had seen themselves as symbolically and yet genuinely taking part in the greater activity of God. Now in the Lord’s Supper His new people would be doing the same, protected under His blood, and receiving life from Him.
• 2). He is the guilt offering offered for the forgiveness of sins (Isaiah 53.10; 1 Corinthians 11.26).
• 3). Through it He is offering participation in His body and blood as they eat and drink of Him by coming to Him and believing on Him (John 6.33-58). John 6.35 is the key verse, which explains what ‘eating and drinking’ means. It means continually coming and continually believing so that they never hunger or thirst again. Connected with this was the idea of participating in the Messianic Banquet which would indicate the arrival of His Kingly Rule. And this would shortly come into fulfilment as they ate and drank with Him under His Kingly Rule, and He ‘ate and drank’ with them (Acts 10.41), something which would follow His death, resurrection and enthronement (28.18). All this in anticipation of one day sharing it with Him in the everlasting Kingdom.
• 4). It is to be a table of fellowship, where they have fellowship one with another, and especially together with their Lord with Whom they have been made one by being united in His body (1 Corinthians 10.16-17).
• 5). It represents the covenant meal at which the new covenant which was sealed by the offering of His blood is continually confirmed by His people in the most solemn way (26.28; Exodus 24).
The aspects of these which are especially brought out in Matthew’s description of the feast are the breaking of Jesus’ body and the shedding of Jesus blood as the blood of the covenant, together with an indication of their joint participation with Him in the heavenly banquet, in which they will share (on earth) once His Kingly Rule is revealed in power after His resurrection.
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
Before launching into what lies behind this symbolic gesture we should perhaps just pause for a moment in awe at these words. For centuries the Jews had broken the bread at Passover looking back to the unleavened bread eaten on the day of deliverance from the angel of death. It had occurred unchanged for year after year, and century after century. And that is what the disciples were again expecting here. But to their utter astonishment Jesus picked up the bread, broke it and instead of referring to the past said, ‘This is My body.’ It was an awe-inspiring moment. It was a clear indication that the past was behind and that a new future was beginning, and that it was a future that was associated with His death. It was an emphasis on the fact that this was a crisis moment in sacred history when everything was changing. (It was even further emphasized when He said of the cup, ‘This is My blood --’).
We note from this ceremony that at least three things were queried and explained during the ceremony, the bitter herbs, the unleavened bread and the Passover lamb. Thus we find that Matthew replaces the explanation concerning the bitter herbs with the bitterness of Judas’ treachery, referred to while the bitter herbs are being dipped and eaten (verse 23); replaces the explanation of the unleavened bread, which is the ‘bread of affliction’ (Deuteronomy 16.3), with the explanation of the broken bread which represents Jesus’ body (verse 24); and replaces explanation of the sacrificial lamb with the explanation of the cup which represents the blood of the covenant (verse 25). All three are preparatory to the coming of the Kingly Rule of His Father (verse 26). By all this Matthew indicates that the old has been replaced by the new.
It is also significant that all three of these aspects of the meal also connect with death. Death is to be the end of Judas’ treachery (verse 4). The eating of bread, when it is symbolic of the ‘eating’ of people (‘this is My body’), is in Psalm 14.4; 53.4 indicative of death (‘they eat up My people like they eat bread’). Compare also for a similar idea Micah 3.3 and Isaiah 49.26 in terms of ‘eating flesh’.
Furthermore, the drinking of the wine described in terms of His blood is indicative of the ‘drinking of blood’, which is descriptive of death in Isaiah 49.26 (‘they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine’, i.e. they will kill one another) and Zechariah 9.15 (‘they will drink their blood like wine’). Compare also 2 Samuel 23 17 (‘shall I drink the blood of men who went in jeopardy of their lives?’). Thus, to eat of His body and to drink of His blood is to contribute towards, and benefit by, His death, something that we find previously indicated in John 6.51-58. It is clear then that ‘eating bread’ where it represents a human being, and ‘partaking in/drinking blood’, signifies participating in someone’s death.
Thus when at some point before the drinking of the third cup Jesus took the bread and broke it, and declared, ‘Take and eat. This is My body’ (Matthew leaves ‘which is broken for you’ to be assumed from Jesus’ actions. He is seeking to give the words their full impact), Jesus no doubt intended them at this point to remember His words in verse 2 in the light of the Old Testament background, and to remember John 6.51-58 which followed the feeding of the five thousand. Just as they ate this bread at this Passover, bread which represented His body, so were they to participate in Him and in His coming death by constantly ‘eating and drinking’ of Him, that is, by constantly coming to Him and believing on Him (John 6.35). Furthermore, as we have seen, all knew that the bread at the Passover was ‘the bread of affliction’ (Deuteronomy 16.3). Thus later, even if not at this moment, they would recognize its deeper significance as signifying what He would endure for them on the cross, and that as something of which they must partake by continually ‘eating His flesh’ (John 6.53), that is, by continually ‘coming to Him’ (John 6.35).
With these ideas in mind, and in view of the sacrificial content of the next verse, it should have been quite clear to the disciples precisely what Jesus was indicating by their ‘eating His body’. By eating the bread, they were indicating their need to partake of the benefits of His death, and through it to enjoy eternal life.
But a further point must be borne in mind here. To partake of His body meant that His body was mingled with their bodies. They became united with His body. And that this significance was seen comes out later. ‘The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? We who are many are one bread, one body, for we all partake of the one bread’ (1 Corinthians 10.16-17). And from this came the recognition that ‘we are members of His body’. ‘For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ, for in (by) one Spirit where we all submerged into one body --- and were all made to drink of one Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 12.12-13). By partaking of the bread with genuine faith we enter the work of the Holy Spirit (3.11) and are by Him made one with Christ. Thus, we become one body with His body, a position continually symbolized by partaking of the bread. But He in His body has received all authority in Heaven and earth (28.18), and the remarkable thing is that we participate with Him even in that (Ephesians 1.19-2.6). That being so, because of His resurrection, all who are His have entered within the Kingly Rule of His Father, in which they are one with Christ, along with Him. In a very real sense the Kingly Rule of Heaven has come and is present in His body, which consists of Him and all His members. Thus, wherever His body is, there is His Father’s Kingly Rule, and all men are called on to become members of that body and thus enter under His Kingly Rule (Colossians 1.13).
So, Jesus is telling us that by receiving the bread we both acknowledge and claim our participation in His death and its benefits, and at the same time express our oneness with Him and each other, and our claim to a part in the Kingly Rule of God.
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus then took the cup. It was the normal custom at Passover for each participant to have his own cup, but here Jesus shares His cup with His disciples. The change was of deep significance. It was necessary that they all participate of His cup (compare 20.23), for it was His blood that was shed to establish the new covenant. It stressed that only in Him was there forgiveness and life.
‘He gave thanks.’ In view of what He knew about the significance of that cup which He would have to drink this was a sign of His ultimate faith in His Father. He was able to give thanks because He knew that all that was to happen was in His Father’s will, and because He was giving thanks on behalf of them all. And He did it with full awareness of the significance of the cup for Him, as He now declares. For what this cup symbolized was what He would later seek to withdraw from as the horror of it struck home to His soul (26.39, 42).
‘Drink you all of it.’ All His disciples were being called on to participate to the full in what He was doing for them. If they would enjoy ‘the cup of salvation’ (Psalm 116.13, part of the Hallel) they must do so by partaking of the benefits of His death as symbolised by that cup. All must drink of it.
‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.’ The phrase ‘blood of the covenant’ is found in Exodus 24.8 where it was closely connected with bloodshed in sacrifices, and indicated the blood that had been shed and applied in order to ensure atonement (by whole burnt offerings and peace offerings). It was intended to seal the covenant and was applied to the people to bind them into that covenant. But here instead of the blood being sprinkled on them, they would partake of it symbolically through partaking of the wine. This was to bring home to them how much they must become involved with His death (Galatians 2.20, ‘I have been crucified with Christ’). They must ‘drink His blood’, that is take on themselves responsibility for His death because He was dying for them. So, by it they were acknowledging their responsibility for His death.
But Jesus was also here indicating that His blood was sealing a new covenant, a better covenant, although connected with the old. This new covenant is mentioned in Jeremiah 31.31-34 and involved among other things is the imparting of righteousness to them through a spiritual transformation of their lives and through the guarantee of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31.31-34; Hebrews 8.8-13), something which the old covenant had been unable to do. The same idea is found in Ezekiel 16.8, again connected with forgiveness (verse 63). In neither case, however, is it connected with a sacrifice, for it was still referring forward to the future.
The pouring out of blood in a covenant necessarily indicates a new, renewed covenant, and while we do not fully know what the shedding of blood to seal a covenant specifically indicated, it certainly indicated the life and death importance of the covenant. So to be a part of that covenant was a sacred thing. And as all offerings and sacrifices offered to God contained within them the idea of atonement in one way or another, that would also be included, and is inherent in the reference to the forgiveness of sins.
Thus by drinking of the wine believers declare their responsibility for His death, see themselves as dying with Him (Galatians 2.20; Romans 6.4; His shed blood being as it were mingled with their blood - 1 Corinthians 10.16), claim their participation in the benefits that result from His death, and confirm themselves as part of the covenant which demands obedience to His will. They thus lay claim to participation in the eternal life being offered to men by Him.
29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Here we have the fourth aspect of Jesus’ words that is emphasized by Matthew in his summary of the Last Supper. First there was the betrayal, then the broken body, then the poured out blood, and now He guarantees through it the establishment of His Father’s Kingdom. So, He now declares that this wine that He is drinking at the Passover will be the last wine that He will drink before the Kingly Rule of His Father is established and He is able to drink it new with them within that Kingly Rule.
30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
The celebration coming towards its end it closes as usual with the Hallel (Psalms 115-118), after which they leave the city proper and return to the Mount of Olives (but still remaining within the bounds allowed during the Passover. The western slopes of the Mount of Olives would be within those bounds, Bethany itself was outside them). And thus in a few short verses Matthew has brought out the main significance of the meal. As so often he was not concerned about the detail, but with the main message. And he signals the close of the meal by speaking of the singing of the Hallel.
