elements and actions

I like to pause whenever I read the account of The Last Supper and consider that great meal...Jesus final meal before going to the Cross.   Of course it was the Passover dinner and Jesus explained to His disciples that the Passover that recalled the deliverance of the Jews from slavery would be fulfilled with a deliverance for all mankind as a result of the events that were about to unfold.  Jesus used two basic elements of the meal to focus their attention: bread and wine.  I think we often focus too much on these elements and not enough on the actions Jesus said that these elements represent.  Of course we remember that the bread represents the body of Christ and the wine, His blood.  But what stood out to me as I read the story recently was not the nouns but the verbs.  Luke 22:19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you;  do this in remembrance of Me."  Jesus' body was broken just like the bread and given for us.  It's not so much that He is in the bread as He is in the brokenness and the distribution.  Similarly, in Luke 22:20 And in like manner He took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new testament or covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you."  We remember Jesus, not so much as being in the wine as being poured out for us...His lifeblood was shed to pay sin's ransom.  Jesus isn't static...residing in bread and wine.  He is dynamic in the distribution of His body and the pouring out of His life....at Calvary for our redemption, personally when we have accepted this holy meal by faith, daily as He still pours His life into ours, and eternally as He intercedes for us before the Father.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith