From Passover to the Lord’s Supper (Part 2)
Matthew 26:26-30
The first Sunday of every month at our church we observe the Lord’s Supper or Communion. We break the bread and we pass the cup as together we share this meal focused on Christ and the cross. I usually spend some time explaining Communion’s importance and meaning. But today, in our journey through Matthew, we will look specifically at how Jesus instituted it at His last Passover supper. I am delighted for us to take some extended time this morning to reflect and learn about this important part of our worship.
Remember that in Matthew 26 we are reading about Jesus’ final hours with His disciples. Our Lord has announced beforehand to His disciples that He “will be delivered up to be crucified” (Matt. 26:2) at the Passover feast. We saw how the chief priests and elders conspired against Jesus to arrest Him secretly and kill Him (Matt. 26:3-5). Then Matthew contrasted the humble, loving anointing by Mary (Matt. 26:6-13) with the treachery of Judas (Matt. 26:14-16).
I. Jesus Celebrates the Last Passover (Matt. 26:17-25) (From Part 1)
Last time we looked at the last Passover. We have seen how Jesus exercised control over everything that was occurring to Him at the Passover. He sovereignly directed His disciples to prepare the meal (Matt. 26:17-20). And He already had released Judas to betray Him (Matt. 26:21-25). When our Lord instituted His supper of remembrance to His disciples, He was already observing an important feast from God with them. The Passover commemorated the exodus of the nation of Israel from their bondage in Egypt and their deliverance from the final plague. God had commanded that, on that night, they were to slay a lamb and smear its blood on the door posts of their home. When the angel of the Lord passed through Egypt and killed the first-born of each Egyptian household, the Lord would see that blood and ‘pass-over’ their homes. The paschal lamb was the central focus of the Passover.
But at the conclusion of Jesus’ final Passover, our Lord Himself becomes the central focus of the Last Supper. Jesus took the bread and the cup and imbued them with fresh meaning as symbols of His death for our sins. The Lord’s Supper becomes a lasting ordinance for the church to commemorate Christ’s suffering and death for us. So in our passage today, we see …
II. Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 26:26-30)
In Matthew 26:26 we see the significance of …
A. The Bread of the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 26:26)
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”” (Matt. 26:26).
As Jews, the disciples had been observing the Passover feast all their lives. They were familiar with all the elements of that meal—the lamb, the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, the cups of wine. They grew up being taught the significance of all these things. But now, Jesus was doing something unprecedented! He was turning their attention away from the lamb on the table, and was presenting Himself to them instead as the Lamb they should feast on.[1]
Jesus invited them with a command, “Take, eat.” Jesus could have just broken the bread in front of His disciples and showed them the cup. But He did more than that. He said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” When we observe the Lord’s Supper together, we receive and eat a piece of bread. The bread is a symbol of our Lord’s body. It is real physical bread, not some kind of magical bread that becomes the body of Christ. When we take and eat this physical bread, it reminds us of Christ’s incarnation, that Jesus Christ came to us in a real physical body of flesh and blood. The Apostle John wrote in his first epistle about the coming of Christ,
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life– 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us– 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1-3).
John is saying that he and the disciples saw and touched Jesus. The Lord’s body was not an apparition or an illusion. Christ came in an actual physical body. In that body, Jesus suffered being beaten, abused, and nailed to a cross. By the way, that word “fellowship” that John says we have with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3) is the same word “communion” that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 10 to describe the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper. Paul writes,
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. (1 Cor. 10:16-17).
When we take and eat this symbol together, we do it because we are in communion, in fellowship with Christ. In essence, we are saying, “Lord, I fully receive the sacrifice You made in Your body on the cross in my place!”
Bread doesn’t do anybody any good as long as it’s just sitting on the plate. This is why we take and eat it. Because in just as real a way as the physical bread enters our body and is united to us, by faith Christ has come into our lives and we are united to Him. Speaking about believing in Him, Jesus said,
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. … 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” (John 6:51,57).
Bread gives life to others by giving of itself. Jesus is the bread of life who gave Himself for us so that we might live through Him. When we take and eat the bread we are expressing our faith in Christ, saying that we have received Him and we have life because He gave His life for us. It is a reminder of our union with Christ in His death and resurrection (Romans 6:5-8).
This is the significance of the bread. Next, we see the significance of …
B. The Cup of the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 26:27-28)
Matthew 26:27-28 says,
27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matt. 26:27-28).
The cup is a symbol of Christ’s blood. It represents His very lifeblood poured out for us on the cross as the atonement for our sins. When we drink this cup together, we are saying, “Lord, I identify myself with Your blood, shed at the cross on my behalf for my sins. I affirm that it is by Your blood alone that I am washed clean of my sins.” Our eating the bread and drinking the cup are outward expressions of our faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Again, in John 6, Jesus says this about believing in Him,
54 “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” (John 6:54-56).
Earlier in that same teaching in John 6, Jesus also spoke about eternal life saying, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40). To eat His body and drink His blood means to see the Son and believe in Him. Our eating and drinking at the Lord’s Supper is the outward expression of the inward faith in the blood of Christ that saves us.
An obvious application of this principle is that only those who have inward faith in Christ should partake in the outward expression of eating the bread and drinking the cup at the Lord’s table. If you have not yet put your faith in Christ, fully trusting in His death in your place for the forgiveness of your sins, then the Lord’s supper will mean nothing to you. Even worse, if you presume to take it without faith in Christ, you will be eating and drinking condemnation on yourself (1 Cor. 11:29). You will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:27). It’s one or the other. Either you are judged for your sins or Christ is judged for your sins in your place. Why not repent and believe now? Come to Jesus today, receive forgiveness for your sins and the gift of eternal life.
Jesus says in Matthew 26:28, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” The old covenant was established with Israel after the exodus from Egypt through the giving of the commandments of the law. After Moses had read the book of the covenant, the Law, to the people, he ratified the old covenant by sprinkling blood upon people. Exodus 24:8 says, “And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.”” The old covenant was conditioned on the people’s obedience to the law. But the people couldn’t keep the law, and they repeatedly broke the covenant. The blood of animals had to continually be offered to atone for their violation of the covenant.
But God promised through His prophets that He would establish a new covenant. Jeremiah 31 says,
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah– 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer. 31:31-34).
At this Passover, Jesus enacts the new covenant with His own blood. Unlike the old covenant, the new covenant does not depend on our ability to keep the law. Rather, it depends on God graciously writing His law in our minds and on our hearts. We will know the Lord in a personal relationship. Our iniquity is forgiven and our sins are no longer remembered against us.
And this new covenant has been brought about for us through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross! Just as the old covenant was established through the sprinkling of the blood of a sacrifice (Exodus 24:8), Jesus’ blood is the blood of a new and far better covenant; shed not merely to establish us in a promise to keep the law, but rather for the provision of complete remission of the sins of “many”—that is, for as many as place their faith in Him.
This is the significance of the cup. Next, we see …
C. The Promise of the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 26:29)
In Matthew 26:29, Jesus says, “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” Jesus made it clear that He was about to lay down His life. But He also made it clear that He would not stay in the grave. He would drink with them again in His Father’s kingdom. Each time we drink of the cup in the Lord’s Supper we anticipate the day of Christ’s return and the consummation of His kingdom.
Jesus said then He would “drink it new”. What does He mean by “new”? I believe He is referring to the fullest results of His sacrifice in His Father’s kingdom on the other side of the cross—that the covenant will be new, that the disciples will be new, and that even He Himself will be new. All things will be made new! Christ Himself will be in fellowship with us forever. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes,” (1 Cor. 11:26). At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus anticipated the fullness of His kingdom. So should we.
Finally, look at how Jesus closes this celebration with …
D. Worship at the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 26:30)
Matthew 26:30 says, “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” We will see as we read the rest of Matthew 26 that it is at the Mount of Olives that Jesus will pray in great travail and then be betrayed and arrested. But before they go, they worship by singing a hymn. In the traditional observance of the Passover meal, the Jews sang portions of Psalms 113-118, the Hallel psalms (Hallel means “praise”; Ps. 113:1,9; 115:18; 116:19; 117:1-2). And if that’s what Jesus and His disciples did, imagine what it must have been like to hear the Lord Jesus sing with His disciples such words as these from Psalm 116—just before going to the cross:
1 I love the LORD, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
2 Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
3 The pains of death surrounded me,
And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called upon the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!”
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
7 Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For You have delivered my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before the LORD
In the land of the living.
(Psalm 116:1-9).
Or imagine singing this with Jesus from Psalm 118:
18 The LORD has chastened me severely,
But He has not given me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the LORD.
20 This is the gate of the LORD,
Through which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise You,
For You have answered me,
And have become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This was the LORD’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the LORD has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it. …
28 You are my God, and I will praise You;
You are my God, I will exalt You.
29 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
(Psalm 118:18-24, 28-29).
So with that same attitude of worship, let’s sing a hymn as we prepare to come to the Lord’s table. Let’s remember His body given for us and His blood shed for our sins. Let’s worship because our sins have been forgiven. Let’s give thanks to the Lord.
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[1] Greg Allen, The Crucial Reminder, https://bethanybible.org/2025/11/22/the-crucial-reminder-2/
