Thoughts for the Day

Take, eat this is my body.                               Matthew 26:26

What we remember as ‘the Last Supper’ must have come as quite a shock to the disciples.  After Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his dramatic displays in the temple, his successful rebuttal of every question put to him by the Jewish elders, here they were, the favoured twelve, sharing the Passover meal with Jesus.  Surely things were on the up!  Certainly, matters were reaching a climax, but not in the way they imagined.

What, I wonder, did they make of these words of Jesus?  No doubt it was normal for him to break bread and give thanks, but to share it with these words, “Take, eat, this is my body”?  Luke adds a bit more detail, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  Later it must have been a very powerful reminder to them indeed: a reminder of how they had then deserted him, a reminder of however much they witnessed of his agonising death on the Cross (we know at least John was present), a reminder too of their overwhelming joy at his resurrection when the meaning and purpose of that word ‘given’ at last become clear.

They must also have appreciated the context of that statement, the symbolism of Jesus speaking it at the Passover meal.  The bread was made as the Israelites had been instructed to bake it on that night in Egypt when their release from slavery was finally achieved.  In Deuteronomy it is referred to as the bread of affliction because it symbolised both the suffering of their slavery and their release from it.  ‘This is my body’ said Jesus, not just a symbol of suffering and release, but the means by which our release from the suffering of slavery to sin was achieved.

That’s quite a lot to remember when we take Holy Communion!