Tag: take and eat
Day 4–The Meal of Thanksgiving
Scripture reading for April 16: Matthew 26:26-29 “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat’ this is My body.” And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for man for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.””
Today’s Scripture gives an account of the ‘Last Supper’ Jesus had with His disciples before His crucifixion. The church has called the celebration of this meal the “Eucharist”, which is translated “Thanksgiving” because Jesus thanked God for the bread and the cup before He offered it to His disciples.
Jesus was demonstrating as a their Lord the heart of thanksgiving that He had for doing the will of His Father. He would give His own body to be beaten, mutilated, and nailed to a rough cross. He did this willingly and thankfully, knowing by faith that this alone would bring deliverance from death to those who would believe. He would shed His own blood as the final sacrifice for those sinners who would repent and trust in the New Covenant that He was soon to ratify. His blood was for the forgiveness of sins. He thanked God the Father for the Gift of the bread, representing His body, and the cup, representing His blood. He gave it to His disciples to take and eat.
His final statement was to tell His disciples that He would not drink this fruit of the vine until that day that He would drink it with them in the resurrection glory of Father’s kingdom. This provided vision for a prophetic pronouncement of Christ’s return in glory for His people. The promise is affirmed for believers each time we celebrate the ‘Eucharist’!
Prayer: Father, as a first responder, help me to thankfully offer my own body and if necessary, my life for doing Your will. Like Jesus, I willfully surrender to Your will and await the promise of Your return and the joy of eating this meal with You in Your glory. Amen.
This is My Body!
Scripture reading for March 9th: Mark 14:22-52, Psalms 52:1-9, Proverbs 11:1-3
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take it; this is My body.” (Mark 14:22)
Jesus and His disciples were eating the Passover meal together. Judas had already betrayed Him and He had told them all that one of them had done this. They were saddened and one by one asked if it was them. Jesus, in Matthew, actually identified Judas as the one. (Matthew 26:25) Jesus knew exactly what had happened and would happen. He had a plan that the Father had revealed to Him and went about laying out that plan so that His followers would remember Him.
In the breaking of the bread, Jesus was giving the disciples a visual picture of His own body being broken for them. He first took the bread from the table, then He gave thanks to God for the bread, then He gave it to the disciples with this simple instruction: “Take it; this is My body.” This pattern of taking, thanking, breaking and giving, had been used in the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000 as well. (Mark 6:41, Mark 8:6) We have nothing that we have that is not given to us by God. We must take it willingly for ourselves. The bread was broken apart and distributed as Christ was Himself broken to be distributed to all who would believe. This bread of His Body must be taken with thanksgiving because of the sacrifice that it represented. It is a gift from God to all His children to nourish them for eternal life!
The final act was eating or feeding on the bread. Bread is the staff of life, and is used in almost every culture as a basic food. Jesus had declared, “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35) “I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51) When we eat this bread, we join the disciples of Jesus in the true Passover meal! We are nourished with the Living Bread unto eternal life! As we eat, we desire to be like Him!