And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
~ Luke 22:19-20
In this text, Jesus is celebrating Passover with His disciples. It’s a sad and intense moment for all of them, especially the Lord Himself. He knows He’s going to suffer, but He does something pretty interesting that all of us can learn from.
In verse 19, it says that when He took the bread, He “gave thanks”. Jesus, God incarnate, knowing that He was about to endure an excruciating death, gave thanks. While He likely gave thanks for the bread itself, He probably gave thanks for His friends who stuck by Him and for the opportunity to do what He came to do. Jesus knew that He was going to suffer, but He displayed a heart of thankfulness despite His agony.
We also learn that the bread is a representation of His body, which was GIVEN for us. To give means that He freely did all of this on His own accord. Salvation is a free gift. He calls Himself the Bread of Life in John 6:35; the bread was broken to symbolize the breaking of His own body on the cross. Every stripe, every beating, every scourge...it was all done for our salvation.
The cup was also a symbol; it represented the blood that was shed. In Hebrews 9:22, the writer reminds us that without the shedding of blood, our sins cannot be forgiven. This “rule” dates all the way back to the Old Testament, where God required the shedding of blood in order for Israel to be forgiven of their sins. Christ was the ultimate sacrifice, so the slaughtering of lambs and goats is no longer required. The shedding of His own blood was enough to satisfy Almighty God. He stripped Himself of all signs of royalty, humbled Himself as an ordinary man, and submitted Himself to the Father’s plan to save all of mankind. All of this was done for us so that we would have eternal life (John 3:16).
Have you accepted God’s gift of salvation? Are you born-again?
Think About It: How can you be thankful in a present difficult circumstance?
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