Daily Blast - The Book of Matthew: Chapter 26
Scripture
“26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
Reflection
There is a lot crammed into Matthew 26, as we follow Jesus and the disciples in the last days before His death and resurrection (spoiler alert!).
It begins with Jesus telling the disciples what is about to happen when they get to Jerusalem, that He will be arrested and crucified. We then hear that the religious leaders are plotting to kill Jesus. Then Jesus visits friends in Bethany and is anointed with oil. Oil was used for two reasons. Firstly, when someone was given authority for an important role, such as becoming king. Secondly, to anoint a body to prepare it for burial. Jesus told the disciples that this was a beautiful thing that the woman, identified as Mary in other gospels, did for Him. He said that her act of worship would always be remembered, which is true because it is recorded in the Gospel story.
Next Judas went to the chief priests and offered to hand Jesus over to them when there were no crowds around. Why did he do it? He did it for money. He was greedy and sold out the Son of God for thirty pieces of silver!
Jesus tells the disciples to hire a room so that they can prepare it for the Passover meal. This is the centrepiece of the chapter as we see Jesus eating the Last Supper with His closest friends and followers. At the meal, Jesus reveals that Judas is going to betray Him. The part where Jesus “dipped his hand into the bowl” and offered the morsel of food to Judas, was a sign of friendship and reconciliation. Even at this point, Jesus offered Judas a way back, but although he accepted the food, it was with a lack of sincerity and he still went through with his plan to hand Jesus over to the Jewish authorities.
The climax of the chapter is Jesus sharing the bread and wine with His disciples explaining to them that through His death and sacrifice, a new covenant has been made between God and mankind. He explained that the bread represents His body broken and that the wine represents His blood poured out. He tells them that the forgiveness of sins is available and we remember this when we share communion together.
In the last section, we see the story play out just as Jesus predicted. They go to the garden of Gethsemane where they are met later by a crowd led there by Judas. Jesus is arrested and taken before the Sanhedrin where they make false accusations against Him which lead to Jesus being crucified.
Challenge
Read 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26 and compare what the apostle Paul says with the account of the Lord’s Supper in this chapter. Let’s think about our heart’s attitude when we next take communion and reflect on its meaning.