The First "Lord's Supper"

Let us examine the passages showing the first institution of this ordinance.

Notice, in Luke 22:14, 19-20: “And when the hour was come, he [Jesus] sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. . . . 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.”

Notice, it was “when the hour was come,” that Jesus first introduced the bread and the wine. There was a definite time — a definite hour — when He held this supper, setting us an example.

Notice, too, He commanded them to observe it — “THIS DO.” And why? “In remembrance of me,” Jesus said. It was, then, a MEMORIAL — in memory of His death. He instituted it on this tragic night, the very eve of His death.

In Matthew’s account, we read, “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread” (Matt. 26:26). It was “as they were eating” that He took bread and introduced this sol­emn ordinance we call the Lord’s supper. Eating what? Eating the Passover! (Verse 17, and Luke 22:15.)

Now notice Matthew 26:2. “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”

Jesus knew His time had come. He was our Passover, sacrificed for us (I Cor. 5:7).

“Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?” (Matt. 26:17.)

After sundown (the days began at sundown) Jesus sat down with His twelve disciples in an upper room (Matt. 26:20; Mark 14:15).

And as they were eating the Passover supper (Matt. 26:26), “Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

So we see that it was the night of the final and last Passover supper that Jesus introduced the New Testa­ment “Lord’s supper.” To thoroughly understand the con­nection between the “Lord’s supper” of the New Testament, and the Passover of the Old, let us make a quick examination of the Passover.