The Presence of Christ at Communion (Matthew 26:26-29).

Class Outline:

Sunday February 8, 2026

 

MAT 26:26-29

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."  27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you;  28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.  29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

 

God puts a ceremonial ritual at the heart of His saving work.  

 

Passover: a remembrance and a participation. The first of the feasts, the Passover was the chief, holy feast that reminded Israel of their deliverance from Egypt, and, through the rites or ceremony of the feast, the people participated in something of a reenactment in a special way.

 

Lord’s Supper: Christ took from the Passover the bread and wine after supper. The Passover was one of the main types of Him. A type being a foreshadow / prefigurement. 

 

1CO 5:7

For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.

 

Christ gave us a new ceremonial ritual at the heart of His saving work. It is also more than a story, though it is that as well. 

 

The Passover remembrance originally had lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread. Each item had meaning and significance and each was eaten.

 

The shock to a Jew of eating flesh and drinking blood: 

 

In the first Passover, the blood was spread on the door, but the cup is His blood drunk. Drinking blood would have been unthinkable to any Jew for whom the consumption of blood was forbidden.

 

The bread: 

 

“This is My body.” 

 

Real presence: bread actually becomes His body (early church; Catholic). 

Real presence: His body alongside the bread (Luther). 

Spiritual presence: HS takes us to heaven to eat (Calvin). 

Symbolic presence: A symbol for remembrance (Zwingli). 

 

The early church fathers who wrote about this simply said that the bread was Christ’s body.

 

Luther: “Why do we not put aside … curiosity and cling simply to the words of Christ, willing to remain in ignorance of what takes place here and content that the real body of Christ is present by virtue of His words? … For my part, if I cannot fathom how the bread is the body of Christ, yet I will take my reason captive to the obedience of Christ [2CO 10:5], and climbing simply to His words, firmly believe not only that the body of Christ is in the bread, but that the bread is the body of Christ.”

 

The definition of mysteries ruins them. You and I revel in Christ being the vine, the seed that dies, the Great Shepherd, the corner stone, and the bread and wine. And out of all these, the bread and wine we eat and drink. They are His way of keeping in touch with us, and we literally touch them. Together, with Him with us in spirit and presence as He was in the pillar of cloud and fire - so now in the bread and the cup.

 

Christ set aside the Passover lamb in favor of bread. 

 

JOH 6:51-58

"I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." 

 

52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" 53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.  54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.  56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.  58 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." 

 

JOH 6:66-71

As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?"  68 Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God." 70 Jesus answered them, "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?"  71 Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.

 

There is more here than just symbolism, though symbolism is included. 

 

The bread: It reveals the importance of Christ’s physical body, and by extension our own.

 

And He took the cup: 

 

Jesus wanted to explain salvation in two ways, with two distributions. The bread tells us what He does in His incarnate person and wine in His atoning work. Bread strengthens the body and wine gladdens the heart. 

 

He gave thanks: 

 

If you are not thankful, just pause for a minute and think of what you have in Christ and who He is who gave it to you and how He did it. You’ll be a thankful person in no time. 

 

All of you: All may drink. 

 

The unbeliever should not. The proud carnal believer should not.

 

Do not fear. If you have issues, flaws, weaknesses, sins recent enough, failings not far off, we are to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Now is the time to forget our condition and behold the one who personally handed His body and blood to us and for us. 

 

This is My blood: 

 

It was repugnant for Jews to drink blood. We have lost any shock they would have felt at His words.

 

Blood contains the life of the sacrificial victim.

 

The NT Scriptures proclaim the triumphant end of every sacrificial system in the one great Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus for the world, for all time.

 

Blood is life. His life was sacrificed as He was judged for our sins, He died to give us life.

 

Life is peace. So satisfied should we be with His gift of life to us that we would need nor covet anything from anyone.

 

Blood of the covenant:

 

A covenant is a commitment of promise and this one is unconditional. It depended on Christ alone, and all who believe upon Him, receive this new committed promise.

 

A covenant is contractual security in the world. It is a vow unbreakable. 

 

Poured out: ISA 53:12

 

He uses “many” refers to all as it does in other texts as most scholars conclude. So “many” is used in ISA 53:12. 

 

The first Passover, blood was poured out for the first born, but Christ’s for all people

 

Forgiveness of sins: 

 

The Lord Jesus wants the forgiveness of sins to have a visible presence in our very hands.

 

Our main barrier with God is sin and so it is with our relationship with people. s. 

 

We must forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead, which in peace with one another, fellowship in our lives and our common work and our common goals and purposes, what lies ahead is wonderful and the achievement together something that we could have never done in isolation. Forgiveness will not change the past, but it will leave it where it should be and open doors that unforgiveness never sees or dreams. 

 

Christ’s clearest message of His death and redemption: 

 

The result is the most comprehensive statement in Matthew’s gospel of the redemptive purpose and achievement of Jesus’ death. And by expressing it in terms of a “covenant,” a relationship between God and His people, Jesus has directed attention to a new community which is to result from His redemptive death.