Passion Week: April 2, AD 33

April 2nd, 2026
by Lance Waldie

Matthew 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.”

On Thursday evening Nisan 14 (April 2, AD 33), the day before Jesus was crucified, He and His disciples celebrated the Passover with a feast that commemorated Israel’s exodus from Egypt 1,500 years prior. The bread they ate in v. 22 was Jesus’ body, and the cup was His blood—the blood of the new covenant which made the old covenant obsolete. In the OT blood ratified a covenant made between two people. God did this with Noah (Gen. 8:20), Abraham (Gen. 15:9-10), and with Moses (Ex. 24:8). When God brought reconciliation between Himself and man He always did so through the shedding of blood, for “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22). God ordained that animals, instead of men, had to not only be killed, but their blood had to be shed. Leviticus 17:14 says, “The life of all flesh is in its blood.” So, in order for a life to be truly sacrificed, and for sin to be atoned for, its blood had to be spilled.

Now when Jesus took the bread and said, “This is my body” he clearly was not speaking literally, no more so than when He said, “I am the vine” (John 15:5) or “I am the door” (John 10:7, 9). John reports that Jesus was misunderstood earlier in His ministry and ridiculed greatly when He spoke of His flesh as real food and His blood as real drink (John 6:55-56). But even Jesus clarified that these words were spirit, not literal (John 6:63). So, in Mark 14:22 the reader must not mistake Jesus’ words as literal. Jesus, in equating bread with His body and wine with His blood, was instructing the disciples to partake of His death through memorial (cf. 1 Cor. 11:24-25). In the same way that the unleavened bread signified leaving evil influences behind in Egypt during the first Passover, and in the same way that the red wine symbolized the shedding of the lamb’s blood painted on the doorposts so that the death angel would “pass over” them (Ex. 12:13), so too are the bread and wine in the ordinance of the Lord’s supper only symbolic of Christ’s body and blood which were given as a once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of mankind.

Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant with the bread and wine—a covenant ratified in His blood. The old covenant required the blood of animals, but that was an inferior covenant. Now the perfect Lamb, Jesus Christ, was to shed His blood one time for all people. Because of His atoning and perfect sacrifice Jesus is now the Great High Priest who offered one sacrifice on behalf of all—Himself. His blood was “poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (v. 28).

In v. 29 Jesus knew that He would be resurrected and drink this cup again with His disciples. From that day forward the Passover celebration ceased, and the Lord’s Supper replaced it. Today it serves as a reminder, not only of Christ’s perfect sacrifice for sins but as a reminder that He will return and eat it again at the marriage supper of the Lamb (cf. Rev. 19:7-9).

Food For thought
What we learn from the Lord’s Supper (aka, Eucharist, Communion) is that Jesus celebrated Israel’s Passover as any good Jew does. After all, Christ is our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7); He has the power to “pass over” our sins since He has forgiven those who trust in Him. Christians today celebrate the Lord’s Supper like Jesus celebrated the Passover—looking backwards to a time of deliverance from bondage. We thus eat the Supper and look back at Christ’s death which delivered us from the bondage of sin. But we also eat it looking forward to His return!