Lent 2010, Maundy Thursday

Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Exodus 12:8

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat;this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many." Mark 14:22-24

God instituted both the Old and the New Covenants with memorial meals for His people. In the Old as a lamb was slain, its blood marked atonement for that family, and the flesh was eaten, unleavened bread was served, and four ceremonial cups of wine were drunk during the Passover meal. For the New Covenant, Jesus and His disciples were eating this same feast when Jesus blessed the unleavened bread and the wine and declared that they became His body and blood (and He later became the lamb slain for our sins) and that His followers were to eat this same meal (Eucharist) regularly in the future.

We want Christianity (the New Covenant) to be a matter of mental assent as we argue over theological matters and search the scriptures to back up our points. But God wants it to be part of our being, down to the cellular level. So He has us actually consume the elements that purchased our forgiveness for us that we might grow into little Christs, or Christians.