Tonight at twilight (sunset) starts the 14th day of the Hebrew month Abib, the first month on the Hebrew calendar (Exodus 12:1). This is when the Lord God commanded all Israel and those who believe in and worship the Lord to keep the Passover meal (Exodus 12:6-8, 14; Leviticus 23:4-5; Deuteronomy 16:1-2). At twilight (sunset) tomorrow night begins the seven day “Feast of Unleavened Bread” (Exodus 12:17-20; Leviticus 23:6-8; Deuteronomy 16:3-4, 8). By Jesus’s time, the two meant the same thing (1).
The Passover, celebrated while Israel was slaves in Egypt, was only held that way once. After that, while at Mount Sinai, the Lord God made arrangements for it to be celebrated differently once they arrived at the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 16:5-8). Jesus would make other significant changes that would further elaborate and update the meaning of the Passover. Some modern congregations have ignored Jesus’s changes, stating that they are celebrating the true Passover and that all other congregations are wrong and thus going to hell.
While reclined at the table, Jesus told them that he had eagerly desired to eat this Passover with them before he suffered (14-15). Jesus had planned this night to be a special beginning since before the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. To this day, Jesus’s disciples celebrate it this way as Jesus said “…whenever we drink it…” (1 Corinthians 11:21), meaning every time we celebrate it, not just on Passover.
After the Passover supper, Jesus took the cup of wine and passed it to his disciples (Matthew 26:27-29, Mark 14:23-25, 1 Corinthians 11:25). He designated the cup the “new covenant in my blood which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”. And added, “Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
The old covenant given through Moses to Israel from that point was lesser, and the new covenant Jesus gave to his church (congregation) was greater. Also, because of what was happening in the church at Corinth, Apostle Paul appropriately removed the meal before celebrating the cup and bread. The first disciples, most being Jews at this time, accepted and obeyed Jesus’s new covenant from that Supper, including the first century church, to this very day.
The unleavened bread that Jesus broke and gave to his disciples he designated as representing his body given for us (19; Matthew 26:26: Mark 14:22; 1 Corinthians 11:23-24). Jesus, as with the cup said of the broken and shared bread, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Apostle Paul comments, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
