Day 3 - Last Supper // Holy Week

And He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘This is My body,  which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’  In the same way He also took the cup after supper and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant established by My blood; it is shed for you.’ – Luke 22:19-20
 
Jesus and His disciples were accustomed to celebrating the Passover Feast every year, as required by the Old Testament Law. This holy day (or holiday) commemorated how God used Moses to deliver the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt. God had sent Moses to speak with Pharoah and demand that He let God’s people go. But Pharaoh refused, so God sent 10 plagues upon the Egyptians — plagues such as turning the Nile River into blood, sending frogs, flies and locusts to invade the land, and turning the sun dark.
 
The last plague, though, was the worst of all: the firstborn son in every household throughout the land would die, unless the people sacrificed a year-old, flawless lamb or goat and applied the blood of the animal to the lintel and doorposts of the house. That evening, when the angel of death passed by, he would “pass over” any house marked with blood, and all who took refuge within that house would be saved.
 
To celebrate this event, which resulted in the Israelites being delivered from slavery, God instituted a Passover Feast to be celebrated every year.
 
Approximately 1,500 years would pass, and Jesus was celebrating the Passover Feast with His disciples. That night, He would be arrested and condemned to die. At first, as they ate the Passover meal, things unfolded as it always had, but then Jesus did something that would have shocked His disciples. He held up the unleavened bread (which represents sinlessness) and He said, “Take and eat. This is my body broken for you.” Then He took the cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant (or agreement) established by my blood.” The implication was clear. Jesus was identifying Himself as being the Passover lamb whose blood would provide life to those who would take refuge in Him. Have you, by faith, applied the blood of Christ to the door of your heart so that you might receive eternal life?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16