Passover is the commemoration of the escape of Israel from Egyptian slavery. God had given the instructions for remembering the Passover, and Jews had marked it ever since by unleavened bread, a sacrificed lamb, and a Passover seder. Jesus and his disciples come together in an upper room in Jerusalem to eat the Passover, and Jesus initiates a new commemoration, kept by his followers ever since.

The bread is Christ’s body; the cup is his blood of the new covenant, poured out for many.

In this simple set of symbols, Jesus makes incredible claims. The signs of Passover---unleavened bread and the blood of a lamb---are said to point to him. He is the lamb of God whose spilled blood causes the angel of death to pass by any who stand under it. The covenant he initiates takes up into itself all the covenants of God: the covenant of peace with Noah and nature, the covenant of promise with Abraham and Sarah, the covenant of relationship through mercy and obedience with Moses and Israel, and the announcement by the prophets of a new covenant written on the heart.

One simple act at his last supper anticipates the sacrificial work he will do and gives us a reminder of it whenever we eat or drink. Today, and tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, when you eat or drink, think on these things.