“Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had Given Thanks, he broke it and gave it to them all, saying: ‘This is my body, which is Given for You. Do similarly in remembrance of Me.’ And he did the same with the cup, saying: ‘This cup that is poured out for You is the New Covenant [of unconditional Love] in my blood.’” ~ Luke (Luke 22:19-20)

 

While many Christians believe that Jesus is hereby commending his disciples to emulate his actions (via the Eucharist) as a means to attaining the end of a personal eternal salvation, the meanings embedded in this passage run far deeper than that. Indeed, as with the rest of the biblical scenes in which Jesus teaches others, his words here have a far deeper purpose than their mere face value …

In the case at hand, he speaks of BREAD – which for Jesus was often a symbolic reference to self-sacrifice, and he speaks of WINE – which Jesus frequently used as a reference to the perfect Love of his Father; a perfect Love that blossoms forth from us all when we “eat the bread” by having the courage to selflessly Care for others (John 13:15-17 et al) – when we have the courage to literally “do similarly” by “drinking deeply”; boldly embodying that same “divine wine” in our interactions with others.

 

Filed under: My Favorite Verses by Scaughdt