During thelast
meal, Jesus completely transformed the traditional Jewish Passover celebration, giving it an entirely new
theological meaning. In doing so, Jesus instituted the uniquely Christian sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
On this night everything was to change. Nothing would ever be the same again.
As the Passover celebration unfolded, Jesus indicated that he was the true Passover lamb, whose coming
death would save God’s people from their sins. Jesus went on to speak of his own broken body and shed
blood as the means through which God would establish a New Covenant with his people. When Jesus
spoke these words, he not only implied that Israel’s Passover had all along pointed ahead to this very
night, but when Jesus spoke about the cup of wine, he emphatically stated that this is “my blood” and that
his blood is to the “New Covenant,” what the blood of bulls and goats had been to the Old. These were
remarkable words. In effect, Jesus was declaring that the nation of Israel had come to the critical turning
point in its history.