Annual Memorial

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Redirecting their minds to thoughts of serving others, Jesus, after Judas Iscariot had departed to betray Him (John 13:18-32), was now ready to institute new Passover symbols for the New Testament Church. He took unleavened bread, prayed over it, and then broke it into several bite-sized pieces, which He distributed among the eleven remaining disciples. Christ said to them, “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you: This do in remembrance of Me” (Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19).

Jesus then took a cup of wine, said a blessing over it, and gave it to His disciples. “All of you drink of it,” He said, “for this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Luke 22:20; Matt. 26:27-28; Mark 14:23-24).

“In remembrance”—in recollection; Christ was instituting an annual reminder of the New Covenant Passover—a “memorial” service observed in memory of Jesus Christ’s death. A memorial service is not observed daily, weekly, or monthly, but rather annually.

For Christians, “Christ [is their] Passover sacrificed for [them]” (I Cor. 5:7). As the true “Lamb of God” (John 1:29, 36), Jesus was sacrificed on the same day as the physical Passover sacrificial lambs were killed: the 14th of Abib. Therefore, Christians are to observe the death of their Passover Lamb annually on Abib 14, not “between the two evenings” at the end of the day, but at the beginning, on the anniversary of “the same night in which [Jesus] was betrayed” (I Cor. 11:23).

Sadly, millions of this world’s “Christians” partake weekly of symbols they believe are “the Lord’s Supper”—not understanding they have been deceived.

Why Bread?

No matter where you live on earth, bread and bread products are universal, in one form or another, among all cultures, societies and traditions. The various types of breads most people eat share at least one thing in common: they contain yeast or other leavening agents. These work within the dough to expand it and make the bread elastic and much easier to chew.

In the Bible, leaven symbolizes sin. Just as “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (I Cor. 5:6;Gal. 5:9), sin always leads to more sins, until it permeates one’s character. And, just as leaven expands, or “puffs up,” bread dough much larger than its original size, sin—such as vanity and pride—“puffs up” a person’s view of himself. For this reason, “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes” (Prov. 16:2). When leaven enlarges dough, it produces bread riddled with empty pockets of air. Similarly are the lives of men, all of whom have sinned (Rom. 3:23). They appear smooth, self-confident, sometimes even “larger than life,” but within they are vain—empty.

Jesus Christ, as a physical human being, was different. He “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:7-8).

Like unleavened bread, Jesus was “flat”—humble, not puffed up with a self-image of vanity, pride and self-importance. Void of the “malice and wickedness” of this world, Christ was—and the Bible states He is—“the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”(I Cor. 5:8).

Again, bread made with leavening is much easier to chew, just as the ways of this world are easier to “digest.” Its currents are swift and lead away from God’s kingdom, “for WIDE is the gate, and BROAD is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in there at” (Matt. 7:13). But choosing to live God’s Way means to swim against the current, to deny oneself and regularly replace the leavening of Satan’s society with the “unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it” (Mt 7:14).

Early in His ministry, Jesus said, “He that believes on Me has everlasting life. I am that bread of life” (John 6:47-48). The ancient Israelites—the physical “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38)—ate manna from heaven, yet “are dead” (John 6:49). Physical Israel enjoyed bountiful material, national blessings. However, they were not offered God’s Spirit or the promise of eternal life in the kingdom of God.

Spiritual Israelites—those in the Body of Christ—stand to receive infinitely greater promises than material blessings. “This is the bread which comes down from heaven,” Jesus said, referring to Himself, “that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (Jn 6:50-51).

The apostle Paul states, “The bread which we break, is it not the communion [participation, distribution, fellowship] of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread” (I Cor. 10:16-17).

Why “Broken”?

The small, broken pieces of unleavened bread that Christians are to eat at the Passover service symbolize Jesus’ “broken” body. Consider all the abuses and torment Jesus took upon His body because all human beings have broken God’s physical laws.

“I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not My face from shame and spitting” (Isa. 50:6). “His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” (Isa. 52:14).

“I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint [but not broken]…I may tell all My bones: they look and stare upon Me” (Psa. 22:14, 17).

“Surely He has borne our grief's, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth” (Isa. 53:4-7).

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief…He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities…because He has poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:10-12).

For the past 6,000 years, men have judged for themselves right from wrong, without seeking instruction and direction from God. Consequently, mankind has reaped sicknesses, diseases, cancers, degenerative syndromes, deformities—physical penalties derived from breaking God’s commandments, statutes, judgments and overarching principles of living the right way. Through Jesus’ “broken” body, we can be healed: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed” (I Pet. 2:24).

Yet none of Christ’s bones were broken. His body, though it severely suffered, remained as one. And so does Christ’s spiritual Body, for “He is the head of the body, the church” (Col. 1:18).

Jesus Christ “lives in” all Christians through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, making them all part of the one “Body” of Christ—the undivided Church of God (Gal. 2:20).

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