Why do we eat this meal? Well, the most basic reason is because Jesus told us to do it.

It wasn’t just another dinner, and the disciples knew it. This was Passover week, the yearly celebration in which the Jewish people remembered how God delivered their ancestors from bondage to the Egyptians. And this meal, with its meticulous structure in which the story of the Exodus is retold and reflected on, was the climax. It’s no wonder, then, that Jesus’ followers asked Him:

“Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” (Matt. 26:17).

They knew it would be special because it was always special. They didn’t know, however, that Jesus would change the way they – and we – understand this meal from that point forward. Since then, followers of Jesus have been regularly eating this meal. As Paul would later write in 1 Corinthians:

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Cor. 11:23-26).

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