The Lord’s Supper is the last meal of the Savior with his disciples-apostles on the eve of His sufferings on the Cross, in Maundy Thursday. During the Supper, He established the Sacrament of Communion – the Eucharist – as a grace-filled means of uniting believers with God and with each other, which is now celebrated during the service called the Liturgy. Christ, with the wisdom of the great Teacher, managed to turn the Easter meal into a true communion.
It was the communication of the disciples with their beloved Teacher, as well as their communication with each other. The culmination of their fellowship was undoubtedly the moment when Christ broke the bread and gave it to the disciples. After it, the Apostles dispersed throughout the earth to preach the soul-saving teaching of Christ. As long as His word was spread by His Holy Apostles, the bishops, elders, deacons and the believing people gathered and performed this Holy Sacrament. Holy Eucharist increases sanctifying grace, washes the soul from the light sins, protects from seven deadly sins and stands as the Lord’s Supper’s pledge of resurrection and eternal life – it is incredibly important for any Christian.
The words of the Savior to eat bread as His flesh and drink wine as His blood became sacred during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The 10th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew details the last speeches of the Savior and His parting instructions to the disciples, full of deep meaning and inexpressible love and sadness. The Scripture states that when believers perform the Eucharist on the sacral day of Maundy Thursday, they proclaim the Son’s of God death until He returns. That means that every time bread is broken and the cup is spread at the services, the death of the Lord is proclaimed. To proclaim is to speak openly and loudly. And such a proclamation occurs during the Lord’s Supper not only when the Word of God is preached about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, but also by the very presence of bread and a cup on the table.
Breaking bread on the memorable night of the Supper and offering the cup, Christ commanded to do it in the memory of Him. During the Supper, Christians remember Him not as a Teacher deceased and still in the grave, as the Jews did when commemorating their departed relatives or mentors. Remembrance at the Supper is a memory of a meeting with the resurrected Teacher who is still present among people.
The transformation, or transubstantiation, of bread and wine into the real Flesh and Blood of Christ is refuted by His words. Jesus dispelled the confusion of the Apostles from His statement that anyone who eats His flesh and drinks His blood will be granted eternal life. Knowing the human ability to materialize spiritual phenomena, the Lord immediately explains that His words are about spirit and life, not flesh. As He proclaims, the use of these words should be spiritual, not carnal.
Another vivid and strong feeling that the Lord’s Supper evokes in those who participate is the feeling of great gratitude. Indeed, “and when he had given thanks” are the first words with which the Lord’s Supper began. The Scripture calls to give thanks for everything, and most importantly, for the very position of the believer as the child of God. On the Lord’s Supper, Jesus Christ told His apostles that He will not drink wine until He is reunited with His disciples in the Kingdom of His God father. Thus, participation in this meal awakens and renews the hope of Christians in the Kingdom of Heaven, in which the final renewal of everything that exists in the world will take place.
In this sense, the Lord’s Supper is the anticipation of the desired Kingdom, and in a certain sense it is the penultimate meal – since the next one can be a complete triumph in Heaven. Those are the sacral doctrines the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples on His last night.