The Setting of Luke 22: Passover Night and the Coming Sacrifice

Luke places Jesus’ words within the final Passover meal before His execution (Luke 22:7–15). Passover was already a Jehovah-commanded memorial that called Israel to remember deliverance from Egypt, the lamb’s blood, and Jehovah’s saving action (Exodus 12:14; 12:24–27). Jesus intentionally established a new memorial at the very moment when the old covenant’s defining memorial was being observed, because His death would inaugurate the new covenant realities that Passover only looked forward to in its own historical meaning: deliverance, redemption, and belonging to Jehovah as His people.

Luke records: “And He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me’” (Luke 22:19). The timing matters. Jesus speaks as the obedient Son who knows His death is imminent (Luke 22:21–22). He is not giving an abstract religious rite; He is directing His disciples to keep a memorial that fixes the congregation’s attention on the once-for-all gift of His body “given for you.”

The Meaning of “Remembrance” in the Words of Jesus

The phrase “in remembrance of Me” expresses more than mental recall. In Scripture, remembrance often carries covenant weight: it is an act of faithful keeping before God and before His people, a deliberate, repeated recognition of what Jehovah has done and what obligations and loyalties follow. Passover itself was a “memorial” (Exodus 12:14). Stones taken from the Jordan were set up so that Israel would remember Jehovah’s act of bringing them through the river (Joshua 4:6–7). In those cases, remembrance was not nostalgia; it was identity-forming obedience.

When Jesus says, “Do this,” He establishes an ongoing, observable practice by which His disciples openly identify themselves with His sacrificial death and continually keep it before their minds and before the congregation. Paul later uses the same language and explains its outward, congregational function: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Remembrance, then, includes proclamation. The memorial both looks back to the historical event of Jesus’ death and looks forward to His return and Kingdom rule, without turning the act into a repeated sacrifice.

What “This Is My Body” Means in Context

Jesus calls the bread “My body,” immediately adding that it is “given for you” (Luke 22:19). The grammar and setting point to representation connected to impending sacrifice. His physical body was present before them at the table, yet the bread stands for what that body would be offered to accomplish: the giving of Himself in death. The meaning is anchored by Jesus’ own explanation and by apostolic teaching that His sacrifice is not repeated but completed. Hebrews stresses that Christ “offered one sacrifice for sins for all time” and then “sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12). A memorial does not re-offer Him; it declares and remembers the offering already made.

This also protects the congregation from treating the memorial as a magical mechanism. Jesus ties the act to remembrance and proclamation, not to a new atoning event occurring at the table. The power lies in the reality remembered: the ransom sacrifice of Christ, received by faith, leading to forgiveness and reconciliation with God (Matthew 20:28; Romans 3:23–26; 1 Peter 2:24).

The Covenant Dimension: Bread and Cup as a New Covenant Meal

Luke includes the cup saying: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:20). In the Hebrew Scriptures, covenants were ratified with blood, signifying life given and a binding relationship established under Jehovah’s authority (Exodus 24:6–8). Jesus announces that His blood will be the covenant blood of the new covenant. That does not erase the historical meaning of Israel’s covenant history; it fulfills the covenant purpose by providing what the Law could point to but could not accomplish in full: real cleansing and a perfected access to God through a final, sufficient sacrifice (Hebrews 9:11–15).

Jeremiah foretold a new covenant in which Jehovah would forgive iniquity and remember sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31–34). Jesus anchors that promise in His blood. Therefore, the memorial is covenantal: it keeps before the congregation the price of forgiveness, the seriousness of sin, and the certainty of Jehovah’s mercy through Christ’s sacrifice.

Why Jesus Commanded Repetition: A Continuing Anchor for the Congregation

Jesus did not say, “Remember Me privately when you feel like it.” He gave a concrete action that can be obeyed and repeated: taking bread, giving thanks, breaking it, giving it, and sharing the cup, all tied to His death. The repeated nature of the memorial serves the congregation in several ways grounded in Scripture.

It preserves the historical gospel from drifting into vague spirituality. Christianity is rooted in real events: Jesus lived, taught, was executed, and was raised (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). The memorial keeps the congregation anchored to the center: “Christ died for our sins.” It also keeps believers humble and honest about the human condition. Sin is not a minor flaw; it required a ransom. The memorial confronts pride, self-sufficiency, and moral pretense with the cross-centered reality that forgiveness is purchased, not earned (Ephesians 1:7; Titus 2:14).

It also sustains unity. Paul rebuked the Corinthians because their conduct at the meal contradicted its meaning; they were shaming others and fracturing the congregation (1 Corinthians 11:17–22). The memorial is meant to reflect the oneness of those redeemed by one sacrifice. Participation demands that believers treat one another as fellow redeemed people, not as rivals or social categories.

The Required Heart Posture: Self-Examination and Discernment

Paul’s instruction flows directly from Jesus’ command. Because the memorial proclaims the Lord’s death, the congregation must approach it with reverence and discernment: “Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Corinthians 11:28). This is not a command to achieve perfection before participating. Scripture is explicit that believers still struggle against sin and must confess and seek forgiveness (1 John 1:8–10). The issue is honesty, repentance, and a serious recognition of what the bread and cup signify.

Paul warns against partaking “in an unworthy manner” (1 Corinthians 11:27). In context, that includes treating the memorial as ordinary food, using it to express division, or approaching it with hardened, unrepentant contempt for Christ and His people. The memorial is a sacred proclamation: it declares that salvation is through Christ’s death, and it calls the participant to live consistently with that confession (Romans 6:1–4).

“Until He Comes”: The Memorial’s Forward-Looking Orientation

The memorial does not end with the past; it also points ahead. Paul says the congregation proclaims the Lord’s death “until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Jesus Himself connected the meal to the coming Kingdom, promising a future fulfillment (Luke 22:16–18). The memorial therefore trains Christian hope. It teaches that history is moving toward Christ’s return, the resurrection, and the full realization of Jehovah’s purposes. The memorial keeps believers from reducing Christianity to moral advice or personal inspiration. It is the proclamation of a death that secures forgiveness now and guarantees resurrection life in God’s time (John 5:28–29; Acts 24:15).

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