Passover Celebration Ushers in the Church Age

—The Church was instituted on that night when Jesus and his disciples met together to eat the passover, Matt 26:19; Mark 14:16; Luke 22:13 (on Thursday evening, April 6, a.d. ... It was probably instituted at the ... (the cup of blessing) of the passover [see on PASSOVER], Jesus taking one of the unleavened cakes used at the feast and breaking it and giving it to his disciples with the cup. ... The narratives of the Gospels show how strongly the disciples were impressed with the words which had given a new meaning to the old familiar acts. ... They had looked on the bread and the wine as memorials of the deliverance from Egypt. ... They were not told to partake of them "in remembrance" of their Master and Lord. ... The words "This is my body" gave to the unleavened bread a new character. ... They had been prepared for language that would otherwise have been so startling, by the teaching of John John 6:32-58 and they were thus taught to see in the bread that was broken the witness of the closest possible union and incorporation with their Lord. ... The cup, which was "the new testament in his blood," would remind them, in like manner, of the wonderful prophecy in which that new covenant had been foretold. ... Jere 31:31-34 "Gradually and progressively he had prepared the minds of his disciples to realize the idea of his death as a sacrifice. he now gathers up all previous announcements in the institution of this sacrament." ... The festival had been annual. ... No rule was given as to the time and frequency of the new feast that thus supervened on the old, but the command "Do this as oft as ye drink it," 1 Cor 11:25 suggested the more continual recurrence of that which was to be their memorial of one whom they would wish never to forget. ... Luke, in the Acts, describes the baptized members of the Church as continuing steadfast in or to the teaching of the apostles, in fellowship with them and with each other, and ... in breaking of bread ... Acts 2:42 We can scarcely doubt that this implies that the chief actual meal of each day was one in which they met as brothers, and which was either preceded or followed by the more solemn commemorative acts of the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup. ... It will be convenient to anticipate the language and the thoughts of a somewhat later date, and to say that, apparently, they thus united every day the Agape or feast of love with the celebration of the Eucharist. ... At some time, before or after the meal of which they partook as such, the bread and the wine would be given with some special form of words or acts, to indicate its character. ... New converts would need some explanation of the meaning and origin of the observance. ... What would be so fitting and so much in harmony with the precedents of the paschal feast as the narrative of what had passed ont he night of its institution?
{{Excerpt from Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary and
# Complete Jewish Bible
# Complete Jewish Bible}}