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This evening is the anniversary of the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We keep this service as commanded by Christ (Luke 22:19). This is not a ceremony, which we are to repeat many times during the year. IICorinthians 11:23 says, "the same night in which He was betrayed..." is the night that Christ instituted this special Supper with its symbolism. The origin of this service is mentioned in Luke 22:7-16.

Some have assumed that the "day" mentioned in Luke 22:7-16 coincides with the time that the Passover was eaten, but that is incorrect. In Luke 22:15-16, Christ said: "I will not eat it (the Passover) until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." He wanted to eat the Passover meal with them, but he knew he would be dead before the Passover meal actually took place. He was the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb (ICor. 5:7), and consequently had to die at the same time the Passover lambs were being killed.

The Supper that Christ instituted took place at the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It included both the Preparation Day and the Passover (Mat. 26:17). The phrase, "the first day of the feast of unleavened bread," refers to the 14th of Nisan (Ex. 12:6,8,18) because the first High Sabbath of the days of unleavened bread had not yet occurred. The Preparation Day was counted as the first of eight days comprising the period referred to as the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

If we don't observe this ceremony in the manner that Christ instructed, He said that we will not have eternal life (Jn. 6:53-54). By studying the symbolism associated with this service and then obeying Christ's instructions, we will understand why He made this statement. The symbolism associated with this festival teaches us what we are supposed to learn, and do as followers of Christ.

The first part of the ceremony involves washing another person's feet (Jn. 13:1-5). The act of washing someone's feet was a common practice in Jesus' day. Most people wore sandals, which were more comfortable in a hot climate, but their feet would get dirty. Normally, footwashing was done as an act of hospitality by a host when a guest arrived. It was usually the lowliest servant that performed the task. What lessons can we learn from this ceremony?

1. Christ, who was of the highest rank in the heavenly realm, under God the Father, shows us through the footwashing ceremony, that we need to follow his example and willingly give up whatever it is that gets in the way of serving others, including our enemies. After all, Christ washed the feet of His enemy, Judas Iscariot!

Things that get in the way of serving others would include pride, position, vanity, jealousy, competition, etc.

2. Just before washing his disciples' feet, Christ laid aside his garments (tithenai) which was symbolic of laying aside his life. By laying aside his life, he washed all of us. Jesus' attitude was one of being willing to lay down his life for humanity. We, too, ought to be prepared to lay down our lives for one another, and Christ points out that this includes forgiving our brother (Mat.18:21-35).

3. We must allow our feet to be washed each year at the Passover because we need to remember that Christ washes us clean of sin on a continual basis (Ijn. 1:9) As long as we are exposed to the dirt of this present world, we will be picking up some of it just as people during Christ's time picked up dirt on their feet (1Jn. 1:10). This is why Christ told Peter that he didn't need to have a bath, but he did need to have his feet washed (Jn. 13:9-11).

The symbolism here is as important as that of baptism. After a person repents, they need to be baptized. Baptism involves being immersed in water, which Christ compares to having a bath. After baptism a minister of Jesus Christ lays his hands on the repentant sinner, and God then grants His Holy Spirit to that individual (Acts 8:18). That individual does not need to get baptized again when they stumble and sin after baptism, but they do need to repent and have their feet washed annually at the Lord's Supper. If we don't obey Christ's instruction on this, we are carrying sins committed over the past year. By doing this willfully, we will loose God's Holy Spirit (Heb. 10:26). This is one of the reasons that Christ said we have to partake of the Lord's Supper in order to have eternal life.

4. By having someone wash our feet at the Passover service, we are learning to be served by others. When we are in genuine need, we must let others help us. It is humbling for our human nature to admit that we need help, and Christ shows us that we all need help from time to time (Mat. 25:34-40). Even if we are never hungry, thirsty or naked physically speaking, we still need help spiritually speaking (Acts 8:30-31).

After the Footwashing ceremony, Christ amplified the meaning of the manna given to ancient Israel (Mark 14:22). Israel had been miraculously sustained by a special bread that God had prepared, and sent down to them. This manna from heaven did not keep them alive forever because they eventually died in the wilderness (Jn. 6:58). Christ then showed that this manna represented His broken body, which would be given so that mankind could have eternal life offered to them (Mk. 14:22). So Christ is the Bread of eternal life that was specially prepared "from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8), and then sent down to mankind.

We are to eat of this bread annually at the Lord's Supper because we need to be reminded that it is only by Christ living in us that we can have eternal life. It is not by our own "goodness" that God is going to grant us eternal life. Ancient Israel would not have survived in the wilderness for very long without a miracle, and God provided it through the manna. We cannot survive in the spiritual wilderness of this present world without a miracle, and God provided it through Jesus Christ who sustains us (Jn. 14:6). If we do not partake of the unleavened bread at the Lord's Supper, we are saying that we do not need Christ's sacrifice or His ongoing work in our lives.

Next, Christ introduced the wine, which He said represented His shed blood. The shedding of blood is required for the forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:22). Blood being shed is to remind us that sin is taken very seriously by God. Sin has caused nothing but sorrow for mankind, and this sorrow will remain until sin is completely removed (Rev. 21:4). In Ancient Israel, when the High Priest entered into the Holy of Holies, on the Day of Atonement, it pictured coming directly before God the Father.

However, the High Priest could not do this until the blood of a sacrifice had been shed (Lev.16:6). In other words, the High Priest had to have his sins removed before coming into God's presence. This had to be done every time the High Priest came before God. Thankfully, because Christ's blood is worth more than all the blood of mankind as well as the animals, He only had to die once so that we can come before God the Father in prayer on a continual basis (Heb. 9:24-26). If we don't recognize this fact by observing the Lord's Supper and partaking of the wine, we are saying that we can come before God the Father in prayer whether Christ shed His blood for our sins or not.

Blood being shed is also used as a seal of a covenant (Ex. 24:7-8). Again, shedding blood shows us that this is not to be taken lightly. God takes His covenant with us very seriously, and He expects us to do the same (Mat. 26:28). Just as ancient Israel made a covenant, or agreement, with God before entering into the Promised Land, we also made a covenant with God at baptism, which precedes our entering eternal life. At Baptism we agree to obey God no matter how hard or inconvenient that may be (Mat. 7:13-14).

After we do this, God grants us His Holy Spirit (Acts 5:32). With the Holy Spirit operating in our minds, we will eventually be led to understand all things related to eternal life (Jn. 14:26). This includes knowing who the One True God is as well as who Jesus Christ is (Compare Jn. 17:3 with Heb. 8:10-11). This is all part of the covenant that we made with God at baptism, and we are brought into remembrance of this at the Lord's Supper. This is one of the reasons that the Lord's Supper is for baptized members only.

At the close of the Lord's Supper service, a hymn is sung following Christ's example in Mark 14:26.

Having taken the symbols of the Footwashing, the Bread and the Wine and reviewing related scriptures (Jn. 17:1-26), we should go through the next day recognizing that Christ suffered in a terrible manner for us. We can use this time to review some scriptures related to this: Isaiah 52:13-15; Isaiah 53:1-12 and Psalm 22.

We can also read instructions that Christ gave to encourage us at this time (Jn. 14:1-31).