Central to the Passover celebration is the distribution of broken bread and the sharing of four symbolic cups of wine. It was a celebration of the first meal of roast lamb to fortify each family in preparation for their journey from Egypt; but it held the secret to their protection from God's wrath – the blood of the sacrificed lamb had been applied to the outer door frames (Exodus chapter 11 & 12). God said, "When I see the blood, I will pass-over you". The bread was unleavened so that it would not go mouldy on the journey – it was 'sustaining bread'.
 
About 1,500 years later Jesus, as the host, gave thanks for God's plan of salvation and broke the bread to give to His disciples. It was very ordinary bread made without yeast, and yet He said that it was His body. At that point He had experienced no physical trauma but He was adamant that the bread represented His body. It was a prophetic drama in which Jesus explained that His body would be broken so that the disciples (and those who believed their words) could be sustained in a new life, away from the captivity of sin.
 
The wine too was very ordinary, the 'fruit of the vine'. Each time the cup was filled it had a different name: the first time it was the cup of sanctification, the second time it was the cup of plagues, the third time the cup of redemption and the fourth time it was the cup of praise or completion. The cup in these verses is the cup of redemption: God's covenant promise to redeem His people would be fulfilled when Christ became the Passover Lamb, as His blood absorbed God's wrath against sin. It was another prophetic drama. Both would be re-enacted for centuries not as fore-telling but as forth-telling. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:26, "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes".
 
Today we know about the cross and the resurrection too. That is why we must never presume, lest familiarity should breed contempt. That is why every time we take bread and wine, it would be a scandal if we do not see our own sins laid on His broken body, and our cleansing coming from His shed blood. We, forgetful and self-absorbed people, often need to be reminded that the Child in the manger is also the Lamb on the throne. One day He will be seen as the King of glory, coming to welcome all those He has ransomed and sustained.