ESTUDIO DEL VERSÍCULO
Matthew 26:26-28 — The Institution of the Lord's Supper
At the Passover meal Jesus takes bread and a cup, gives them to his disciples, and identifies them with his body and his covenant blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Escritura
- 26.Y mientras comían, tomó Jesús el pan, y bendijo, y lo partió, y dio a sus discípulos, y dijo: Tomad, comed; esto es mi cuerpo.And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
- 27.Y tomando la copa, y habiendo dado gracias, les dio, diciendo: Bebed de ella todos;And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
- 28.porque esto es mi sangre del nuevo pacto, que por muchos es derramada para remisión de los pecados.for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.
Qué significa este pasaje
Verse 26 places the action inside the Passover meal: as the disciples are eating, Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and hands it to them with the words, "Take, eat; this is my body." The vocabulary—taking, blessing, breaking, giving—structures the scene as a formal action by which Jesus assigns new meaning to the bread of the meal. The instruction to "take" and "eat" addresses the disciples as recipients, not as a private symbol meant for later reflection; Jesus commits the bread to them as a present identity ("this is my body").
Verse 27-28 forms a parallel action with the cup. Jesus takes it, gives thanks, distributes it to the group ("Drink ye all of it"), and then defines it: "for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins." The clause "of the covenant" ties the cup to covenant language; "poured out" points to the giving of life-blood; "for many" widens the benefit beyond the twelve to a larger group; and "unto remission of sins" names the specific purpose for which the blood is given.
Read together, the two actions replace the Passover lamb. Jesus hands out bread identified as his own body and a cup identified as his own blood, poured out for the forgiveness of sins. The meal is not described as a one-time event at the table only; by distributing bread and cup "to them" in the presence of all twelve, Jesus frames the act as something to be repeated by the gathered community, since each element is explicitly given to be taken and received.
Contexto
The target passage sits inside the Last Supper narrative of Matthew 26, which begins with the leaders' plot to kill Jesus (vv. 1-5), moves to the Bethany anointing (vv. 6-13), then to Judas arranging to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (vv. 14-16). The disciples prepare the Passover (vv. 17-19), Jesus announces that one of them will betray him (vv. 20-25), and only then does he institute the meal in vv. 26-28. The table is thus framed by betrayal: Jesus speaks of the bread and cup immediately after declaring that the betrayer is at the table. The passage is followed by Jesus' word that he will not drink "of this fruit of the vine" until he drinks it new with them in the Father's kingdom (v. 29), the hymn and departure to the Mount of Olives (vv. 30-31), and the unfolding events of Gethsemane, arrest, and Peter's denials that lead to the crucifixion the passage anticipates.
Preguntas frecuentes
Why does Jesus identify bread and cup as his body and blood at a Passover meal?
Matthew places the action during a Passover meal (cf. vv. 17-19), where the lamb and the unleavened bread already pointed to deliverance. Jesus fills that framework with his own person, replacing the sacrificed lamb with his own body and blood given for the forgiveness of sins.
What does "blood of the covenant" mean in verse 28?
The phrase "blood of the covenant" echoes the language of a covenant-ratifying sacrifice. Calling the cup "my blood of the covenant" identifies what Jesus will pour out on the cross as the basis of a covenant relationship, and the addition "which is poured out for many unto remission of sins" specifies the purpose of that covenant: the forgiveness of sins extended to "many."
Does the passage command the disciples to repeat the meal?
Within the three verses Matthew records, Jesus hands the bread and cup to the disciples and instructs them, "Take, eat" and "Drink ye all of it." The bread is explicitly identified as his body and the cup as his covenant blood, given to be received by the group. Matthew himself does not add a command to repeat it in these verses; he records only that Jesus distributes the bread and cup and identifies them with his body and blood.