Do This in Remembrance of Me

A Messianic Jewish Interpretation of the Lord’s Table

The four cups of the Passover Seder

D. Thomas Lancaster

1 April 2026 PUBLISHED IN: Festivals & SeasonsView Section

At his last seder meal with his disciples, Yeshua took matzah and wine and said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” He shared it with his disciples. They ate and drank. The tradition transmitted by the apostles explains the significance: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Master’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). But what did he want his disciples to remember about him when they eat the bread and drink the cup? What does it mean to proclaim his death until he comes?

I grew up taking communion once a month in the Evangelical church. I remember taking a little cracker and a thimble of juice and trying to force myself to feel a solemn moment of spiritual remembrance of Jesus as I did so. I tried to focus on his death and how that should make me feel. Sad? Grateful? Loving? Then, I tried to feel those feelings. But the ceremony is not supposed to be a forced moment of sentimentality. Instead, a look at the Master’s table from a Jewish perspective reveals a much more practical significance.

The Eucharist

Traditional liturgical churches refer to the ritual as the Eucharist, but the Bible doesn’t support a sacramental interpretation of the ceremony. From a Jewish reading of the New Testament, the ritual remembrance has nothing to do with ingesting the transubstantiated body and blood, nor the real pneumatic presence, nor a sacramental rite of membership to maintain one’s good standing and status in the church. Neither should it be construed to be the mechanism by which one receives the forgiveness of sins or eternal life. Instead, it has a more mundane origin in common Jewish table practices. At the same time, it has an eschatological orientation toward the coming of the Messiah and the final redemption.

The word Eucharist transliterates the Greek word eucharisteo, which literally means “giving thanks.” In the context of the New Testament, the word refers to the Jewish practice of 1) saying a blessing of thanksgiving before ingesting food or drink and 2) offering a benediction of grace after meals. In the days of the apostles, the benediction of grace after meals often included a ritual cup of wine—a custom preserved in the Passover Seder and still practiced widely in Judaism. That’s exactly what we read when it says, “He took a cup, and when he had given thanks (eucharisteo) he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom’” (Matthew 26:27–29). Paul alludes to the after-meal blessing by referring to it as the cup of blessing: “The cup of blessing that we bless—is it not the fellowship of the blood of the Messiah? The bread that we break—is it not the fellowship of the body of the Messiah?” (1 Corinthians 10:16, my translation).

The key to understanding the ritual is to see it not only in its Passover context but also, and more importantly, in the context of the story, where the Master had been proclaiming the message of the kingdom, “Repent! The kingdom of heaven is near.” In other words, quit sinning and start doing good because the day of judgment is at hand when God is going to punish the wicked and reward the righteous. He’s going to pour out his wrath on the nations and upon the godless, but he’s going to save Israel and the Jewish people, make a new covenant with the Jewish people, and bring the Messianic Era—if Israel repents.

As we know, the generation did not heed the warning. The coming day of judgment was not going to be a day of salvation for the Jewish people because, in the absence of national repentance, the nation stood condemned to perish in their sins along with the other nations. Faced with that dire prospect, Yeshua agreed to take the place of the people as the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, who dies on behalf of the nation:

Because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)

He warned his disciples that the Son of Man “is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill him,” but the disciples did not understand. They knew he was the Messiah, and they believed he would bring the kingdom. They expected him to take up his throne as the Messiah of Israel and usher in the Day of the LORD. They went with him to Jerusalem expecting to see him take his stand on the Mount of Olives, defeat the nations (Rome), resurrect the dead, and gather the righteous around his table—the table of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—for the great Messianic Banquet, to fulfill what he said, “Many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11).

The day before they arrived in Jerusalem, the mother of James and John requested on behalf of her sons, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom” (Matthew 20:21). She had in mind the seating arrangements at the Messianic Banquet that will take place in Jerusalem of the kingdom. It will be a victory banquet celebrating the Messiah’s defeat of the nations. But it’s also going to be a covenantal meal, celebrating the new covenant that God is going to make with the house of Israel and the house of Judah so that he will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more. The new covenant will be sealed with a shared covenantal meal, just as the covenant at Mount Sinai was sealed with a shared meal in the presence of God (Exodus 24:9–11).

Those who enter the kingdom will be included in the new covenant, and they will be gathered around the banqueting table of Messiah like guests at a wedding banquet. Here’s Isaiah’s vision of that future banquet:

The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, And refined, aged wine. And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (Isaiah 25:6–9 NASB, emphasis mine)

The kingdom doesn’t leave you sitting on a cloud with a harp in your hands. Instead, the reward of the righteous is always depicted as a banquet. The poor man Lazarus reclines in the bosom of Abraham in the paradise of souls because he’s reclining at the table of Abraham in Gan Eden. In the Messianic Era, the righteous gather in Messianic Jerusalem for a banquet that the book of Revelation refers to as the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, where they will eat and drink with the Messiah in celebration of his victory over the nations who fought against Israel. In the World to Come, the resurrected bask in the presence of God, feasting on real physical food and drink and drawing nourishment from the effulgence of the presence of God.

Passover of the Future

It’s this banquet that the disciples hoped to celebrate with the Master that Passover as he led them into Jerusalem. But when they finally arrive at the Passover Seder table of the Master, he dashes their hopes. He speaks plainly to them. He tells them he is going to die. He is to be betrayed and struck down, and they will be scattered. But he assures them that their hope is not in vain. He tells them that, in the future, he will eat the Pesach with them again in the kingdom. He tells them he will drink the fruit of the vine with them again in the kingdom. He tells them that they will recline together around a common table in the kingdom. It’s yet to happen. All the promises and all their hopes will yet be fulfilled. They have not wasted their time on him. He says, “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:28–30).

The Last Supper needs to be seen in connection with this future meal. It’s not sacramental; it’s eschatological—it’s not a ceremony to obtain salvation; it’s about the coming end times. It’s not about the Passover of the past as much as it is about the Passover of the future.

Yeshua assures his disciples that there certainly will be a coming banquet. The Day of the LORD is going to come. The wicked are still going to be judged and punished. The righteous are still going to be rewarded at the table of Abraham in Messianic Jerusalem. But the death of the Messiah comes first. His body is to be broken; his blood is going to be poured out in the place of the nation so that he can atone for the sins of the people on behalf of the nation. Then, he can bring the kingdom in the future. He asks his disciples to participate with him in that future goal in the bread and cup of the Passover, doing this, he says, “in remembrance of me.”

A Religion of Remembrances

In Judaism, we have lots of remembrances. For example, the Passover is a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt: “Now this day will be a memorial to you … throughout your generations” (Exodus 12:14). The Torah bakes in all sorts of remembrances to remind the Jewish people of their obligations to God. The Sabbath is called a sign of the covenant at Sinai and a remembrance of the exodus when the covenant was made. The fringes on the corners of the garment are a remembrance to look on and remember the commandments of the Torah and do them. The tefillin, the mezuzah, all the calendar observances, and all the rituals function as covenantal reminders.

Likewise, the Torah creates remembrances for God. In Biblical Hebrew, to “remember” someone often means to act in accordance with your obligations or promises to that person. For example, “God remembered Noah” means he acted on his behalf by bringing an end to the flood.

Similarly, “God took note of Sarah” means he acted on her behalf by fulfilling his promises that she would conceive and bear a son. Likewise, “God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb” (Genesis 30:22, emphasis mine). It’s not as if God forgot Noah, Sarah, or Rachel. But when God remembers someone, it means he gives heed to that person’s prayers, acts on their behalf, and fulfills his promises and obligations to the person.

Sacrificial portions placed on the altar are referred to as a remembrance. They rise before God as a remembrance of the worshiper. The high priest wears the names of Israel on his breastplate and carries the names of the tribes on his shoulders as a memorial (remembrance) before the LORD whenever he enters the presence of the LORD in his holy place (Exodus 28:12). The priest’s job is to enter the presence of God and continually remind God of his covenant obligations to Israel. That’s how he atones for the nation.

The twelve loaves on the table of the bread of the Presence are a remembrance of the twelve tribes. On and on we could go with these examples. The whole religion is designed to either remind the Jewish people of their obligations to God and covenant responsibilities or to remind God of his obligations and covenant promises to the Jewish people. Scholars refer to these ceremonies and rituals as covenant gestures. As reminders of the covenant, they invoke the terms, obligations, and promises of the covenant.

That’s how we need to understand the ritual of the cup and bread at the Master’s Last Seder when he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25). It’s a covenant gesture. He’s investing these remembrances with the additional significance of bringing his death to remembrance before God.

For example, at Passover (and also Shavu’ot, Sukkot, and Rosh Chodesh), we add a special remembrance prayer to the Amidah called Ya’aleh VeYavo (“Let there arise and come”):

Our God and God of our father, let there ascend, and come, and arrive, and appear, and be favored, and be heard, and be noticed, and be remembered: the remembrance and notice of us, the remembrance of our fathers, the remembrance of the Messiah, son of David, your servant, the remembrance of Jerusalem, the city of your holiness, the remembrance of your entire people, the house of Israel …

In this prayer we ask God to remember his obligations to act on our behalf, on behalf of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on behalf of the Messiah, Son of David, His servant, on behalf of Jerusalem (and the Temple, which needs to be rebuilt), and on behalf of the entire house of Israel. We want God to remember all of these by bringing the redemption. So we pray, “Let the remembrance of these things come …”

…before you for preservation, for goodness, for grace, for devotion, for compassion, for good life, for peace on this day of the festival of Matzot. Remember us on it, O LORD, our God, for goodness, and notice us on it for blessing, and save us on it for good life. And regarding salvation and compassion, take pity and be gracious to us, have compassion on us and save us [from the coming judgment], for our eyes are focused on you, because you are the gracious and compassionate Divine King. Let our eyes behold your compassionate return to Zion. (Ya’aleh VeYavo)

At Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, the synagogue prayers ask God to remember the merit of the martyrs and especially the merit of the binding of Abraham’s son Isaac on the altar. The liturgy asks God to forgive the sins of the nation on the basis of those remembrances.

These prayers aptly illustrate what it means to ask God to remember Messiah, son of David. The apostles said that the ritual of taking matzah and wine as a memorial of the Messiah’s body and blood “proclaims the death of the Master until he comes.” To whom does the ceremonial meal proclaim the Messiah’s death? Not to unbelievers. (Only immersed disciples are allowed to participate in the exclusive rite [Didache 9:5].) Instead, the ritual proclaims the death of the Master before God until he remembers the merit of the Messiah’s suffering and sends him to redeem Israel and the whole world.

Simple Meaning of a Simple Gesture

Here’s the simple meaning. We are supposed to take the cup, invoking the remembrance of Yeshua’s spilled blood. We are to take the bread, invoking the remembrance of his body. We are supposed to use these physical tokens to petition God to remember the merit and favor that Yeshua accrued through his suffering and his willing death. We want God to remember the favor (grace) the Messiah earned and to apply that favor on our behalf and on behalf of the nation of Israel. When God remembers the death of the Messiah, he will reciprocate, acting on the Messiah’s behalf, forgiving sins in his name, and sending him back to bring the final redemption and inaugurate the new covenant.

This is why Yeshua asked us to take the cup and bread as a proclamation of his death in the presence of God. We are to beseech God to remember Yeshua’s sacrifice and to act on his behalf by bringing the redemption, the new covenant, and the Messianic Era, thereby fulfilling the good news message, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That’s what it means to “do this in remembrance of me.” Then, he will finally be able to recline at the table and eat and drink with his disciples again.