19 ¶And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
A new testament is a new covenant "in [my Jesus'] blood." I can think of nothing more binding than making a covenant in blood. That is what the Savor did at the Last Supper. He kept His promise so all of God's children--so I--could have eternal life (God's life) in spite of my weakness and sin. Jesus took my earned reward and in its place gave me His.
The Sacrament was instituted to replace the Feast of the Passover observed for generations since the children were led out of Egypt in a miraculous way by the hand of God.They were delivered from poverty and slavery and the grinding pursuit of certain death under cruel taskmasters. The night of their deliverance they were commanded to smear the blood of an unblemished lamb over the top of their doors, and by doing so the angel of death passed over them. The Passover was observed annually to remind Israel, God's covenant people, what God had done for them in preserving and delivering them. All of Israel's ancient feasts were deeply symbolic and were observed with a focus on remembrance.
At the Last Supper in an upper room in Jerusalem, hours before the Savior would be betrayed, arrested, interrogated, tortured, and crucified, He instituted the Sacrament to take the place of the feast of the Passover as a way to always remember Him. "This do in remembrance of me," he told them.
The LDS Institute Manual for the New Testament, Chapter 9; Matthew 26 further instructs us:
Matthew 26:17-30. The Passover and the Sacrament (see also Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-30; John 13:1-2)
During the time of Moses, the Lord had instituted the Passover feast to help the children of Israel commemorate the time when He delivered them from bondage in Egypt. On that occasion, the Lord smote the firstborn of the Egyptians, but He “passed over” the houses of the children of Israel who put the symbol of the blood of a sacrificial lamb on their doorposts (see Exodus 12:3-14, 26-32). At the Last Supper, the Savior instituted the sacrament, a new symbolic “meal” of commemoration. Just as partaking of the emblems of the Passover pointed to the future sacrifice of Jesus Christ and helped ancient Israel remember their release from Egyptian bondage, partaking of the sacrament helps us remember Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice, which can release us from the bondage of sin.
Matthew 26:26-28. The Emblems of the Sacrament
When Jesus instituted the sacrament during the Last Supper, He taught His Apostles that the emblems of the sacrament represented His body and His blood (see also 3 Nephi 18:1-3, 7, 11). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland discussed the significance of the sacramental emblems: “With a crust of bread, always broken, blessed, and offered first, we remember his bruised body and broken heart, his physical suffering on the cross where he cried, ‘I thirst,’ and finally, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ (John 19:28; Matt. 27:46.)
“The Savior’s physical suffering guarantees that through his mercy and grace (see 2 Ne. 2:8) every member of the human family shall be freed from the bonds of death and be resurrected triumphantly.
“With a small cup of water we remember the shedding of Christ’s blood and the depth of his spiritual suffering, anguish which began in the Garden of Gethsemane. There he said, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death’ (Matt. 26:38). He was in agony and ‘prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground’ (Luke 22:44).
“The Savior’s spiritual suffering and the shedding of his innocent blood, so lovingly and freely given, paid the debt for what the scriptures call the ‘original guilt’ of Adam’s transgression (Moses 6:54). Furthermore, Christ suffered for the sins and sorrows and pains of all the rest of the human family, providing remission for all of our sins as well, upon conditions of obedience to the principles and ordinances of the gospel he taught (see 2 Ne. 9:21-23). As the Apostle Paul wrote, we were ‘bought with a price’ (1 Cor. 6:20). What an expensive price and what a merciful purchase!
“That is why every ordinance of the gospel focuses in one way or another on the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and surely that is why this particular ordinance with all its symbolism and imagery comes to us more readily and more repeatedly than any other in our life” (“This Do in Remembrance of Me,” 67).
1 Corinthians 11:17-29. The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
The Savior instituted the sacrament during the meal that was eaten at the Last Supper (see Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25). Early members of the Church maintained a practice of partaking of a meal together, followed by the administration of the sacrament. The meals were signs of the peace, unity, and fellowship shared by the members of the congregation, and they were also a means of ministering to members’ temporal needs. These meals were, however, sometimes the source of discord when the food was eaten before all members could arrive, causing some to go home hungry and become upset with fellow Saints (see 1 Corinthians 11:17-22). This nullified one of the purposes of coming together—to build fellowship as they partook of “the Lord’s supper” (1 Corinthians 11:17-18, 33-34). Paul taught the Saints to take steps to avoid this kind of contention and maintain harmony—they should wait for everyone to arrive before eating, and if any were still hungry after the meal, they should eat later at home (see 1 Corinthians 11:33-34).1 Corinthians 11:27-29. Saints Should Partake of the Sacrament Worthily
In 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, Paul emphasized the importance of personal worthiness when partaking of the sacrament. He encouraged his readers to make their sacrament worship a time of personal examination.
1 Corinthians 11:27-29. Saints Should Partake of the Sacrament Worthily
Elder Tad R. Callister of the Presidency of the Seventy wrote:“The sacrament is … a time of deep introspection and self-examination. Paul exhorted, ‘Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup’ (1 Corinthians 11:28). The sacrament is a time when we not only remember the Savior, but we match our life against that of the Great Exemplar. It is a time to put aside all self-deception; it is a time of absolute sublime truth. All excuses, all facades must fall by the wayside, allowing our spirit, as it really is, to commune spirit to Spirit with our Father. At this moment we become our own judge, contemplating what our life really is and what it really should be. David must have felt this way when he pleaded, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting’ (Psalm 139:23-24). …
“… The Savior knows that in our weakness we need to commit not just once at baptism, but frequently thereafter. Each week, each month, each year as we stretch forth our hand to partake of his emblems we commit with our honor, for whatever it is worth, to serve him, keep his commandments, and put our life in harmony with the divine standard” (The Infinite Atonement 2000, 291-92)."
Elder Callister [also] described some of what Jesus endured in Gethsemane and later on the cross in order to free all mankind from the evil one:
“With merciless fury Satan’s forces must have attacked the Savior on all fronts. … The Savior pressed forward in bold assault until every prisoner was freed from the tenacious tentacles of the Evil One. This was a rescue mission of infinite implications. Every muscle of the Savior, every virtue, every spiritual reservoir that could be called upon would be summoned in the struggle. No doubt there was an exhaustion of all energies, a straining of all faculties, an exercise of all powers. Only then, when seemingly all had been spent, would the forces of evil abandon their posts and retreat in horrible defeat. … The Great Deliverer has rescued us—saved the day, saved eternity. But, oh, what a battle! What wounds! What love! What cost!” (The Infinite Atonement [2000], 130–31).
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