LUKE 22.7-12: Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. (8) So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” (9) They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” (10) He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters (11) and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ (12) And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” (ESV)
All of the gospel accounts tell us that Jesus’ last time with His disciples was during the week of His crucifixion. This gathering was for the Passover meal observance. It is the Gospels of Mark and Luke which provide the information that the place was a guest room and it was an upper room in a house in Jerusalem.
During the course of His last time with the disciples, Jesus led the observance of the Passover meal and He further instituted a new ordinance for the New Covenant, referred to as the Lord’s Supper. The two essential elements for the Lord’s Supper were provided from the Passover observance. Wine and unleavened bread.
Jesus frequently spoke and taught during His time of ministry on earth in parables and metaphors regarding a wide variety of spiritual lessons, using earthly symbols from nature and agricultural practices. And in chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, Jesus spoke symbolically regarding the drinking of His blood and the eating of His flesh by people who believe in Him. This was decidedly symbolic in nature and only the people who opposed Him refused to get the point.
So the Lord’s Supper comes forth from the elements of the Passover Meal and in my opinion it, too, is symbolic in its nature. Certainly, the Lord’s Supper is spiritually beneficial. And it can be spiritually transformative in a person whose heart is right with God. But I do not believe that the bread and wine are literally or even spiritually transformed or altered to be in and of themselves the body and blood of Christ.
To my thinking this is not necessary, nor is it even logical. When Jesus was raised from the dead, He was raised with a single, particular, glorified body. And He ascended into heaven and sits at God the Father’s right hand. We are connected to Jesus and part of His body by means of faith in Him as the only Son of God.