The Lord’s Supper

A Time to Remember

On the night that Jesus would be betrayed and arrested, what is believed to be the eve of His crucifixion, He and the 12 disciples reclined at a table to eat the Passover meal. The Passover meal was a time of celebration. A time set aside for the Jewish people, God’s chosen, to remember and teach a younger generation of God’s provision and deliverance. They were reminded of lambs sacrificed. They remembered the lamb’s blood was placed above door posts so the angel of death would pass over their household, and their firstborn sons’ lives would be spared.

Jesus knew what He was to face, and began to prepare the disciples. Actually, He had been preparing them since the day they were called to follow Him. Jesus was always teaching, and always preparing the disciples for the time He would leave them. Knowing the time was at hand for Him to become the Lamb that would be sacrificed for the sins of humanity, Jesus spent this last meal together with His disciples using two elements of the Passover meal to teach them to remember the sacrifice He would soon make. Jesus was preparing them to share this meal and teach future disciples, the church, to remember.

And he took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ”This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” Luke 22:19, 20

Today, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper with the people of the church, we continue what Christ began at the table that night with His disciples. Just as the Passover meal was a time for God’s chosen to come together to remember and teach a younger generation of God’s provision and deliverance, the Lord’s Supper serves the same purpose today. The difference is, now we remember the new covenant Jesus made as He poured out His blood for us. We remember the provision of God the Father, sending His only son Jesus to be a sacrificial Lamb. We remember His broken body and blood that was poured out, that we might be delivered from the bondage of our sin. We remember we were spared death because we applied His blood to the door of our hearts.

Not only does the Lord’s Supper look back as we remember the past, but we also celebrate the present as we give thanks for the abundant life we now have in Christ, as well as anticipate the future as we look forward to the promises of of the eternal with our Savior. The Apostle Paul tells the church in 1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” We will continue observing the Lord’s Supper until He returns for His church. In Matthew’s account of the last supper, recorded in Matthew 26:29, Jesus said, “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.” Jesus spoke of all believers as He served the supper on the eve of His sacrifice. He told of a day when we will recline at His table to remember, face to face with the Lamb of God that was slain for us.