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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
1 Corinthians 11:26
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
At His final Passover meal, shared less than 24 hours before His crucifixion and death, Jesus said this:
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”
Then He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:26-28
In Luke’s Gospel account, Jesus adds:
“...do this in remembrance of Me.” Luke 22:19
This event, sometimes referred to as The Last Supper, was grounded in three things: prophecy, symbolism, and remembrance. Before we look at each, it’s important to add one more layer found in Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26. He writes this proclamation about Jesus:
“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
Here, we find Paul giving us another outcome of regularly partaking in The Lord’s Supper/Communion/Eucharist. We are not only being obedient to Jesus’ command to partake of the bread and cup to remember Him and what He suffered to save us but we are proclaiming that Jesus did die before He was brought back to life, and note we are required to do this until He returns again. After that, there will be no more need for Lord’s Supper/Communion/Eucharist observances because all the redeemed and saved of the world will be taken up with Jesus and inhabit the new earth as the old earth passes away. The past will be essentially wiped out, traded in for an everlasting, divine, joyous existence, one I excitedly wait for.
So we see the call to regularly share in Jesus’ final Passover meal was a prophecy of what was to come, His brutal beating and crucifixion being imminent as He first shared it with His disciples. But we also see it prophetic as it also is intended to continue to proclaim His death as we await His return, a return that is not just predicted but factual.
The call to remember Jesus’ last Passover meal and its two distinct elements shared with His disciples is also symbolic, something we looked at in depth over the two messages prior to today. The bread broken in the presence of the disciples represented Jesus’ body that would be broken for them and all Christian believers afterwards. The shared cup of wine was associated with the blood of the New Covenant that Jesus would shed as He became the last sin sacrifice ever needed, the Lamb of God who was sent to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29).
Finally, Jesus called us to remember Him and all He endured to bring us the chance for salvation and future eternal life. We will never have a proper appreciation for Jesus and the cross where He surrendered it all, experiencing the full wrath of God’s judgment in our place, unless we remember. In continuously partaking in the Lord’s Supper/Communion/Eucharist, we are not only being obedient to what our Savior called us to do but we are keeping His suffering and sacrifice for our sake at the forefront of our hearts and minds.
Prophecy (past and present), symbolism, and remembrance. All three are present when we regularly eat the bread and drink the cup, making our Jesus proclamation until that day when He returns again.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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