We Remember Your Sacrifice

Scripture Reading: Luke 22:7-23, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Hebrews 9:3-26, Hebrews 10:11-12

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1Corinthians 11:25). The Lord’s Supper is a demonstration of the gospel, drenched in rich symbolism and hopeful promise. It is also a call to remembrance of what He has done and a reminder of what He will do. How can we be reminded of something that hasn’t yet happened? We remember His promise for the future: that He will come again.

In today’s reading, Jesus’s two closest disciples gathered the bread, wine, and dishes as they prepared for the Passover meal. They, along with the other ten, probably expected a meal of tradition to celebrate what the great and powerful I AM had done for their ancestors of the exodus. And don’t we often do the same as Christians?  We observe what is happening on the surface, ingesting it at face value, rather than recognizing that God is revealing to us a deeper understanding.

Don’t miss the hope of the promise in the Eucharist (also known as Communion or the Lord’s Supper). What was a tradition of remembering would now be a declaration of what is to come. While the Passover meal was celebrating God having rescued His people from slavery on earth, the new covenant is the declaration that God has forgiven, purified, and rescued His people for eternity.

When you and I hold the bread and cup in our hands, we cannot mistake the richness of it. It is a remembrance of His promise. We must not reduce it to anything less than all that it is. While it was a reminder of the Passover—and a reminder of the Last Supper with Jesus and His twelve disciples—it is also the reminder that we have a future with the Lord. Jesus said, “I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:16). These words bring hope for us all. We, who place our faith in Jesus, know His redemptive death and resurrection—that He has cleansed us, saved us, and that we will feast with Him again in eternal life.

When we partake in the Lord’s Supper, we are remembering and declaring His promise of eternal life. He has come. He has died and risen. He will come again.

Written by Sarah Wood