Thursday April 1st
Luke 22:7-20
NIV (vv19-20) – ‘And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”’
ESV (vv19-20) – ‘And he took 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.”’
We will pause from the book of Hebrews for the next few days as we prepare to come to the Easter weekend, and we will mediate on some of the happenings of that weekend.
In our reading today we find that Jesus spent the evening with his disciples sharing the Passover with them. The week had been spent which much conversation as Jesus had taught them and had also sought to encourage them owing to his pending departure via Calvary. It is during this time in the upper room sharing the Passover that Jesus institutes what we now refer to as Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Table, one of the two Sacraments which we follow, the other being that of Water Baptism.
When we share in communion on a Sunday morning we usually take our reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 11 verses 23-26, here Paul is laying out to the Church the (for want of a better word) formula which is usually followed for the partaking of this sacrament. ‘For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’
I suppose if we are not careful we can make our partaking of Communion on a regular basis as just something we do, but it is important that we keep reminding ourselves it is something that is important for it points back to the most important events that have ever happened in the history of the world and at the same time points forward to another important event that is yet to take place, the day when Jesus comes again and takes to be with himself all that have put their faith and trust in him. For the disciples when they shared in this first Lord’s Supper on that evening the events of the Cross and the resurrection hadn’t taken place, but were literally just hours away, in fact it is from that upper room that Jesus went to the garden and prayed that all important prayer (‘“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”’ Lk 22:42) which led on toward his arrest, his suffering, and his death.
As we come to this another Easter weekend, may we centre our thoughts completely upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and today take the words from the ‘formula’ we use, ‘Do this in remembrance of me’ and remember him and thank God again for his indescribable gift to the world, the Lord Jesus Christ who came into this world to save sinners, to save you and to save me. And as we meditate again upon the events of that weekend, remind ourselves that he is coming again, as we learned from the book Hebrews last week, ‘and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.’ (9:28)
When we take the words from the ‘formula’, ‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’ It reminds us as I have already mentioned that we look back – to his death, and we look forward – to his coming again. Can I put it this way we look back to the Cross and we look forward to the Cloud! For just as he was taken up from the sight of the disciples in a cloud, so he will come again, to take us to be with himself. (Acts 1:9 -11 ‘And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”’)