Remembering Jesus
Do this in remembrance of me 1 Corinthians 11: 23- 26
No part of our worship is more distinctively Christian than the Lord's Supper. It has been a precious part of the church's life through the centuries, at all times, in seasons of revival and days of persecution, right back to that upper room scene and the words of Jesus, This do in remembrance of me. At times it has been the focus of the bitterest controversies. The English Reformers suffered and died chiefly for their denial of the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Mass. In the previous century even the great European Reformers could not agree – Luther and Zwingli had their now famous debate at Marburg in 1529. While Zwingli argued that the bread and wine simply represented Christ's body and blood, Luther chalked on the table ‘Hoc est corpus meum’ – ‘This is my body’, and demanded a literal understanding of the words.
My purpose is not to fight again the battles of long ago, but to encourage you to a fresh appreciation of the privilege of coming to the Lord's Table. Because of our continued sinfulness, whatever is regular and common practice is in danger of being treated with neglect and even contempt. That is not an argument for less frequent communions, I hasten to add, but for more serious thought and greater expectation of spiritual benefit.
Here are some lines of thought to help us move forward:
1. There is a wonderful simplicity about the Lord's Supper as it is set out in the New Testament. Paul sums it up in just these four verses in 1 Corinthians 11. No detailed instruction; nothing about frequency, only as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup. Leavened or unleavened bread? - no, just bread. And the wine? - just wine. All this in stark contrast to Old Testament sacrifices and ceremonies - so detailed, so precise. Why the change? The Lord's Supper is a New Covenant meal and so is in keeping with that new dispensation. The sacrifices and ceremonies and rich furnishings are gone, all fulfilled in Christ. The Saviour has appeared, the atonement is made, the Spirit is come. The glory of our worship is a hidden glory, seen only by the eye of faith. So let's keep the simplicity of the supper - no detailed liturgy, no added ceremonial - and let us come in faith, looking for the Saviour in this memorial meal.
2. There is rich fellowship. Verses 16 and 17 of the previous chapter are especially helpful here. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? (AV). Modern translations try to help us here by translating ‘communion’ as ‘participation in’. What we have here is the New Testament word for ‘fellowship’ - ‘koinonia’. The question is, in what sense do we ‘share in’ the body and blood of Christ as we participate in the Lord's Supper? Certainly not in any literal sense - Rome and Luther were wrong here. No! We have ‘communion’ with the body and blood of Christ in the sense that by faith we share in the benefits of his death. As we come to the table in faith, looking for Christ in the supper, so we receive fresh supplies of his grace, a new assurance, and the peace of sins forgiven.
So let us come to this precious meal in renewed faith and expectancy. Then we shall find it to be more and more a foretaste of ‘the Lamb's great bridal feast of bliss and love’.