A symbol of God’s love
April 13, 2008 (Sunday)
The Lord’s Supper is one of the two ordinances of the church, the other being Baptism. The Lord’s Supper is to be observed periodically by the church to commemorate the death of Jesus. When He died, He died for us.
The occasion for the first observance of the Lord’s Supper was the observance of Passover by Jesus and his disciples, in an upper room prepared especially for the occasion. Groups – mainly families – were meeting to participate in the Passover meal in many places throughout the city of Jerusalem that night. During the Passover meal, which celebrated God’s grace in delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt, Jesus donned the garb of a household slave, and washed the feet of the disciples, as a lesson in humility. In a matter of hours Jesus would be arrested, and at 3:00 p.m. on the following day, he would die on a cruel Roman cross. Here at the table, Jesus picked up the bread and cup of wine and said to his followers, “This is my body; this is my blood,” meaning the bread and wine were symbols of the giving of his life to save all mankind. Just as God had sealed his covenant with Israel with blood, so the new covenant of grace is sealed with the blood of his own dear Son.
When Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor 11) about their observance of the Lord’s Supper, he chided them for doing it in an unworthy manner. They had lost the reverence of the moment, were gluttonous and even drunk as they ate a full meal with it. Some people have misread his warning to the Corinthians, thinking Paul was saying to all believers that they must be living a perfect life to observe the Lord’s Supper. Alas, none of us is perfect. When one such woman, afraid to observe the ordinance with the church because of sin in her life, turned down the bread and wine, the pastor came to her, and strongly said, “Take it, woman! It’s for sinners!” All of us should participate in the observance of the Lord’s Supper because it is a testimony that God loves us all.
Paul wrote, “As you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again.” That’s it. The ordinance is a sermon, preached by the congregation: “Christ died for all.”