Thoughts From Luke - Day 94

                                          Luke 22:14-22

 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
¹⁷ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸ For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
¹⁹ 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.”
²⁰ 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. ²¹ But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. ²² The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!”


            The Passover meal, the seder. This is something Jews do every year and the details are fascinating as the Old Testament celebration turned into a scripted feast that has Jesus written all over it. In fact, he had to die during this feast to fulfill it. Here, in this passage, he shows them how the unleavened bread, representing His body - without yeast (represents sin), is broken and has to be taken in to our inmost being to forgive our sins. Then the same is said for the wine representing His blood which we must take into us for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus turned this part of the ancient Passover celebration into a remembrance that the Church today celebrates to signify that we are trusting in His death for the forgiveness of our sins. But it is also a remembrance. How so?

         First of all, we get so caught up in the daily grind and even in the service of the Lord that we forget to remember why we are doing it, how we got there, and who it is we are serving. Just like the 12 tribes of Israel were told to take 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan River as they passed thru the parted river to remember what God did for them every time they passed those stones, so communion is to remind us of all Jesus did for us. Every time we take it we remember how He suffered and died for us on the cross and we are brought back into that awe, wonder, and love for Him. Also, secondly, the communion ordinance reminds us that Jesus is coming again. Jesus said to the disciples that he would not drink from the wine again until He comes back. We see this in Revelation as we partake at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. During the Seder there were four cups of wine poured. The third cup was the one from which Jesus instituted communion. The 4th was a concluding cup called the cup of praise. Jesus did not drink from this one but says that this one is reserved for when I come back and I call my bride up. Then we will celebrate with praise.

        Do you have remembrances built into your life? Certainly Communion is a great one but if you are from the baptist tradition like me, you probably only do it 4 times a year and if you are from the Catholic or Lutheran tradition you do it so regularly that you have become numb to it. We need something else. I keep a notebook where I record evidences in my life of God working that I go back to and remind myself of His presence in my life. I have a piece of granite rock on my desk that reminds me of God's power. This was given to me by a missionary to Brazil who saved the pieces of rock struck by lightening that seemed to be an insurmountable obstacle to building a church on a piece of land until God blew it up it with lightening. Lately, I have been taking advantage of Christian movies to remind me of what Christ has done for me. I know what you are thinking, Christian movies are lame. I know, but every time I watch something like War Room, God's Not Dead 1&2, I Am Not Ashamed, Case For Christ, I am moved to tears when I think of the reality of what I believe. They challenge me and renew my faith regardless of how critically acclaimed or unclaimed they are.

         What remembrances are you availing yourself to? You need to have some.