IN REMEMBRANCE by Pastor Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson
Introduction: How many of you would agree that smells can trigger a memory from the past? You’re at a hotel swimming pool and the smell of chlorine reminds you of playing in the pool as a kid. You smell apple pie and it takes you back to grandma’s house. Every fall when Nicole smells leaves burning, it takes her back to when she would help her dad in the yard as a little girl. For me, it’s the smell of leather that takes me back to when I would polish my dad’s shoes as a little boy. For each of these flashbacks to work, you have to be there in the past. In today’s message, we’re going to have a flashback to a meal 2000 years ago. I’m talking about the final meal that Jesus ate with his disciples before going to the cross! You’re thinking, how can I remember a meal from 2000 years ago when I wasn’t there! If you have received Christ as your Savior and King, you were there. Let the word jog your memory. Let the scriptures override your senses.
1 Corinthians 11 23For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the samenight in which He was betrayed took bread; 24and when He had given thanks, He brokeitand said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25In the same mannerHealsotookthe cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drinkit,in remembrance of Me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Question: Do you remember what happened 2000 years ago? Can you see Jesus passing the bread and the cup to you? Has there been a time in your life when you asked him to be your Savior and your King? Are you saved?
Context: If there’s one subject that Christians disagree over more than any other, it’s probably the Communion. It’s right up there with Baptism. Just think of the many names we have for it, just in English: Holy Communion, The Lord’s Supper, The Lord’s Table, The Eucharist, The Mass, The Sacrament of the Altar, The Blessed Sacrament, The Breaking of the Bread, The Bread and the Wine, and so on and on. One major reason for these disagreements is that through the centuries people have taken Paul’s words in I Corinthians 11out of its Jewish setting.This was not just any ordinary meal. It was a Passover Meal. Even though John tells us in his gospel that the Passover was the next day, I believe that Jesus knew that he was going to die on that Friday as God’s Passover Lamb and so he chose to celebrate Passover on Thursday evening with his disciples. We mistakenly think that all the lambs had to be butchered at the temple. By the time of Jesus, there were so many pilgrims coming to Jerusalem for the Passover that it was impossible to do that. So, people slaughtered their own Paschal lambs.
When we examine this meal carefully, it has all the markings of the Passover Meal.In verse 25 it says,“In the same manner He also took the cup after supper. . .” What is the cup after supper? There were 4 cups at the Passover Meal: 1. The first cup was poured as the Father recited his blessing over the wine and over the day. 2. The second cup was poured and the son asked questions about the special food of the meal. 3. The third cup was poured after the supper as the Father recited grace after the meal. 4 The fourth cup was poured and the Father recited the Hallel and the blessing over the song. Guess which cup is being referred to in I Corinthians 11:25? The third cup. This was the Cup of Blessing, which Jesus recast as the Cup of the New Covenant in his blood. Can you imagine how this must have puzzled the disciples?
By the way, let me say very quickly – Jesus did not drink the final fourth cup with them. Listen toMatthew 26 29“ ‘But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.’ 30And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” Why did he not drink the 4thcup?Two reasons: First, he still had to shed his blood as the Passover Lamb; Second, he wanted all of us to join him around the table in his Father’s Kingdom.
Application:Are you looking forward to that banquet table? Many of us grew up in homes and families where people did not get along. You wish you could have one of those Norman Rockwell family get togethers with everyone around the dinner table. People in your family are at odds with each other over things that happened 30 years ago or 3 days ago. There is coming a day when all disagreements will be put aside and it will be the banquet of eternity! Will you be there? Only if you know Christ as your Savior.
There’s something more. Go back to verse 23“. . . the Lord Jesus on the samenight in which He was betrayed took bread; 24and when He had given thanks, He brokeitand said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you. . .” This bread was the unleavened Passover Bread. It commemorated the night of the Passover in Egypt when God told them not to waste any time to let the dough rise. Deuteronomy 16:3refers to it as “the bread of affliction.”Jesus did not give the typically explanation of the meaning of the bread but he changed its representation to himself and told them to eat it saying in verse 24 “. . . do this in remembrance of Me.” Why did he do this? Jesus was pointing back to Exodus 12:14 “So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.” The memorial was not just for the first generation but for all generations. The Mishnah (Oral Torah) tells us how they understood the word “memorial” – “In each and every generation a person must view himself as though he personally left Egypt. . .” By the way, the name of the Rabbi who said that was Gamaliel, the mentor of Paul.
When Jesus told them to eat the bread and the bread was him and drink the cup and it was his blood, he was telling his disciples that they were sharing with him in his substitutionary existence. This does not mean that they were going to suffer and physically die along with him for their sins. They were only spiritually connected with him as he was dying for them. But, in the process, they were also dying. Same thing with the cup. By drinking, they were also sharing with him in his substitutionary existence. This does not mean that their physical blood was going to be shed for their sins. They were only spiritual connected with him as he was dying for them. But, in the process, they were also dying and being buried.
How does this apply to us? When Jesus said “do this in remembrance of me,” he wasn’t talking to just the first disciples. He was also speaking to us in every generation. Just like the Jewish Passover, where every person was to view himself/herself as if he/she personally left Egypt, when we partake of the Communion, we are to see ourselves sitting in the room 2000 years ago on the night before Jesus went to the cross. Listen to I Corinthians 10 16“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17For we, thoughmany, are one breadandone body; for we all partake of that one bread.”All this is to be done by faith.
Closing: There is no other religion like Christianity where the founder is connected beyond time to every person who has received him and every person who has received him is connected to each other. Baptism also does the same thing but it’s our individual identification with Christ and Communion is our corporate identification with Christ. Do you know Christ as your Savior and King? Are you connected with him right now?
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