Do This in Remembrance of Me

"While they were eating, [Jesus] too some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is My body." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

~ Mark 14:22-25 ~

   Why do we take the Lord's Supper? It is a time to remember Jesus and what he did for us, corporately and in a multisensory way.

   The Lord's Supper began the night before Jesus was to be crucified. It was his final time with his disciples before the cross, and he chose to teach them during the Passover meal. The Passover meal was designed to be a time to teach Israel through a multisensory and symbolic meal about God's deliverance of his people. Every year they would remember how God saved them out of slavery in Egypt.

   So as Jesus was about to perform the act of atonement necessary to set many free from slavery to sin, he chose to Passover as the time to teach them about it. He said, "Do this in remembrance of me." Whereas previously they were to remember the Exodus, they were to now remember Jesus. Jesus is essentially saying, "Do this in remembrance of what I did to rescue you from slavery to sin." This is why Jesus came. If you remember in Matthew 1:21, the angel told Joseph to name his son Jesus "because He will save his people form their sins."

"Do this in remembrance of what I did
to rescue you from slavery to sin."

   We eat the Lord's Supper to remember Jesus and what he did for us. His blood had to be shed, his body had to be broken, and he had to drink of the cup of the full wrath of a holy God in order to pay the penalty that our sin requires. When we drink of the cup and eat of the bread, we remember how costly this salvation is that we have been given.

   So the next time you eat the Lord's Supper with fellow believers, be filled with gratefulness and praise to our wonderful Savior!