Have You Forgotten?
We celebrated Memorial Day on Monday in this country. A memorial is something that is used to remind people of a particular person or event. Here in the U.S., Memorial Day is meant to remind us of the many military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is a day to mourn those who gave their lives for our freedom. As I contemplated Memorial Day this year, I began to think about the ultimate memorial in the life of a believer.
Shortly before Jesus was crucified, He shared a meal with His disciples that we call the Last Supper (Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-25, Luke 22:7-30). I have heard the story multiple times, but last weekend, I actually sat down and contemplated the whole thing. This is the only thing that I am aware of that Jesus commands us to do in remembrance of Him. This memorial is a command for every believer.
Paul reminds us of this command in his first letter to the church in Corinth. The church in Corinth was struggling with division, arrogance, and all sorts of other things that needed to be addressed. In chapter 11, Paul reminds them of this command from Jesus and details how it ought to be done.
First, we are to look back and remember the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. He gave His blood and His life for our freedom. Not only that, He took on our sins and took the punishment that we deserved. As if all this wasn’t enough, He endured a period of separation from God so that we never had to experience what separation from God felt like. This is the part that I often neglect to remember. Yes, He was beaten, spit on, insulted, nailed to a cross, and left to bleed to death in front of the masses, but that paled in comparison to experiencing separation from God.
I may be getting a little controversial here, but I believe that this reminder is not just for us. I believe this is a reminder for God as well. The sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross on our behalf established a new covenant between us and God. Jesus became our direct link to God the Father through His death and resurrection. Entering into this covenant purifies us. We are made clean in the eyes of God. When He looks at us, He sees His one and only Son in this new covenant. Therefore, when we “do this in remembrance of me”, it is a memorial act for us and God. In Genesis, God puts a rainbow in the clouds after the flood and says that He will remember His promise not to flood the earth again every time He sees a rainbow in the clouds (Genesis 9:16). I believe that every time we participate in communion it serves as a reminder of this new covenant for us as well as God.
The second thing is to examine ourselves to see where we might not be holding up our end of the covenant. If Christ is reflecting Himself back to God on our behalf, are we doing everything in our power to reflect Christ to the world through our lives? Are we living as reflections of Christ to the best of our ability? Where do we need to repent and start again? Where have we fallen ill or asleep in our faith (1 Corinthians 11:30)? Are we making sure to put healthy things in and exercise our spiritual disciplines in order to strengthen our spiritual immune system?
Communion is not only a reminder of what has been done for us, but should also serve as a reminder of what we agreed to do when we entered into this covenant. It is a time to stop and evaluate our lives. It is a check point and a pit stop. It is a time to pause and see if there are any areas that need to be addressed and then address them before continuing on in this race we call life.
The last thing is to look forward and rejoice. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). When we participate in communion, we show Christ’s death until He comes again. This is our reminder that He is coming back! This is our encouragement. Knowing that He is coming back again brings us hope and helps sustain us when life gets hard. Yes, Christ left earth and ascended to heaven, but that is not the end of the story. He promised to return for us one day (Matthew 26:29, Luke 22:16, Mark 14:25), and we are to continue this memorial act until that day comes.
Memorial Day tends to be about long weekend trips and cook outs these days. It is easy to forget what others had to endure in order for us to have the freedom to go away for long weekends. The same is true in our faith. It is easy for communion to become just another ritual, something that the church does every now and then. It is easy to forget how monumental it really is in the life of a believer.
Communion should strengthen and encourage us. It should be a time to rid ourselves of the things that have crept unnoticed into our lives. It should be a time of thanksgiving for what has been done on our behalf. Most of all, it should be a time of rejoicing and worship with an expectant heart. It is a time to remember that no matter what battles we face, we have no need to fear and can have peace knowing that the war has already been won for us. Through communion, we should be reminded of our past and repentant of our present, so we can be joyful about our future.