“And when He
had given thanks, He broke it and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is
broken for you: do this in remembrance of Me.
In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup
is the new covenant in My blood: this do, as often as you drink it, in
remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25)
Sometimes
also called “The Lords Supper” or “The Last Supper”, communion is a tradition,
started by Jesus, that we do in remembrance of the sacrifice He made in dying
on the cross. The original last supper
was a Passover feast dinner held with Jesus and all twelve of His disciples. It was at this feast that Jesus told them one
of them would betray him and also where He washed the disciples feet. By sharing in the breaking of bread and the
drinking out of the same cup of wine, they were sharing in the pending
crucifixion of their Master and Lord.
Today, we eat a cracker and drink a small bit of juice in remembrance of
what Jesus has done for us. It is
symbolizing that we too, share in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
by accepting Him, believing in Him, and living our lives for Him on a daily
basis.
Jesus body
was beaten, bruised, tortured, and spit on as He gave His life for us. His physical body was broken. We symbolize this as we eat of the unleavened
bread, or cracker, that represents His body.
His blood was shed as they placed a crown oF thorns on His head, and as
they whipped Him, and as the nails pressed into His hands and feet. We symbolize the blood that washes away our
sins with the drink of the grape juice.
Communion is
also a celebration. In accepting Jesus
as our Savior, confessing our sins, being cleansed from our unrighteousness and
made righteous and holy in God’s eyes through Him, communion is more than just
a remembrance of the pain Jesus suffered, it is also a celebration of the
beauty of our salvation. It should make
us more thankful and more earnest in our relationship with Jesus as we
celebrate what He suffered so that we could be whole, healed, set free, and
saved.
Communion
should not be taken lightly though. Each
one of us needs to search our own hearts and souls prior to the taking of
communion, confessing any sins that we have yet to repent of, and also asking
God to search our hearts for any areas of our lives we have refused to
surrender to Him, that we do so.
Communion is not required for your salvation. Communion does not save you. Communion does not get you into Heaven. But, communion is a tradition that we do to
honor, reflect, and celebrate what Jesus did for us.
Read John
Chapter 18.
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