I am posting these thoughts on the Thursday before Easter Sunday, the day many Christians refer to as Maundy Thursday.
Mark 14:22-25 (NIV) says:
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
When Jesus gave the Lord’s Supper to his disciples, He did not simply pull two random items off a shelf, or grab them from the pantry.
Rather, He thoughtfully selected two familiar, well understood items from the Passover table. It was a carefully prepared table around which Jesus was celebrating the most holy of meals with His friends.
Passover had always been a meal with great symbolism and significance, but two elements from that meal were about to take on even greater meaning than the disciples could possibly understand.
Passover was a meal which was consumed each year in community; in the immediate company of family, neighbors & friends. But also, in community with all Abraham, Isaac & Jacob’s descendants throughout the village, throughout Judea, and throughout the world.
Today, each time you and I celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we also do so “in community”; certainly, in community with family & friends who are seated beside us, and in community with brothers and sisters in Christ who are seated throughout the space where we worship.
But we also celebrate this meal in community with brothers & sisters in Christ across our nation, and throughout the world.
When we celebrate communion, let us focus our thoughts and our hearts on the One who set the table for us, the One whose body & precious blood we remember as we partake, and whose promise we so cherish:
“Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
We have this hope; one day, you and I will sit at the table with Jesus!
As I think about that promise, I am reminded of a second Scripture, one that was penned by another disciple who was seated at the table, celebrating Passover with our Savior that very night.
In Revelation 7:9,10 the apostle John writes:
9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
I look forward to joining with you, and each precious soul who will form that great multitude. Together, in community, united by a common love, we will worship our crucified, risen, and triumphant Lord and Savior throughout all of eternity!