Have you ever eaten a year-old frozen wedding cake? This 19th-century wedding tradition calls for couples to save the top tier of their cake to be frozen and eaten on their first anniversary.
I found myself laughing as I read accounts of newlyweds thawing out their expired confection only to find, not surprisingly, that it did not taste very good. They had a good laugh together, and before they got rid of the last culinary bit of their special day, they remembered their vows and their covenant of love. Receiving communion with our church community is kind of like that.
It’s about remembering.
On the night when Jesus was arrested, he sat down with his closest friends to a special meal called the Passover. It commemorated the moment, around 1500 years earlier, when God supernaturally delivered the nation of Israel from the harsh hands of the Egyptian slave masters. This “Passover” event centered around the night when a terrible plague was to pass through the land of Egypt. God, in judgment of wayward Egypt, would take the lives of every first born of every household. Except those that followed this command:
On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. – Exodus 12:3, 7-13
Imagine chaos and death going on right outside your door while you are sitting down with your family to a meal. The plague comes close to your dwelling but “passes over” your home because the blood of a lamb was applied to your doorframe. How thankful would you be for that lamb? How grateful would you be that God included you and your family in his plan of salvation and deliverance?
This particular Passover with Jesus was going to be different. Here is Luke’s account of what happened:
After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” – Luke 22: 14-20
Jesus is saying this is the last thing I am going to eat before everything changes.
What would change?
The freedom of the first Passover would now be extended to all people, everywhere. Not just freedom from slavery to a wicked empire, but freedom from sin and death.
Jesus would go on to be crucified for the sake of all humankind whom he loved so much. Just as the Jewish nation was commanded to never forget the night of Passover, Jesus instructed the same: “Never forget what I have done for you.”
The first followers of Jesus included this “communion” supper in many of their gatherings. Except for them it was not the small cracker and sip of wine, but a huge meal!
They would come together, young and old, rich and poor, across all socioeconomic and cultural divides, to celebrate new life in Christ. They shared the bread and the wine together and remembered His sacrifice.
At one point, the church in Corinth got sidetracked. Their communion feasts got out of control. They put the rich first in line and shunned the poor among them. As a result, the wealthy got drunk while the poor went away hungry. They completely forgot the point of what communion was all about. Paul sent them this letter:
Paul had to remind them that communion was not just any meal. It was meant to commemorate the extreme humility, sacrifice, and love shown to all of us by Jesus.
When we approach this table, we should do so with sobriety, gratitude, and a belief that Jesus is who He said He is. As we receive, we not only revel in the mercy that has been shown to us but also to the people around us.
What happens at the table of communion should be a foundation for all the other tables we find ourselves at.
In our hurried culture, communion is often a short moment of reverence and worship with a small cup and thin wafer. But it is no less powerful. Next time we sip the grape juice and take the bit of bread, let’s take a moment to remember the history, consider one another, and honor the One who made our salvation possible.
