Do This to Remember Me

Luke 22:19-20

[Jesus] took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.

Do This to Remember Me

Once per week – one a month for many, perhaps even so seldom as once per year for some – we come together to celebrate that phenomenon that we call the Lord’s Supper, a commemoration of this very supper on the night of Passover before Good Friday, when Jesus Christ was put to death. Our Lord named these two things – the bread and the fruit of the vine – as the symbols of his body and his blood, and he asked us to remember him by these things. What we often fail to realize is, the men who ate with our Lord that night did not enjoy bread and wine only at the first day of the week, or only at the High Holy Days; these were staples of their every meal. The Lord has given us a much more profound symbol through which to remember him than an occasional ceremonial supper.

To us, “bread” is not just grain – it is the very thing that sustains us; it is food. Through it, we remember the body of Christ, given and broken for us once and for all, but also that Christ Himself is the Bread of Life, the very substance of our sustenance. He is the Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and it is not by bread alone, but by Him that we live.

To us, “fruit of the vine” is not just wine – it is the liquid that quenches our thirst; it is drink. Through it, we remember the blood of Christ that washes us clean, but also of the New Covenant between God and his Church, the promise of Living Water, a wellspring of the Spirit dwelling within us, through which we may never thirst again.

It is good for us to come together as the Body of Christ to share this supper together, but this is only the surface of the symbol. Whenever food fills our bellies – not just when we break our little bit of unleavened bread – we should remember and give thanks for the Bread of Life, and the Word of God. Whenever we touch drink to our lips – not just when we take a tiny cup of juice – we remember and give thanks for the Blood of the New Covenant, and the spring of Living Water. When we hunger and thirst for food and drink, we should remember to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and we will be filled!