Remembering You

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The meditation today comes from the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 11: 20-30. All quotations are from the New Living Translation and are used with permission.

My hope is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!

Transcript

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my meditation today is, "Remembering You." I read from 1 Corinthians 11: 20-30. All Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation and are used with permission.

20 When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. 21 For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. 22 What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!

23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.

There is no letter to the Hebrew Christians correcting their practice of observing the Lord’s Supper. From observing the Passover and Sabbath over millennia, they were used to eating meals in which the food they ate had symbolic significance. The Gentile Christians also had millennia of experience participating in various festivals in which debauchery was part of the tribute paid to their gods. Then the Gentiles left their idols and philosophies behind to follow Jesus. For the Gentile convert, living as a Christian and being part of a community of Christians, the church, was challenging and each day brought new understanding and new changes. As you know from reading Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, they missed the mark with celebrating the Lord’s Supper. No, it’s not about eating food and getting drunk for how can someone who is drunk going to be able to focus on Jesus and the greater spiritual significance of the bread and wine. You mock Jesus and disrespect His sacrifice. No, you can’t ignore your poor brothers and sisters by failing to provide bread and wine for them to observe the Lord’s Supper. Your brothers and sisters are your neighbors, and you must love them and look out for them. Together, you are the body of Christ, the church, and the church belongs to Jesus. Otherwise, you mock Jesus and disrespect His church. No, Corinth, the Lord’s Supper is not a repurposed pagan festival; it is something special and you must hear again the words of Jesus about what to do and what it means. Before you rise in judgment against our Christian ancestors in Corinth, I believe Paul would have much to say to the church today about how the Lord’s Supper is observed. After detailing our faults, He would sum up by reminding us of Jesus’s words on the night He was betrayed. I am glad we read them as part of our observance of the Lord’s Supper. They help us stay focused on Jesus and His sacrifice for us. Let us pray.

Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Thank-you, Jesus, for this blessed time You established so that we can pause and remember Your sacrifice for us. We are thankful for how it draws us closer to You and each other. In His name I pray. Amen.

Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26: 26-28 (NLT).

26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.

27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.

And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"

Until next time, from Numbers 6: 24-26, "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace."

Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!