For as often as you eat this bread and drink
the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. - 1 Corinthians 11:26
The Lord’s Supper is such a dynamic meal. Consisting
of a small cracker and sip of juice, is packed the explosive power of the
gospel to transform our hearts and minds. While it may not bring any physical sustenance,
in communion we find a feast for our souls that will not leave us wanting. It
is no surprise that there is a lot of confusion and even apathy over the
partaking of a seemingly stale cracker and plastic thimble-size cup of juice.
It is a strange thing to those looking in and maybe it is even a meaningless
activity of weekly monotony to some within, but in communion there is an
eternal spread of grace and glory for our souls to feast on.
Jesus told His disciples in His commencement of
communion at the Last Supper, that this meal was to be taken in remembrance of
Him. In the broken bread and juice we are reminded of eternity past. We are
reminded of a God who, before time began, had set in place our means of
ultimate redemption. (Eph. 1:4-10) We are reminded of a time in history past
when the Son of God allowed His body to be broken and His blood to be shed that
His people might be saved. (Matt. 26:26-28) Communion is a divine dramatization
of the death of Jesus. Every week as we bring the meal to our lips we are to be
reminded through all of our senses of the glory of the gospel. As David Mathis
wrote the Supper is, “an act of new-covenant renewal, a repeated rite
of continuing fellowship and ongoing perseverance in our embrace of the gospel.”
The Supper is more than just a meal for past
memory but is also a proclamation of present reality. Paul says that every time
we eat the bread and drink from the cup we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he
comes.” (1 Cor. 11:26) In this Supper we find a multitude of daily graces
bestowed on us by the Holy Spirit. We are blessed with the grace of obedience
in following Jesus’ command. We find the graces of the gospel that proclaim the
death of our Savior in our place and so now our death to sin in this world. At
the Table we as a church are brought by the presence and power of God’s Spirit,
to proclaim the death of God’s Son, to the glory of God the Father. There is a
spiritual union among God’s people with our Trinitarian God that happens in
communion that powerful and sustaining for the Christian life.
The final piece of this eternal banquet is told
in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Our small meal here in this world is just a
taste of the feast in the world to come. At the Table we look forward to the
days in eternity future. There, at the consummation of God’s Kingdom, we will
join with the family of God to feast and delight in all that He is and will be
for us. (Rev. 19:6-9) The Supper week to week with our local church family is
just small picture of what is to come, and it is a small meal here because we
know that nothing in this life can compare with the buffet of glory that is to
come.
So come this Lord’s Day and celebrate the Lord’s
Supper. Come and remember the eternal story of redemption. Come marvel at and
proclaim the Lord’s death and all its majesty. Come and feast with your family
on the promises of God for what is to come at the consummation and restoration
of the Kingdom of God. Come, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Ps. 38:4)
