“And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (1Corinthians 11:24-25)
Both Paul and Luke when writing about the Last Supper include the phrase “in remembrance of Me.” Luke is the only Gospel in which this phrase is included. It seems that both Paul and Luke wrote of this episode in Jesus’ life from the account of those who were at the Last Supper since neither were present at that time. Both Paul’s and Luke’s account were not firsthand, but the fact that they both wrote about it lends credibility to the fact that this is what Jesus said, and that it was important to include for both of them. Even though Luke did not have firsthand experience of the things he wrote, he wrote them in order that Theophilus, to whom he was writing, would know with certainty about the Good News. (Luke 1:4) We know of Paul’s zeal to promote the Good News to the Gentiles. He also is prompted to include this phrase. Luke wrote as accurately as possible and Paul wrote as earnestly as possible, “in remembrance of Me.”
Charles H Spurgeon in writing about the verse in 1 Corinthians thinks these words were spoken by Jesus because knowing human nature, we will forget. I don’t think Jesus said this meaning that individuals will forget the Last Supper or the redemptive sacrifice, but that in future generations we do forget. If one generation is lax in a tradition, soon it’s totally forgotten in the next generation. Its very possibility was probably in Jesus’ mind. And so, He establishes this memorial of His redemptive sacrifice in the Last Supper for the church.
The Old Testament is full of memorials. These memorials were instituted as holy days or feast days so that the people would not forget the work of God. To mention a couple there’s the Passover, a memorial of how God passed over the Jews because of the blood on the lintel and posts of the door and death came to the first born of every Egyptian and their creatures forcing Pharoh to free the enslaved Israelites. There’s Hanukkah a memorial of how God drove Antiochus out of Israel. We Christians have Easter, a memorial of the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. We have Palm Sunday a remembrance of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. And we have the Lord’s Supper a remembrance of the redemptive work of Jesus in us. Some churches celebrate it at every service. Others designate it to once a month, still others only occasionally.
When we take the bread, we remember the body of Christ which was wounded and bruised for our sin and iniquity. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) Every wound of the flogging should have been ours because of our sins. But He took it for us. And it is, not was, but is for our healing. Both the Hebrew word used in Isaiah and the Greek word used in 1 Peter mean to cure and make healthy. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1Peter 2:24)
It is not the ritual itself that heals. Some say to take the Lord’s supper for healing. It’s the remembrance of the work of Jesus. We, meaning mankind, get things so mixed up. It’s remembering and pleading the suffering of Jesus for our physical healing. It’s commanding our physical body to come in line, to obey the Word of God and to conform to the work of Jesus. We will get sick, be attacked by viruses and other diseases in this world, because we physically live in this world bodily. But we have the promise of healing and deliverance. I personally have not read anywhere in the Bible that we will live in divine health. But we do in a way, because Jesus heals us of all our diseases. And if the healing delays, God uses what the devil intended for evil to glorify Himself. (Genesis 50:20) Paul wrote it a little differently. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
I am reminded of the time I suffered from Gillain Barre Syndrome. It was a puzzling time. I did ask why and wondered what all this meant. Every test and exam available were administered. One of those tests was an x-ray of my chest. God only knows why a chest x-ray was ordered, but it was and showed a spot on my lungs. Within a year that spot was surgically removed with no metastasis at all. Had I not been stricken with Gillain Barre, the spot would not have been found until it would have been too late for recovery. God is so good. He truly wants us strong and healthy. He provided for our health in the injured body of Christ. It is a testimony of His goodness and sovereign love and care for His children.
Then in drinking the cup of juice or wine we remember the blood that was shed for our cleansing, our purification from sin. His body took the punishment. His blood cleansed us. “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1John 1:7)
There is another thing that the remembrance of the suffering of Jesus provides for us. “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4) Do you grieve some affliction, loneliness or loss? Jesus bore that grief, that sorrow, that loneliness or that loss for us. When we are suffering grief remember He took that too. Go to Him. Thank Him and allow Him to comfort you. That comfort will be healing to your soul.
When you take the Lord’s supper remember the redemptive work of Jesus. Remember the stripes He took for us. And remember the grief He took so that we could be cured completely, spirit, soul (mind, will and emotionally) and physically.
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