Remember

I’ve mentioned this before, but in the church, there’s something I like to call Christianese. It’s language we use in the church, but rarely outside of it. For example, we have words like “redemption.” I don’t know about in Japan, but in the States, that is not really a word we use a whole lot outside of the church.

Sometimes we talk about “redeeming ourselves”, which means we really messed up but we somehow make up for it. For example, in the last Olympics, Ryuichi Kihara really messed up during one figure skating event, but he “redeemed” himself in the last one, winning the gold medal with his partner.

That’s totally different, though, from what we mean when we talk about Jesus redeeming us.

“Communion” is another Christianese word.

As with “redemption”, “communion” is just not a word we use outside of the church, but it does have meaning. In English, “communion” has the idea of being in close relationship with someone. But what’s the connection between having a close relationship with someone and having a cracker and grape juice?

The Japanese word isn’t much clearer. 聖餐式 essentially means “a holy meal”. But this holy meal is a cracker and a small cup of grape juice? What’s that about?

Well, for Jesus, communion had one main purpose: to help us remember. Remember what, though? The easy answer is to remember the cross and what Jesus did for us there. But is that all he wanted us to remember? Or is there something more he wanted to imprint on our hearts and minds? Let’s take a look at Luke 22 and find out.

We’re looking at the final hours of Jesus’ life in this series and his final words to his disciples before he was arrested and went to the cross. Obviously, if you know you’re going to die soon, you want to make every word you say to the ones you love count. And the words Jesus spoke to his disciples in this passage were certainly memorable.

Jesus and his disciples were celebrating the Passover, a feast in which the Jews remembered God’s delivering them from slavery in Egypt. And as Jesus sat down with his disciples, he said this in verse 15.

I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. (15-16)

Talk about starting the conversation with a bang. I mean, how many times have you ever said something like that before a festive meal? “I just wanted to celebrate this Christmas dinner with you before I suffer.”

Anybody here ever say something like that?

Still, it shouldn’t have come as a total shock to his disciples. Just a few days earlier he had told them, “The Passover is coming in a couple days and I’m going to be crucified soon. You know that, right?” (Mathew 26:2)

That said, this was one of those things that the disciples never could quite wrap their heads around. They could just never seem to accept that Jesus literally meant this. Why not? Because they were so certain of what the Messiah should be. That he would conquer the Romans, set up his kingdom and make Israel great again. So this idea of Jesus being crucified just never made sense to them. But here again, Jesus says, “I’m going to suffer soon. And I‘m not going to eat another Passover until it’s fulfilled in God’s kingdom.”

What did he mean by the Passover being fulfilled in God’s Kingdom? I think Jesus wanted them to see that the Passover not only pointed backwards to what God had done for them in Egypt, but also forward to what God was going to do to bring about his Kingdom.

It’s interesting that in the Passover meal, the Jews drank four cups of wine. We only see two of them in Luke’s account, but there were four. And each pointed to a promise God gave Moses before he confronted Pharaoh. Look at Exodus 6:6-7.

Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. (Exodus 6:6-7)

God made four promises to Israel: I will bring you out from this land of forced labor. I will rescue you from the power of the Egyptians that have enslaved you. I will redeem you from them. And I will take you to be my people and I will be your God.

By the way, the third promise contains that Christianese word, “redeem” that we talked about earlier. In the Bible, it has the idea of setting people free from bondage and restoring their lives, usually by paying some kind of price.

Anyway, every time the Jews ate the Passover meal, they looked back on those four promises.

But God’s Kingdom is the ultimate fulfillment of Passover. Ultimate because it’s not just for the Israelites. It’s for all people who put their faith in Jesus. God brings us out from Satan’s kingdom, rescuing us from his power in our lives, setting us free and restoring our lives, and taking us to be his very own people. The apostle Paul put it this way:

He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13–14)

And all that started at the cross. So Jesus takes the Passover meal, and gives it an entirely different meaning, no longer pointing to the past, but to the future. Look at Luke 22:19-20.

And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. (Luke 22:19-20)

I wonder what was going through their minds as Jesus said that? For the Jews, the bread was simply a reminder of the bread they ate just before leaving Egypt. God called it, “the bread of hardship” (Deuteronomy 16:3). But instead of pointing to their past hardship in Egypt, Jesus breaks the bread and says, “This is my body.”

I imagine the disciples were thinking to themselves, “This represents Jesus’ body? What’s he talking about?”

The answer is very interesting. The bread that the Jews ate for Passover was called matzah. And its defining characteristic is that it was made without yeast. The practical reason for that was that the Jews were leaving Egypt soon, and so the bread had to be cooked quickly.

But yeast is also a symbol for sin in the Bible, probably because a very small amount spreads so quickly and affects the whole loaf of bread. Sin is the same way.

Think of the first sin committed by Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. A small seed of distrust in God caused them to disobey a seemingly small command: not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But from that small sin, distrust of God and his goodness spread throughout the whole human race causing us all to turn from God and to go our own way.

Do you ever wonder why there are times you have hurt others and they have hurt you? Do you wonder why we see such horrific crimes in society? Why we see such corrupt governments? Why there are so many wars in this world? It started from that one small sin, and like yeast, it spread out into our lives, infecting our families, societies, and cultures.

But just as matzah was without yeast, Jesus was completely untainted by sin. And as the matzah was broken and distributed for the benefit of all at the table, Jesus’ body was broken at the cross for the benefit of us all. He took the punishment we deserved for our sins upon himself. The apostle Peter put it this way.

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. (1 Peter 3:18)

That’s also what Jesus meant when he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” In Matthew’s account, he adds an extra detail.

For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28)

As I said before there were 4 cups at Passover, and this was probably the third. That cup was called the “cup of redemption.” It looked back to the blood of a lamb being put on the doorposts of all the Israelites’ houses in Egypt. And when God brought judgment on the Egyptians, he passed over the houses of the Israelites that had the lamb’s blood on their doorposts.

The truth is, the Israelites were as guilty of sin as the Egyptians. They deserved God’s judgment as much as the Egyptians. But because of the blood of the lamb, God’s wrath and judgment passed over them.

And now Jesus told his disciples, “That’s what this cup represents: a new covenant between you and God sealed in my blood. Not a covenant which brings you out of Egypt and into Canaan, but a covenant that brings you out of Satan’s kingdom into God’s. And it’s not like the old covenant based on your vowing to keep all his commands. Because all of you have failed to keep your vows time and again. This covenant is based on what I do on the cross for you. By my blood, God’s wrath and judgment passes over you, and now you have a whole new relationship with him. You’ve become his people, and he’s become your God.” (Hebrews 8:6-13)

Again, the word “communion” has that very idea: Close, intimate fellowship. Through Jesus and what he did on the cross, we now have communion with God and all those in his family. And the day is coming when Jesus returns and he institutes God’s perfect rule over all the earth. On that day, we who have embraced his reign will eat at his banquet table, enjoying sweet communion with him face to face. That’s what Passover is about. That’s what communion is about.

Did the disciples grasp all this at the time? No. But once they did, their lives were never the same again. I wonder. After the resurrection, what went through their minds every time they took communion? What exactly did they remember? And how did it affect them? How should it affect us?

Of all the people it affected, I think it affected Peter the most. Imagine if Jesus had never risen from the dead and the disciples were taking communion in remembrance of him. What would they have been feeling, especially Peter?

I would guess guilt. Peter had boasted about his loyalty to Jesus. That he was willing to die for him. And yet three times, he denied knowing Jesus. The other disciples were little better. They too had vowed to die for Jesus. But when Jesus was arrested, they all ran away and went into hiding like utter cowards.

In that way, the disciples were just like the people of Israel when the first covenant was made: making all these promises to be faithful to God and yet proving in the end to be utterly unfaithful.

My guess is if Jesus had never risen from the dead, the disciples might have had communion once, maybe twice at most. And then their guilt would have crushed them. They would have tried their best to forget all that had happened and leave it all behind.

But Jesus did rise from the dead. And Jesus made clear to them, “I still love you. I still accept you. I have forgiven you. I still want you to be part of this kingdom I’m establishing. Now follow me.”

That’s what communion is all about. It’s a reminder of what Jesus did to establish his kingdom and to bring us into it. But here’s something important to remember: This Kingdom, while it’s intensely personal, is something that goes far beyond our own individual story. What do I mean by that?

Too often, as Christians, we think of our lives as centered around us. That Jesus came to make our lives better. To heal our hurts, our relationships, our brokenness. To make our lives more prosperous. I’m not saying that’s completely wrong. God wants to bring wholeness to our lives. He wants us to have a full and abundant life. And again, part of the meaning of redemption is restoration.

But if all we’re focused on is how God can make our lives better, we’re missing the big picture. God is establishing his Kingdom. And that Kingdom is not centered on us. It’s centered on our King. It’s centered on his Son.

Like I said, sin has infested this world like yeast in bread, and as a result this world is utterly broken. Have you noticed? And the main reason that happened is that this world rejected him as King and went its own way. But in doing so, we handed the reins of this world over to Satan. We became slaves to his kingdom. And his whole goal is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Look at the world today. He’s done a pretty good job of it.

But Jesus is taking back his Kingdom. And in order to do that, he had to redeem all the people Satan had stolen. Jesus frees us from slavery to Satan’s Kingdom and brings us into his own Kingdom to be his people. He’s working to bring us into a trusting, loving relationship with him like Adam and Eve had in the beginning before they sinned. And as he does that, as the Kingdom is restored person by person, we will see this world changed and his Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. That’s the big picture of the Kingdom.

But all that being said, his Kingdom is also intensely personal. What do I mean? You’re not simply a nameless, faceless person to God. He actually loves and cares about you. At the table, Jesus took the bread and he looked in the face of each disciple and said, “This is my body given for you. This is my blood poured out for you.”

Can you imagine what Peter felt every time he took communion and quoted Jesus’ words? “He gave his life for me. The one who denied him. The one who failed him. He poured out his blood so that I could be forgiven. My King did that for me.”

Have you ever wondered what motivated Peter and the other disciples to go out and change the world for Jesus? It wasn’t guilt for past sins and trying to somehow make up for it. It wasn’t trying to prove they were worthy of God’s love and acceptance. It was the truth that their King loved them and died for them even though they had utterly failed him. They were blown away that not only did Jesus still welcome them into his kingdom, he wanted to use them in that kingdom.

They were thinking, “Wait a minute. I can still be of use for your Kingdom? You actually want to use me? With all my sins? With all my failings? With all my weaknesses and inadequacies?”

I think of the apostle Paul. He wasn’t at that table that night. In fact, for a time, he became the greatest enemy of the church, arresting and murdering God’s people. But Jesus appeared to him, redeemed him, and brought him into his Kingdom.

What did Paul think every time he took the bread and the cup?

“I don’t believe this. He gave his life for me, the one who had hated him so much. He shed his blood for me, forgiving all the horrid things I’ve done.”

And because of that, look at his response.

For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Corinthians 15:9-10)

Like Peter and the other apostles, Paul wasn’t motivated by guilt or trying to prove himself to God. He was motivated by the incredible grace God had shown him. And every time he took communion, it brought back that wonder of Jesus’ love for him and what he did on the cross.

But for Peter, Paul, and the other apostles, they weren’t satisfied with simply having been saved and brought into God’s Kingdom. They wanted to continue the mission that Jesus had started of bringing God’s Kingdom into this world person by person.

Communion reminded them that God’s Kingdom hasn’t fully come yet. We’re still in a broken world. And the new covenant Jesus started with his death is meant to extend far beyond the people who are at the communion table with us today. There are far more people that God wants to bring to this table to join us.

I think that’s why Paul said this about communion.

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)

I think he’s saying there that communion is actually one way the church proclaims the gospel. But I think he’s also saying that communion is a way to remind us, “Keep proclaiming Jesus and what he did on the cross to redeem you to everyone around you until he comes.”

So where do we go from here? We’re taking communion today. But as we take it, don’t just treat it as a religious ceremony. Do what the Lord told you. Remember him. What exactly should we remember about him?

Remember his great love for you. He loved you so much he was willing to suffer and die on a cross to bring you out of Satan’s Kingdom and into his own. He loved you even though you failed him. Even though you’re so full of weaknesses. He died for you, paying the price for your every sin. And now when you turn to him in faith, embracing his good reign in your life, he gladly opens his arms to you, with all your weaknesses, with all your sins, with all your failures, and says, “You are now mine. Welcome to the Kingdom.”

But also remember as you take communion that his mission isn’t complete. Think about the people who are yet to join his table at communion. He wants to bring them in too. And he wants you to join in that mission. Not to try to prove yourself to him. Not to make up for your past guilt. But because you have tasted the love of your good King. You’ve experienced his good reign in your life. And because of that, you desire others to taste it too.

So as we take communion today, let’s meditate on these three things:

Wow! Jesus, you love me that much?

Wow! Jesus, you actually want to use me for your Kingdom?

Jesus, what can I do for your kingdom this week? Who do you want me to bring to your table?