MEMORIAL DAY/TRINITY SUNDAY - In Remembrance of Me

Introduction

READ 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Have you ever wondered, “What’s the deal with the Lord’s Supper?”

Why do we eat this little piece of bread and take sip of juice from a little plastic thimble?

I mean, sure, we know that Jesus said to do this in “remembrance” of him. But maybe you’ve been like a friend of mine who thought the idea of taking communion regularly - every week or every month - was weird because he wasn’t going to “forget” Jesus.

After all, he went to church every week. He prayed every day. He read his Bible.

He could remember Jesus just fine only taking communion once a year.

Maybe you’ve felt this way before. I know I have.

There was a time in my life when I didn’t really see the purpose of communion. I mean, I knew that Jesus commanded it. And I knew that taking it should be a time of remembering Jesus’s sacrifice for our sins. But that was the end of it.

As a result, I didn’t really understand why anyone would want to take it often. I can remember going to the church where Heather grew up and not really understanding why they took communion every week.

It seemed like overkill to me.

But as I continued following Jesus and reading his word, I came to a startling conclusion. The Lord’s Supper is more than just a memory-jogger.

The Lord’s Supper has depth that most of us have never considered. And there are dozens of ways we could approach the topic this morning...

We could look at the Lord’s Supper as a means of grace - and how when we take it in faith, we encounter the risen Christ.

We could look at it as a thanksgiving meal - an offering of thanks for all that God has graciously given and provided.

We could look at it as a picture of our unity in Christ - just as there is one loaf of bread, torn in many pieces… so we are one body made up of many members.

And there’s so much more we could explore when it comes to communion.

But this morning, I want to spend a few minutes looking at the Lord’s Supper as a “remembrance” of Christ and his work. Because I believe that many of us have misunderstood what Jesus meant when he said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Bringing the Past into the Present

When we hear that word, ‘remembrance’, we’re tempted to assume that Jesus simply meant, “Do this as a reminder of me.”

If that’s all it is, then it would be little more than a string tied around our finger or a reminder on our phones.

If that’s the case, then we might assume that: Occasionally, we take communion as a reminder that Jesus died for our sins, that he loves us, and that we are saved. It’s time to do some self-reflection and to confess any sin that may be hiding there.

But we should already be praying and reading the Bible throughout the week. And we should be going to church regularly. Why would we need to do this weird eating and drinking ritual to remind us of those things when all of this other stuff - prayer, Scripture, church - already reminds us to do those things?

You see, the word Jesus uses here (remembrance), implies more than just a reminder. One theological dictionary defines it this way: “to relive vanished impressions by a definite act of will.”

In other words, there is a sense in which the past is brought forward in time and made present.

This is an idea that doesn’t appear here, but is rooted in the Old Testament.

Every year for thousands of years, when the Passover takes place, Jews reenact their ancestors’ final night in Egypt. But they talk about it as if they were the ones who were in Egypt.

We can see the beginning of this in Deuteronomy 16, when Moses is speaking to Israel right before she enters the promised land. The exodus has taken place 40 years ago and everyone who was 21 or older at the time is now dead. It’s likely that many of the people standing before him weren’t even born yet.

But he looks at them and says, “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction ( for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.”

Although many of them didn’t personally remember it, they reenacted it each year to relive it… to bring the past into the present. As if they were there with their ancestors. And the same God who had been there at the original Passover was present in all of the later ones.

This is what Jesus has in mind here… remembering is more than just reminding. It’s reliving. It’s bringing the past into the present. Here’s one way to think of it...

There’s a photograph at the top of the stairs at my parent’s house. In it, my grandmother is sitting on our back deck. And every time I see it, I’m given the chance to truly remember her.

There are many times when I see it and I’m transported back in time...

I can feel her put her arms around me, pull me close, and give a kiss on the cheek.

I can smell the fried chicken and mashed potatoes - and I can see her milling around in her kitchen, getting spoons and forks for everybody.

I can taste the hot pickles she always had canned in the little dining room.

I can hear her voice, singing hymns right next to me at church on Wednesday night.

I can see her standing on the front porch of her house, waving to us as we pulled away, heading back home.

And in the span of a few seconds - just taking one look at her picture - the past is made present. Maybe you’ve experienced something like that and said, “It feels like it could have been yesterday that I saw them the last time...” It certainly feels that way for me. And I haven’t seen my grandmother in the flesh in 16 years.

When we come forward and take the Lord’s Supper, we aren’t just reminding ourselves of a series of facts. We’re bringing the past into the present. But unlike with my grandmother - or a loved one that you’ve lost and may remember - Christ is just as present to us at this supper as we was with the disciples.

In this act of remembering, we experience the past… and not just the night of Christ’s last supper… but his entire work. Paul describes communion as a way to proclaim the whole gospel.

This morning, we’ll come to the table empty-handed, needy, broken - just as we come to God when we finally realize how much we need his grace.

And when we come to the front, we receive this food and drink at no price - just as we cannot merit Christ’s gift of salvation and of himself. We receive both freely.

This loaf of bread is made from wheat that’s been crushed so that we might eat and be given life - just as Christ was crushed under the weight of our sin and guilt so that we might partake of his Spirit and be given new life.

Unlike the bread they ate at Passover, this bread is made with leaven… and because of that, it is risen - symbolizing Christ’s resurrection and the hope of our own.

The juice is poured out so that we can drink and be refreshed and revived - just as Christ’s blood was poured out so that we might be forgiven, spiritually refreshed and given abundant life.

And as we do these things in faith, Christ’s past work is brought into the present.

We relive that last supper… we see his agony… we hear him tell the disciples that one of them will betray him… we hear the disciples say, “Not me, Lord!” We see him praying in Gethsemane. We stand at the foot of the cross and see his blood caked scalp… the nails piercing his hands and feet… the wound in his side…

Reading

Communion Reading

Casey: On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?” He told them…

Jerry: As you go into the city you will see a certain man. Tell him, “The Teacher says: My time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.”

Casey: So the disciples did as Jesus told them and prepared the Passover meal there. When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table with the Twelve. While they were eating, he said…

Jerry: I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.

Casey: Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one, Lord?” He replied…

Jerry: One of you who has just eaten from this bowl with me will betray me. For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!

Casey: Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, “Rabbi, am I the one?” And Jesus told him…

Jerry: You have said it.

Casey: As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying…

Jerry: Take this and eat it, for this is my body.

Casey: And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said…

Jerry: Each of you drink from it, for 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. Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.

Casey: Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 19

7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His cbride has made herself ready.”

8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

9 Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ ” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 21

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will bdwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

6 Then He said to me, “aIt is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.