44: Do This in Remembrance of Me

When I was a little kid, I often occupied my time by using my imagination. I played all sorts of typical games that children play; things like house, or school, or zoo, or airplane, or store, just to name a few. Plus, I always managed to recreate the latest Disney movie. But as you might guess, I also played a few unconventional imaginary games, one of which was called Communion.

Yes, THAT kind of Communion. As in, the Last Supper or Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist, depending on the tradition you’re a part of. Now, while playing Communion, I didn’t pretend like I was one of the twelve disciples with Jesus actually partaking in the meal from the story we read in the Bible. Instead, I would take a bread roll and cup of grape juice from the kitchen and proceed to serve Communion to my many stuffed animals. Some girls had tea parties, but I guess I was all about the Communion table. 

Now, some might consider this to be somewhat sacrilegious, but in thinking back to that time, I can connect the dots here a bit. When I was six or seven, I took a First Communion class at my church and it obviously had a big impact. At the time, it gave me another opportunity to use my imagination, but it also began a lifelong participation in the sacrament.

I remember learning about what a traditional Passover meal would have been like for Jesus and his disciples; how that seder meal and all the elements it included were part of God’s people remembering God’s faithfulness all the way back to their days in Egypt. And then we learned about the significance of what Jesus introduced during that particular Passover meal; how the bread and the cup help us continue to remember God’s love and faithfulness through Jesus. We recall Jesus’ call to “do this in remembrance of me.”

If you’re listening in real time, this week is Holy Week - the week of the church calendar when we follow Jesus’ journey to the cross and ultimately, to the empty tomb. It is a week laced with significance - lessons and events and even personal memories worth paying attention to. 

And included in all of that is the very first time we read about Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper. We learn about this holy sacrament that ultimately was intended to remind us. So today, I’d like to journey to that Upper Room, paying attention to the message and the call of that Passover Table, the night before the cross.

We read about the dialogue and events that took place at that Table in all four gospels. But today, I’d like to read Luke’s version. It’s found in Luke 22:7-20:

“7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus[b] sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.” 9 They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations for it?” 10 “Listen,” he said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 12 He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.” 13 So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

14 When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it[c] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.[d]”

In the midst of Jesus and his disciples remembering the covenant between God and God’s people through the Passover meal, Jesus introduces the new covenant. Ironically, it is during the Last Supper that we read of the very first Communion or Eucharist. While sitting at the Table, Jesus essentially says, “Pay attention to my life and pay attention to my death and pay attention to the new life coming next because you’ll want to remember. It will be important to remember and this practice will help you remember. It is bringing God’s new covenant to you, through me, and it is changing everything.”

When I first took Communion as a child after participating in that class,  I thought it was a special sacrament, a holy practice, that remembered and honored the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And it is. I thought partaking in the Lord’s Supper was an opportunity for me to “get right with God,” to get back on track. And it is that, too. But as I’ve grown, learned, and experienced more, this sacrament has become so much more. 

The Last Supper is a meal that leads us closer to the heart of God, perceiving our need for God, and nourishing and sustaining us through whatever comes our way.  

The Eucharist is a thanksgiving meal, an avenue toward gratitude, a reminder of who God is, of God’s grace, and all God has done for us.

Communion is a reminder that we belong to God and that we belong to each other - the Body of Christ, children of God. It’s a re-membering that unites us around God’s table, despite our differences or disagreements. It binds us to God and to one another, reminding us that we can’t do anything on our own.

But, this sacrament has also become a way of life. A life lived in remembrance. A continuous call to do everything in remembrance of Jesus and in light of the new covenant he brings. A reminder that Christ lives in me. In you. In all who seek and follow him.

We find that through his life, death, resurrection and ascension, when Jesus calls us to “do this in remembrance of me,” he says,

When you live with a generous spirit, you do this is remembrance of me.

When you welcome and include a stranger, you do this in remembrance of me.

When you forgive the one who caused you harm, you do this in remembrance of me.

When you speak words that build up, rather than words that tear down, you do this in remembrance of me.

When you treat those in your path with kindness and compassion, you do this in remembrance of me.

When you walk through your day with humility, you do this in remembrance of me.

When you seek out opportunities to serve, you do this in remembrance of me.

When you value justice and peace, you do this in remembrance of me.

When you uphold integrity and character, even if it costs you, you do this in remembrance of me.

When you choose love above all else, you do so in remembrance of me.

This isn't meant to suggest we don’t need to practice the actual sacrament - we do. We need to come to the Table, to physically eat the bread and drink the cup, on a regular basis. After all, we are prone to forget and actually practicing the sacrament is an important, transformative reminder. But the practice of remembrance doesn’t stop there. The practice should lead to the daily posture. As followers of Jesus, our whole lives are lived in remembrance of him. Remembering Jesus’ life changes ours.

In her book, Searching for Sunday, the late Rachel Held Evans wrote these words:

“The elements and the meal are identified in different ways: the body of Christ, broken; the blood of Christ, shed; the Bread of heaven, the cup of salvation, the mystery of the faith, the supper of the Lamb. But in every tradition I know, someone, at some point, says, ‘Remember.’

Remember how God became one of us? Remember how God ate with us and drank with us, laughed with us and cried with us? Remember how God suffered for us, and died for us, and gave his life for the life of the world? Remember? Remember?”

Today, in the middle of this Holy Week, let us remember. May we remember Jesus’ life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, his life in us and how this new covenant changed everything. May we be changed. And may the reminders we receive at the Table enable us to live our lives in remembrance.