For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is My body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord (1 Cor 11:23-27).Pretty simple, isn't it? The Lord's Supper simply represents the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. It is to serve as a perpetual reminder. Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah. It gets pretty lame after awhile, hearing the same thing over and over again, even if there is truth. So imagine my surprise when I started to discover new things there.
The Lord's Supper is what is referred to by the Church as a "sacrament". Now, before you Protestants get your knickers in a twist, a sacrament is simply defined as "a rite in which God is uniquely active." Augustine defined it as "a visible sign of an invisible reality". A sacrament basically serves as an outward sign of an inward reality. An example of this is Jewish circumcision. Paul says of Abraham, "He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised" (Rom 4:11). Circumcision, then, was an outward seal of an inward reality, righteousness -- a circumcised heart.
Now, on one hand, a sign or seal seems to serve little purpose. It isn't the content. It isn't "proof". It isn't anything substantial. On the other hand ... well, let me illustrate from life. When I joined the military, I was required to show a birth certificate. I had a photocopy and showed them. They didn't accept it. Why? They required a birth certificate with the State Seal on it. You see, official birth certificates come with a seal embossed on it. So, while the information they needed -- name, nationality, etc. -- was contained on both the copy and the one with the seal, it was the seal that demonstrated the reality.
So carry that over to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The reality is not in the event or the process, but it serves as an outward sign of an inward reality. It was instituted by Christ as a constant reminder. It confirms the underlying truth.
What, then, are we to remember? Well, we are obviously asked to remember Christ. "Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." And, more specifically, it is designed to "proclaim the Lord's death until He comes". We all understand that. But there is more. In the event, Christ gave His disciple bread and wine, representatives of His body and blood. He said earlier, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst" (John 6:35). Isn't it interesting that He declared Himself "the bread of life" and yet told them they they would "never thirst"? You see, another aspect of this sacrament is that Jesus is the one who provides our sustenance. He is our food and drink. He nourishes us. He gives us strength. He causes us to live and grow in Him. He satisfies. "Take, eat." That's what He told His disciples. "This is my body." Not only does He provide for our needs and sustains us, the life that He gives us is eternal. He provides that eternal life. He took on our frail existence and, in return, gave us His eternal one. He took on our sin and in return gave us His righteousness. He took on our humanity and, in return, made us sons of God.
All of this is contained -- signed -- in the Lord's Supper. His death, His blood shed for us, the very Gospel, His providing for us, His sustenance, eternal life, His presence with us, all of this and more is part of the sacrament that we call "Communion" -- the Lord's Supper.
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