When we think about how to remember something, what comes to our minds? Tie a string around a finger? Maybe using mnemonic? When Jesus was talking with his disciples in the last supper, as he took them through the first communion, he emphasized for them to remember.
Paul revisits the night of the last supper. Jesus is pointing them to himself, by his very virtue, his body, was broken for them. It needs to be an overwhelming thought. He is telling them this before the crucifixion happened, and they were fighting the imagery Jesus was giving them.
Jesus spoke of the new covenant. The disciples knew of the new covenant as spoken of in the old testament, but they didn’t know what that looked like. Jesus said that the new covenant comes from His blood. That when Jesus showed them to drink the wine, it was a way to remember this new covenant. At the point that Jesus told this, the disciples have not grasped the seriousness of this.
Communion is a community term. A way to come together and remember. We only have communion twice a year in its full form: foot washing, love feast, and the eucharist. And it is not the motions that are important, but as a reminder of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, and the eternal promise of salvation in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So we welcome you to join us as we remember the new covenant.
23 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, 24 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.” (ESV)
25 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.” (ESV)
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (ESV)