The Most Important Meal In The History of The World – Holy Week Reflection 4

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.
“This is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out for many” he said to them.  “I tell you the truth; I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”
Mark 14:22-25 (NIV)

Was the Last Supper the most important meal in the history of the world?  Really?  Yes, I truly believe that it was and is.  I say this because that meal has been eaten again and again, Sunday after Sunday for almost two thousand years.  I say this because it is through our re-enactment of that first Lord’s Supper that we are joined in unity with our Christian sisters and brothers; past, present and future.  I say this because of how personally important Holy Communion is to me as a Christian believer.

I may be about to cause confusion here in the minds of some, because as an evangelical you may expect me to take a fairly low view of Communion; to see it as primarily an act of remembrance.

On one level that would be a correct supposition.  Jesus told us to “do this in remembrance of me” and so Communion is obviously intended by our Lord as an act of remembrance of him.  But it is more than that; it is not just a remembrance of Jesus as a person, nor just an act of remembrance of that first Lord’s Supper: it is a remembrance of all that Jesus did for us by suffering the agony of crucifixion when his body was indeed broken and his blood was indeed shed.  As we eat the bread and drink the wine we remember all that Jesus did for us on that Calvary cross, we identify ourselves with his suffering and give thanks for all he has done for us.

But I don’t believe that it is just an act of remembrance; there is more to Holy Communion than that.  I believe that by consecrating the bread and wine there is a change, that the bread is no longer ordinary bread and the wine (or non-alcoholic wine, grape juice etc) is no longer ordinary but is consecrated and becomes, by the power of the Holy Spirit (and not through the ‘magic hands’ of a priest or presbyter) spiritual food.  Every time I take Communion I am spiritually nourished and restored.

Jesus left many precious gifts to his church and one of the most precious is Holy Communion, for by it not only do we remember all that our Lord has done and is still doing for us but we are also spiritually nourished and strengthened for mission and service in the name of Jesus!