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1 Corinthians 11:23–26
“When [Jesus] had given thanks, he broke [bread], 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” (vv. 24–26).
Human beings are creatures made up of body and soul, with both elements essential to the integrity of our nature. In light of this truth as well as the great grace of our most merciful God, we are not surprised that the Lord has provided the sacraments to reinforce the truths of the gospel using our bodily senses. Not only has He given us the Word to be preached and engage our sense of hearing, but He has signed and sealed this Word with the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which impress the benefits of salvation on our senses of touch, sight, smell, and taste.
Today we begin our look at the Lord’s Supper, turning to Paul’s record of the words of institution that Jesus spoke when He gave the sacrament to His church. Most of us likely know the history well: Jesus, on the occasion of celebrating the old covenant sacrament of Passover with His disciples just before His death, took several elements of the feast and invested them with new meaning for the new covenant church. The Passover celebrated the great saving act of God in the exodus from Egypt, an event worth remembering even to this day (Ex. 12). The Lord’s Supper celebrates the greater saving act of God in Jesus Christ to atone for our sin once and for all and to deliver us from the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil (Luke 22:14–20; Col. 1:13–14; 2:13–15).
As we see in today’s passage, one of the most important aspects of the Lord’s Supper is that it serves as a memorial of the death of Jesus. When we partake of the supper, we are to remember what Jesus did for us on the cross, and the elements of the sacrament help elicit memories of the crucifixion. The bread, representing His body, is a solid, just like our Lord’s human body. We break the bread in the administration of the supper, a visual reminder of the tearing—the “breaking”—of Christ’s flesh. The wine, representing His blood, is a liquid and, when red wine is used, is also red, just as the blood of Jesus is a red liquid. We pour wine into the cup, just as the blood of Christ poured from His wounds as He hung on the cross. The bitterness of the wine reminds us of the bitter physical pain that Christ suffered at the hands of His human executioners, the bitter emotional travails of His own Jewish people’s betraying Him and His disciples’ denying Him, and the bitter wrath and judgment of God that He endured to pay the price of our sin.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
It can be easy for our minds to get distracted during any element of worship, the sacraments included. That is why it is important for us to think on the Lord’s death when we partake of the Lord’s Supper and to let the wine and the bread remind us of specific aspects of Christ’s crucifixion. As we eat the bread and drink the wine, may we think on all that Jesus has done for us in His death.
For further study
- Isaiah 52:13–53:12
- Matthew 27:46
- Mark 14:22–25
- John 13:21
The bible in a year
- Ezekiel 33–34
- 1 Peter 2