In Remembrance
“…I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” Luke 22:16
But, Jesus does eat it again. He does drink again from the fruit of the vine. He does them over and over again every time His Body does.
The fulfillment of God’s kingdom came when Jesus became the sacrificial lamb, when He died on the cross for our sin. What Christians do now in communion is the fulfillment of The Passover. What the Passover started communion accomplishes each and every time His Body participates in it.
Caveat: as long as we participate in it as a healthy body.
Is there descension in the Body? “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there…and be reconciled to your brother.” Matt. 5:23,24
We don’t just participate in communion in remembrance of Jesus, we do it as Him. Not us personally, but as a body…His Body. If there is trouble between two parts or members of the body then something is wrong. Imagine the liver attacking the spleen. Or more realistically the immune system rejecting a new organ that was intended to make a body whole. The body is sick. In the body of Christ when one part attacks another it means that Jesus is sick (it sounds pretty severe to say that Jesus is sick, doesn’t it?)
If there’s anything I’ve learned from my addiction to the TV show “House” it is that when there’s an infection in the body “all hell breaks loose”. The entire system suffers. Even healthy organs are affected. And the breakdown only gets worse until it is reconciled. White blood cells may defeat the problem internally, medicine might cure a chemical imbalance, cancer cells might need to be removed…whatever the problem is it must be reconciled to health or inevitably the result is death.
When we take communion are we doing it as Christ’s healthy body? Is He breaking bread and drinking from the cup through us in fulfillment of His kingdom? Or is our hardheartedness, unforgiveness or disobediance a sickness, a malignant cancer in His body?
Imagine the joy Jesus must feel when His healthy body takes communion. How His aching stomach must be satisfied and His parched throat relieved when He breaks bread and drinks from the cup because we do it in rememberance of Him. We are Him! We’re His body!