Crumbs || Last Supper
There is so much bread in the Bible. From raining bread to the House of Bread to our daily bread to leftover bread to the Bread of Life to the tempting bread (honestly, what bread isn’t tempting). All this bread (praise, God!) and it all comes crashing down onto a table - today, over 2000 years ago.
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At the beginning of this year, my church decided we all needed to “refresh” and reevaluate as a church the things “churches do.” One of those things was Communion.
I grew up in a Methodist Church that had Communion once a month. Honestly, when that Sunday came around everyone was grumbling because the service was going to run long. People would say things like, “Didn’t the pastor know today was Communion Sunday? Why didn’t he run his sermon shorter?” And I was right there with them thinking the same thing.
But years later, it was good to refresh my view of Communion and the meaning behind it. It’s so easy for it to be caught up into a church routine and become a ritual, instead of the relational experience Jesus intended it to be. I want to look at it the way I heard in church.
Let’s skip the story of the Last Supper in the Gospels. Let’s look at what Paul says about it, when he’s refreshing the church in Corinth.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night 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, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.
--1 Corinthians 11:23-28
Based on Paul’s letter there are 3 Purposes to Communion:
1 - Look Back
In verse 24 above it says: 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.” Jesus said every time you break bread (eat the cheesy breadsticks from Pizza Hut) remember Me. Every time you “take Communion” remember Him.
Who is He?
The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried — our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him. He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off—and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true. Still, it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him. Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—the best of everything, the highest honors—Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
--Isaiah 53:2-12 (MSG)
This is who He is. He is the Provider of the manna, Sustainer of the daily bread, Bread of Life. He is the Messiah, Saviour, Peace-giver.
When we approach Communion, we need to look back at the things Isaiah prophesied about Him because that is what “in remembrance of Me” is about.
2 - Look Forward
In verse 26 it says: For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whenever you take Communion, you are saying the age old “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.”
Scratch that. You are not saying...Paul says you are proclaiming that Jesus died, but death had no victory and He will give death one more kick in the butt when He comes again.
When you take Communion, you are declaring the Truths of Isaiah 53 again and declaring that Christ will return.
3 - Look Within
In verses 27-28 it reads: So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.
This is where this blog all started. When Communion becomes a ritual, when you stand because an usher tells you to go up there, when this sacred moment that Christ gave us to remember Him becomes a chore, then (to be blunt) you aren’t doing it right. I wasn’t doing it right.
When it’s “Communion Sunday,” you need to look at verse 28 again...you need to look at yourself before you even think about going up there. You stand up and walk to the people handing out Communion, when you settle things with Him. When it becomes a chore, remember verse 27 - it’s a sin.
When you’re done looking within, going back to purpose 1 and 2. Re-evaulate yourself and the reasons Christ gave us this ceremony by looking back and forward.
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Last Maundy Thursday, I summarized Communion as such:
Jesus took ordinary elements, yet again, and said eat and drink these and remember the as often as you consume them (daily). Remember every day who I am - the true Rabbi, the Messiah, the Lord, the Way, the Truth, the Light, the Prince of Peace, and even the Bread of Life. And Jesus extends that invitation to all of His disciples...to come to the table, to give thanks to God, to eat the Bread of Life and drink the blood of the Lamb, and to remember Him daily (“give us today our daily Bread").
