Remember Me
1 Corinthians 11
Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,
“This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me.”
After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:
“This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me.”
That event, which you call the Lord’s Supper, happened exactly one year ago. And, faithful to the words of Jesus, we have commemorated it since then, at least once a week, and, most recently, earlier tonight. I am pleased to have participated, and hope to continue in this remembrance on a regular basis.
However, I am writing this to you, in your century, to warn you about the Lord’s Supper. You see, my hope is that we might share this memory of Jesus with you across all of the centuries that separate us. But yes, I need to warn you, hoping that you will not dishonor the words of Jesus just as we did only hours ago.
You see, it didn’t take long. No, it took only one year, for the seeds of division to creep in. I am ashamed to say it, and I am also ashamed to confess my part in it. Why? Because, the way we celebrate the Lord’s Supper was surely not what Jesus intended. And I pray that you will be able to avoid the darkness that we have fallen into.
Let me back up and explain.
First, let me express what I believe Jesus intended. Yes, on the surface, it sounds like it was a command from him, instructions to both us and also to you, over the span of time. And surely, his words were, in fact, a command, a command to remember. You see, we Jews have always been good at remembering. Don’t forget that the Passover Meal which we were celebrating that evening a year ago was the focus of our faith, remembering how our God redeemed us from slavery in Egypt and brought us to the promised land.
But the words of Jesus were more, more than a command. Yes, a lot more. You see, his words were also a plea. Yes, a passionate plea from Jesus to be remembered and not forgotten once he had left us here on earth. He wanted to be remembered, not only as the Son of God, but also as a man, a friend, and a brother to us all.
Perhaps, 2,000 years later, you are not able to read his words and feel his passion. But those of us who were present that night surely could. He knew, as you do, that he would, the very next day, be sacrificed in the most brutal way possible. And he knew that one of his closest friends was already betraying him. He also knew that another would soon deny even knowing him, and that the rest of us would scatter, just as he had predicted, when he was arrested.
You see, Jesus was about to die. His earthly ministry was over and his departure had come. And the emotions of this night, the night of his arrest, were extremely raw. He had given everything, all he had, to his followers, teaching us, healing us, and equipping us for the work of ministry. And he knew that there was one more thing, one more thing which he was called to give, and that one thing was his very life, his body and his blood. Because, you see, he knew that the very next day he would be crucified as a common criminal.
So, you can imagine the atmosphere in the room. His love for those in the room was a human love, to be sure, but it was also a divine love, the very love of God: a sacrificial love beyond that of any human. And we heard him, offering his very body in the bread and his very blood in the cup, pleading with us to remember and not forget him. I can only hope that you, in your time, can appreciate the passion that he felt.
And so, Jesus is now gone from us, sitting at the right hand of his Father in glory. And we? We are left behind, celebrating the Lord’s Supper in his absence. And remembering.
Then, what has happened in the one year since the first Lord’s Supper? How have we gone off track? How have we corrupted and dishonored what Jesus intended?
The short answer is that divisions have crept into our fellowship. Some of these divisions existed before Jesus came into our lives, while others are newly acquired. Let me give you the specifics. Hopefully, these examples from our time will help you, in your time, to avoid the traps that we have fallen into.
You see, the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus on that very night, saw to it that our fellowship would be quite diverse. You may remember Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, and how it planted a seed that has continued to grow. From 120 followers, our fellowship now numbers in the thousands.
We are from all walks of life. Some are educated, while most are not. Some are wealthy, while most are poor, even slaves. Some were previously prominent in our Jewish faith, while others were new to it. Some are not even ethnic Jews, and would not be allowed into the inner courts of our temple in Jerusalem. Still others follow all of the laws and traditions of the Jewish faith, while others do not.
I’m sure that you remember how Jesus ate with tax collectors, prostitutes and other “sinners.” Yes, he did, and he told us to do the same. Thanks to Jesus, our fellowship now includes many of these outcasts, including the blind and disabled, people who beg at the city gates.
And there is more: since the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, some in our company have been gifted with speaking in tongues. Others have taken positions of leadership in the new community.
Of course, this diversity is exactly what Jesus taught: that we are all brothers and sisters in his body, in what you, in your time, call the church. In his eyes, nothing should come between us, to separate us.
So, what has happened? As I said, it didn’t take long for divisions to appear. We have seen the educated and prominent taking their meal apart, choosing not to eat with the poor, the slaves, and with those considered to be “sinners.”
Often, the wealthy members of our community will bring their own food to the Lord’s Supper, refusing to share with those in need, even with the hungry. I admit to this for myself, as I am one of these wealthy. As a result, the needy in our company are left with little or nothing from the common table. They go hungry while we feast.
And those who’ve received spiritual gifts? Yes, those who speak in tongues gather together by themselves in a circle, proudly exhibiting their gifts before anyone who will listen. Yet no one elects to translate these tongues into our common language, so their value is lost to the rest of us.
Those who strictly follow the Jewish laws and traditions hold the others in contempt and consider them as “unclean.” And those who hold positions of power look down on the weaker members of our fellowship, casting them as unworthy.
You may ask how all this happened? And you may remember how, at the beginning, we shared everything, even our food, property and money, among the members of our fellowship. (Acts 2)
But now, the warmth that we felt in this new community has grown cold. Our hearts have grown away from the words that Jesus uttered in the first Lord’s Supper. His plea to “remember” wasn’t his only plea to us. There was a second:
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13)
Perhaps Jesus saw this coming, because at that same meal, he extended his plea in a prayer:
“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17)
How did we let this happen? It seemed so gradual. We knew better, but we allowed old biases and prejudices and pride rule us. We listened to the voices of our culture, which divides people in so many ways. And we allowed those cultural divisions to invade our Christian fellowship.
What would I advise you in your century? Can I even hope that you are not as guilty as we in allowing divisions to separate brothers and sisters in the faith?
Protect yourselves. Pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit, that you will not dishonor the words of Jesus, as we have. As I have.
And remember. Yes, remember, just as Jesus commanded us to do. And just as he pleaded with us, he pleads with you: remember. Remember Jesus, the Holy One who ate with sinners and outcasts; the divine one who washed our feet, the all-powerful one who submitted himself in humility to the will of his Father. Remember. Always remember.