23 For I received
from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night
when he was betrayed took bread, 24 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.' 25 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.' 26 For as
often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death
until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
To help the
Corinthians recapture the significance of the Lord’s Supper, Paul takes them
back to a key event in Christian history.
He takes them back to the upper room during the meal that Christ had
with His disciples the night before His crucifixion. That’s why Paul says, “on the night he was
betrayed.” This was that infamous night
during that famous meal right before his arrest.
Up to that time,
when the Jewish people wanted to remember God as deliverer, they would look all
the way back to the Exodus—all the way back to their deliverance from Egyptian
bondage. Jesus, by instituting this ordinance,
wanted his followers not to go all the way back to Egypt when looking back at
God’s most prominent redemptive work in History, but rather to Calvary.
During this meal, He
wanted his participants to remember four things in particular. He wanted them to remember his life, his
death, his resurrection and return.
JESUS’ LIFE
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.’
For all these years,
the bread was meant to remind them of their deliverance from Egypt, leaving in
haste and their entrance into a new life with God. But on this night, Jesus took the bread and
said, "This is my body.” What Jesus is doing
here is transforming the Passover into something much bigger—much better than
the Exodus.
He says, “From here
on, when you take this bread, I want you to remember Christmas day. I want you to remember that I left the riches
of heaven, took on flesh and dwelt among you.
I want you to remember ‘Immanuel,’ which means, ‘God with us.’ I want you to remember that I was with you.”
JESUS’ DEATH
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.’
So he says, “When
you take the bread, I want you to remember ‘Immanuel’—that God took on flesh
and dwelt among you,” and “When you take
the cup, you are to remember that my body was pierced and was crucified on your
behalf. You are to remember that the blood
that was flowing through my veins was poured out for you.” He says, “I want you to remember that every
single time you take this cup.”
JESUS’ RESURECTION AND RETURN
For as often as you
eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Paul reminds us of a
few things here. First, this verse
reminds us that we do not serve a dead Rabbi, but a risen savior. This memorial differs from others in that we
are not only remembering one who died, but one who rose again.
Secondly, Paul also
reminds us that our Lord is not only risen, but is returning someday soon. He tells his readers at the end of v. 26 that
this meal is to be taken again and again until Christ returns. So when we as believers
take the Lord’s Supper, we are to take it in remembrance of Jesus’ life and
death, but also as a celebration in anticipation of our Lords return.
