WHAT IS THE LORD'S SUPPER?

Have you ever stopped to realize the strangeness of the Lord’s Supper? Many Christians have taken this meal for years and perhaps have found themselves in a familiar routine: A call to remember the sacrifice of Jesus. A morsel of bread. A sip of wine. This strangeness no longer confronts our senses. But imagine you are attending church for the first time or you are a young child witnessing Christians receiving these elements. As each member holds a piece of bread you hear “This is my body.” Then wine (or grape juice) is received and the pastor says, “This is my blood.” What in the world is going on here? 

​ The Jewish people had celebrated Passover each year for over a thousand years to remind themselves of their oppression and slavery to the Egyptians. When first establishing the Passover meal, Moses said, “And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses’” (Ex. 12:26–27). God knew the Passover would need an explanation, just as the Lord’s Supper does today. Christians should be prepared to answer the question “What do you mean by this service?” 

​ In Mark 14:12-25 we see Jesus celebrating Passover with his disciples during the Last Supper. But what happens in this meal would have been shocking to those at the table that night. Jesus broke a thousand-year tradition by shedding the normal order and meaning of the meal. In verse 22, Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to the eleven disciples. This would have been called the bread of affliction, a reminder of the suffering of their forefathers in Egyptian slavery. In this new meal, Jesus says of the bread “This is my body” (v. 22). Jesus is telling them that He would be the one who would take their affliction.

​ The Passover meal would normally center around the main course—the lamb. Yet Jesus skips right over the lamb. Why? Because Jesus himself was “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29b). They would never have to kill a lamb again. Jesus is the once and forever substitute for sin! He then takes the third cup, the cup that would symbolize that God will redeem His people. Jesus holds up this cup and says, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (v. 24).  What is going on? Jesus’ blood was going to redeem His people. God was saving us through the blood of the Lamb!

​The Passover meal would have had one more cup in the ceremony-- a cup to celebrate the future promises of God. But Jesus forgoes this cup and the passage closes saying “Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” With these words He is pointing us forward to the day when all the blood-bought people of God are going to be around the table of the marriage supper of the Lamb and we will lift up the fourth cup and drink it anew with Jesus (Rev. 19:6-9). 

​ The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the New Testament church, where we receive bread and wine to commemorate and remember Christ’s death on our behalf, to receive spiritual nourishment from His broken body and shed blood, to confirm our union with Him, to renew ourthankfulness, and to show our mutual love and fellowship with God and other believers. 

So what should the Lord’s Supper mean to us? Here are three keys:

1. Remembrance

We remember what Christ has done for us in His life, death, and resurrection. The Heidelberg Catechism summarizes this beautifully: With this command he gave these promises: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so surely was his body offered for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the minister and taste with my mouth the bread and the cup of the Lord as sure signs of Christ's body and blood, so surely does he himself nourish and refresh my soul to everlasting life with his crucified body and shed blood.

2. Communion

In 1 Corinthians 10:16, Paul says, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” This participation is a real communion and fellowship with God. At the table, we also look at our brothers and sisters in Christ and remember that we’re one family. We may go our separate ways throughout the week, but every Sunday we come back to the same table as adopted sons and daughters of the same Father.

3. Hope

Each Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of the hope that Jesus died for our sins and is coming again in glory. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). Paul is saying that the Supper is like a sermon, and that participating in the Supper is a proclamation of the gospel and a celebration that Christ will return to make all things new.

So, the next time you take the Lord’s Supper:

Remember the assurance Christ has given us each time the bread and wine touch our lips. Commune with the triune God and fellow believers in the local church and around the world. Hope in the proclamation and power of the gospel in this life and for the heavenly banquet that awaits each believer!