“Do this in Remembrance of Me”

There is power in remembrance. In fact, Christmastime is all about remembering! We recollect our fondest Xmas memories, our families, and most important of all, The Birth of our Lord God Jesus Christ. Calling ourselves into remembrance is actually what Christ did command, “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me, And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:19-20). Our Lord said do this in remembrance of Him. To Jews in 33 A.D. the use of the word remember or remembrance would not have been lost on them. The Lord God had commanded that the Jews commemorate their liberation from Egypt and death via the Passover Meal to remember what God had done. It is the Cedar, Passover Meal that Jesus, the Lord God Incarnate explains the meaning of the third cup (suffering) as The New Covenant in His blood foretold by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-35).  Christ is using the word remember to invoke the point that He is instituting a new meal within the Old one; that He dies on the cross for our sins, spilling His blood as covering for us and His body like the bread being broken for our transgressions. 

We are called to remember. We have living and active faith, but let us never grow weary of remembering what Christ has sone, the death He died to set us free, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery,” (Galatians 5:1) and His resurrection power. To remember is then and now, for Jesus is same always, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages.” (Hebrews 13:8) and the effects of what Emmanuel did on the cross crosses centuries and millenniums.  One of the acts of recalling what Jesus has accomplished is the Communion. Let us not grow weary of this meal, treating it as ritual, nay, may it be living reminder that our God humbled Himself for us, “You must have the same attitude Jesus had:

Though he was God,

    he did not think of equality with God

    as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;

    he took the humble position of a slave

    and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form,

    he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor

    and gave him the name above all other names,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:6-11) and now is living in us Christians (Colossians 1:27, 1 John 4:15). May we be ardent as those who under the old covenant kept the Passover with zeal. Let us outdo them in thanks, for we have greater cause to celebrate! For the Lord delivered the Israelites from Egypt: the oppression of slaver, and the angel of death, but the same Lord who took on flesh and whose name is Jesus delivered and delivers Israelites and Gentiles, all who will believe in Him from the slavery of sin and eternal death! 

There is power in Remembrance. Just as a bride and bridegroom remember earlier years of their marriage to reignite the romance, so too can we the Bride of Christ  (Revelation 19:6-9) recollect our Lord and Bridegroom’s deeds and our wedding day (the day we believed in Jesus Christ as Lord and Son of God and that faith in Him alone gives us eternal life). For Christ even urges those who have grown cold in their marriage of faith to remember and do as they first did, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works you did, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:4-5). Here our Lord Jesus once again calls us to remember how strong our love was for Him in early days and to return to those works of love as in elder days. We need this, to be reminded, to remember what God has done via the Communion, and to remember how our relationship with Christ was when we first believed and our early years in the faith, which was pure and simple, “I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3). 

Do not let your pure and simple devotion to Christ Jesus be stolen by misguided teachers, theologians, and scholars.  Stick with the Holy Scriptures, and remember with them what God has done for you and what He is dong right now and will so do in the future! Amen.