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“My Supper—just thought you could use a little reminder this week: We are better than this.” -- God

  • Writer: olinfregia
    olinfregia
  • Nov 5, 2022
  • 8 min read


This week we were reminded how painful the past can be and how unforgiving the future can seem. In 9-1-1 recordings, we heard Khloie Torres call for help as a gunman inside her classroom was shooting her classmates and teacher.


“I’m in classroom 112…Please hurry. There is a lot of dead bodies…. “I’m telling everyone to be quiet but nobody is listening to me…I understand what to do in these -situations. My dad taught me when I was a little girl. Send help.” Khloie Torres

Help would arrive 40 minutes later in her classroom as 376 first-responders waited outside during the time lag. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary that day.


How can Khloie live with that day for the rest of her life? How can anyone on both sides of that classroom door, live with pain done and the regrets of things not done to prevent that day?

We need a counter-reminder that we are better than this—redeemed and delivered—that we are not prisoners of the past and debtors of an unforgiving future. We have a dad who teaches us this. God gives us this reminder every week—the Lord’s Super. How does God remind you with the Lord Supper you are better.


In Matthew 26:26-28 and in the other synoptic Gospels, Christ instituted a sacrament for such a time like this. When life reminds us how depraved we can be, this simple, yet powerful meal of bread and wine, reminds us who we really are—"children of the Table”. That’s why how we reapproach the Lord’s Supper or Communion is vital to our spiritual life.


We will see from Matthew 26:26-28, when we take the Lord’s Supper, Jesus’s command: “do this… in remembrance of me." In that command, we are called to do two things: First, we are called to “to do”, and second “to remember”. First, we are called “to remember”—to reflect on what Christ did on the cross. Second, we are called “to do”— to connect with what Christ is doing in our lives, now and in the future so we can live with hope. The person who stands to who leads us in communion leads us in those two things—reflection and connection. Communion is more than remembering to shake well the settled the sediments of the cup. Communion can shake up life’s sediments, to remind us we are not prisoners to our past or debtors to an unforgiving future.


`First, we are to reflect and connect on what “the breaking of the bread” represents: deliverance from the bondage of sin. It’s about freedom. Listen to Christ as He gave new meaning to the Passover meal before his disciples in the upper room in Matthew 26:26:


26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body.” Matthew 26:26:

Bread was part of the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” that was part of the beginning of the Jewish Passover. The Feast and the Passover was a reminder to the Jews so they would reflect and connect forever with what God had done in bringing them out of Egypt.


3 "You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), in order that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. Deut. 16:3

This coming out party of Israel out of Egypt was the Exodus. After Pharaoh ignored God’s command through Moses to “Let my people go.”, he finally relented after the tenth and final plague that took Pharaoh’s son. Israel’s exit was hasty and difficult. Their final meal as slaves would include unleavened bread. There was no time for bread to rise.


On the night Jesus was celebrating the Passover meal of Unleavened Bread, Christ gave a new redemptive meaning to this act of worship—now and forever—when he said: “This is my body broken for you.” Just as bread was been broken in Egypt, so will Jesus’ body be broken on Calvary; and just as Israel’s bondage was broken from slavery, so also Christ’s people’s bondage of sin will be broken by His sacrifice on the cross.

His broken body delivered us from the slavery of sins according to 1 Peter 2:24 and Romans 6:6:


and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24.

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—Roman 6:6

By symbolically eating His body through the bread, we are internalizing our deliverance from sin and the Lord’s will for our righteousness.

Church, when it’s your turn to lead communion, reflect on what you are going through in your life and what might have you in bondage:

Does opioid or alcohol addiction still have a grip on you? This week a report came out that 1 in 5 deaths of US adults 20-49 is from excessive drinking. That bondage need not be.

· Does unforgiving family and graceless friends still have you in shackles? You are free from those chains.

· Is pride, prejudice and past sins still stealing your joy? Rejoice like the women at the well who said, “Come and see a man who knows me.” That man was Jesus whose set her free.


As communion leader, connect your reflection to the table and help us do the same. Intentionally connect your reflection to the “broken bread” by saying in your own words: “This is why I come to the table and break bread because on that night Christ broke bread that represents his broken body, I am no longer in bondage to… (whatever issue your reflection brings to bear.) Communion leaders, we need you to help us make our reflections make connection. Communion is more than remembering to shake the communion cup well to unsettle sediments. Communion can shake up life’s sediments. The Lord’s Supper reminds us we are not prisoners to our past. Our bondage of the past is broken.


Secondly, we are called to reflect and connect to what the wine represents: your deliverance from the penalty of sin by the sacrifice of Christ. Listen to Christ as he gave new meaning to the Passover meal when he blessed the cup in Matthew 26:27,28:


27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:27-28

The wine of the Passover Feast was a reminder to the Jews that they were delivered by the blood sacrifice of the lamb. The mark of blood on the lamb on the door of their home averted the judgment of the death angel that passed over them.


7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.1


3 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. (Ex. 12:7,13)

On the night Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper, blood represented by wine, took on a greater redemptive meaning for all men. The wine we take each Sunday represents the sacrificial blood that ratifies an unbreakable covenant that the blood of Christ, like the perfect lamb of the Passover, delivers us from the penalty of sin. In essence, our fine is paid. . We are forgiven and debt-free according to Hebrews 9:22a and Ephesians 1:7


…and without shedding of blood is no remission of sin. Hebrews 9:22


7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. Ephesians 1:7

.

In a word, out of the riches of God’s grace, the penalty of our sin is paid. No judge or bully bailiff can hold us for nonpayment of fines. Christ’s love offering on the cross paid our fine. He, like Pharaoh, had to “Let us go.” Fine paid.


By symbolically drinking the wine of the Lord’s Supper, you are internalizing our deliverance from the penalty of sin. With our sin-debt paid all things are possible. Reconciliation is possible.

Christ has paid for our anger and hate, so reconciliation was possible in Milwaukee. In 2012, the local Sikh temple was attacked by a hate organization. Its leader’s father was killed. Today the skinhead leader of the hate group and the leader of the Sikh Temple have reconciled. They have started a group to help others to unite and not fight. The love of Christ never fails.

· Christ has paid for that failed marriage. Love never fails.

· Christ has paid for those rebellious teen years when you disrespected your parents but they never gave up on you. The love of Christ never fails.


Communion leaders, connect your reflections to the table and help us do the same. Intentionally connect your reflections to the “cup of Christ poured for you” by saying in your words: “This why I come to the table and drink from the cup because on that night Christ poured and drank the wine that represents his blood payment for my sins, I am forgiven for my anger, impatience, pride or prejudice… (whatever issue your reflection bring to bear.) I am out of debt. I owe nothing but to love and obey Him.”


Communion leaders, we need you to help us make our reflections make a direct connection with the table. Communion is more than remembering to shake the communion cup well to unsettle sediments. Communion can shake up life’s sediments. The Lord’s Supper reminds us we are not prisoners to our past. We are not debtors to an unforgiving future. We are debt-free. Let me go. My fine is paid.


When we come to the Lord’s Table, we first, lead the people to reflect and connect with what the “breaking of the bread” represents: your deliverancefrom the bondage of sin. The bread reminds us we are free from the past. Second, we are called to lead the people to reflect and connect with what the wine represents: your deliverance from the penalty of sin by the blood sacrifice of Christ. The wine reminds us, we are sin-forgiven, debt-free.


This week we were reminded how painful the past can be and how unforgiving the future can seem. In 9-1-1 recordings, a brave Khloie Torres called for help as a gunman inside her classroom was shooting her classmates and teacher. Her father taught her how to survive. She did so much. We did so little. How can we forgive our collective selves? How can anyone on both sides of that classroom door, live with pain done and the regrets of things not done to prevent that day?

We need a counter-reminder that we are redeemed and delivered, that we are not prisoners of the past and debtors of an unforgiving future. Our Father gives us that reminder every week—the Lord’s Super. It reminds us we are a “people of the table”. We cannot afford to come the table with our reflections and miss the connection to the bread and the wine. Our father teaches us that we can do better because we are better. Thank you Kloie. You and your dad did good. Thank you, Lord.


 
 
 

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