Matthew 26:20-30 "In Remembrance"

Read Matthew 26:20-30.

"While they were eating Jesus took break, gave thanks and broke it.... Then he took the cup, and gave thanks...." NIV

A simple act performed daily by all people turned into one of the most precious symbols in the Christian body.

When Jesus broke the bread He said that it symbolized His body being broken for us. I keep remembering the movie National Treasure. At the end Nicholas Cage says to the FBI agent, "I really don't want to go to jail." (For stealing the Constitution to keep it out of the hands of a bad guy.) To which the FBI agent says, "Someone's got to go to jail, Ben." I know, I have a strange way of seeing things. But when we sin, someone's got to do the time for it. We have the most loving Father, but because He is loving, He is also just. Sin has a price and someone has to pay. Here's where the bread comes in. It symbolizes the fact that Jesus paid the price with His broken body on the cross. Under the old covenant, a lamb other animal could be sacrificed on an altar for forgiveness of sins. But under the new covenant, Jesus Christ becomes the sacrificial lamb for our sins forevermore. He paid the price so we don't have to. Isn't that amazing? And just so we don't forget that amazing act of mercy, we are reminded through the breaking of the bread in communion. I can't help but be overwhelmed with gratitude and humility every time I take the bread. My sins do not deserve His sacrifice; I should be the one paying. I choose those paths, not Him. But that's how great His love is for each of us.

The wine represents His blood. The blood becomes a covering to atone for the sins past, present, and future. Atone means to reconcile or appease, to make amends for a wrong done. As the innocent lamb atoned for the sins of those of the old covenant, so Jesus' blood atones for our sins. He is our covering for the sins of our past, present, and future.

We are undeserving. So was He. But His love won over and we must never forget. Take the bread and the wine....and give thanks.

Further Thoughts:

1. Research further the old covenant sacrifice for sins.
2. Spend some time in remembrance today and give thanks that you live under the new covenant.