Until He Comes
Have We Forgotten What We Were Supposed to Remember ?
Remember; the command is woven through the fabric of faith all the way back to Genesis. As we move further from Easter, new memories fade along with the lilies. As exciting as it can be for our families and communities to discover or rediscover new ways to honor and celebrate what Christ has done for us, there is one way every believer is commanded to remember what the Lord has done for us. “On the night He was betrayed…” (1 Corinthians 11:23–26), that is how communion services began where I grew up. For some of us, the passage is so familiar we automatically continue the text in our minds.
“This is my body…This is my blood,” the words are so jarring they cannot help but steal the show when this portion of scripture is referenced. Twice in the brief section of scripture, we are told this, Lord’s supper, is a celebration of remembrance. Rather than passive daydreaming about old times.
“Anamnesis,” the Greek word for remembrance used in the verse, is an active self-prompted reliving. It is a call to intentional focus, but what is the object of that attention?
The answer is right there. It tends to be glossed over without much thought, but it is there just the same. What happens when we eat the bread and drink the cup? We “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes…” Think about that. It doesn’t say we assert the belief in some philosophy or moral code. Surprisingly, we are not told the sacrament announces His resurrection. No, the words are we “proclaim the Lord’s death…” Why should death be at the heart of our remembrance?
We are not told to remember the resurrection, though it is the hinge of history. We are told to remember the death, because it is the place where every false god is unmasked, every idol is exposed, and every chain is broken. The cross is where deliverance is accomplished, once and for all. To remember the death is to remember the cost of freedom, and to proclaim that the powers of this world have been defeated by love.
On the last night before crucifixion, Jesus commemorated the last night Hebrew slaves spent in captivity, with a Passover seder. Before following the LORD out of bondage and into freedom Jacob’s descendants (Exodus 12:1–14) sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lambs in Egypt that day.
As the livestock was offered, Moses likely knew, lambs would never be enough. Ultimate redemption could only be secured someday when the Messiah arrived. That night in the upper room the Lord announced He was about to accomplish the salvation which the blood of countless animals could not.
Just as we are to view ourselves as slaves set free from the bondage of Egypt, we must also be willing to see ourselves at the foot of the cross. Christ, though fully God, was an actual person, who died a torturous death, for us. That is the miracle. Let’s be clear; the horror of the cross isn’t simply the death that was died, but the one who did the dying. That death was not an accident or an afterthought. It was the plan. No government or man took the Lord’s life from Him. He laid it down willingly, so that we could be free.
The one who could not be contained by the spells of ancient of Egypt could not be held in a Jerusalem tomb. How could a stone be expected to contain the One who formed it? The same God who freed the Hebrew slaves offers freedom to you! The God of Israel is not like the gods of this world. Jesus is the Messiah. He is our living God and eternal king. He cannot be contained. Yes, we must proclaim, “He is risen, just as He said!”, but we cannot skip past, “Jesus suffered and died, so you don’t have to.” That is Worth Remembering.