Don’t Forget

I have already told you what the Lord Jesus did on the night he was betrayed. And it came from the Lord himself.

He took some bread in his hands. Then after he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this and remember me.”

After the meal, Jesus took a cup of wine in his hands and said, “This is my blood, and with it God makes his new agreement with you. Drink this and remember me.”

The Lord meant that when you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you tell about his death until he comes.

But if you eat the bread and drink the wine in a way that isn’t worthy of the Lord, you sin against his body and blood. That’s why you must examine the way you eat and drink. If you fail to understand that you are the body of the Lord, you will condemn yourselves by the way you eat and drink. That’s why many of you are sick and weak and why a lot of others have died. If we carefully judge ourselves, we won’t be punished. (1 Corinthians 11:23–31)

“Remember me,” said Jesus as he broke the bread and shared the cup during that final Passover meal. Paul told the church in the Greek city of Corinth that Jesus wanted his people to remember him. The whole reason for the ceremony of communion was to remember Jesus: who he was and what he had done. Paul commented that whenever we shared in a communion meal we were telling about his death until he comes back again.

“Remember me,” said Jesus. Is there a danger that we might forget him, that he had to tell us to remember? Indeed. It is human nature to become distracted with our lives, with our daily concerns, with all the things we do that keep us so busy. We have to work, we have to sleep, we have to rest, we have to take care of our families, spend time with them, spend time with our friends. There is so much we have to do and it is inescapable and entirely necessary.

So Jesus told us that there was one more thing we had to do, one more responsibility in the midst of all our other responsibilities: we needed to remember him, to never forget what he did for us. Jesus died for us and lives for us, so that in him we might have our lives and have them more abundantly.

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