https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/25/remembering-the-sacrifice
The Lord’s Supper or the Holy Communion was always something intriguing that most of us, I believe, were curious when we were yet believers. But it is something that I would think all churches are strict on – you can not partake of it unless you have accepted Jesus as your personal Saviour and Lord. Some churches even insist that one may only partake of the holy sacraments upon baptism. Muslims view it as something mystical that once drank and eaten will trap someone into becoming a Christian. We, of course, know that there is nothing mystical or magical about the holy sacraments as they are made of ordinary day to day ingredients purchased from the local supermarket. Most churches use Ribena for the juice, while there are some mainline churches that use real wine. Yet although there is nothing mystical, there is something supernatural that can come about as we partake of the Holy Communion because we remember the Lord and His sacrifice for us on the cross, as He had shed His blood and had His body broken for our sins.
The first Lord’s Supper was a Passover meal taken the night before Jesus was arrested and brought for trial, which resulted in His crucifixion and death. The Passover meal was celebrated by Jews to remember the grace of God in allowing the angel of death to pass over their homes when they were in Egypt. They had to slaughter an unblemished lamb and splatter its blood on their door posts so that the angel of death knew they were Israelites and thus spared their firstborns. There were a lot of wailing and crying that night on the Egyptian side as they lost all of their firstborns, including their first child and the first offspring of their animals. That was the last straw that broke the camel’s back and led to Pharoah finally releasing the Israelites to Moses, followed by the parting of the Red Sea we spoke about yesterday.
Therefore, like the Jews remember God’s love and grace during their time in Egypt through the Passover, Jesus by initiating the Lord’s Supper on a Passover taught us to remember Him and His sacrifice when we ourselves partake of the Lord’s Supper. In 1 Corinthians 11:23-28, Paul speaks about the Corinthians’ unworthiness in partaking of the Lord’s Supper as they had forgotten to remember Christ and instead were just enjoying themselves in their meal. In those days, the Lord’s Supper was taken as a full meal and not just a piece of bread and some wine and may have become a feast of some sort which Paul was cautioning them.
But Paul’s message remains relevant today even though modern churches do not partake of the Lord’s Supper as a full meal anymore. The Holy Communion may have become too routine and ritualistic that we may have forgotten Christ in the whole mechanical process. Always be thankful to Christ for His sacrifice on the cross that enabled us to have eternal life, a life to be lived with God for eternity one day. Be grateful too for the many blessings that He has given us till today for without Him working in our lives, we would have been lost in a world of our own, pursuing our own interests and ambitions without any regard to God’s plans and purposes for our lives. Instead, we are now responding to His calling for us and are living in the centre of His will! We are now sons and daughters of God, co-heirs with Christ with an abundant and rich inheritance in glory in Christ! Amen and Hallelujah!
Ronnie's Thoughts 