Read: Matthew 26:17-30
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
I don’t like to admit it, but I’m a forgetful person. Angie calls me her “absent-minded professor”. For the record, it’s not one of my favorite nicknames. Even when I write things down or put reminders on my phone, I find unique ways of forgetting. Thankfully, I don’t think I have dementia – yet! It’s simply that I have a lot going on in my head – new ideas constantly bombarding me – that I sometimes can’t keep it all straight.
Jesus knew that all of us, to some extent, are forgetful. Maybe not like me, but we are. Can you think of an experience that you thought to yourself, “This is so amazing, I’ll never forget this;” and yet, today, you can’t bring it to mind (if you can’t think of one, that might just prove my point!). How often do we look at a picture of an experience from years ago and struggle to remember the circumstances or when we do, we wonder how we could ever forget!
Because we’re human. We get busy. We have new experiences. We go through joys and struggles. They keep coming, an endless stream of life.
In the Old Testament God gave the people of Israel an annual schedule. Set celebrations throughout the year to remind them of all the incredible ways he showed up and provided for them. Even so, they kept forgetting. They kept running after false gods.
We are like them. Prone to wander. Prone to forget. Prone to doubt and fear. It’s why Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, used two incredibly common symbols to remind his followers of the most incredible act of love ever.
Jesus took bread – the most simple and common part of a meal in that day; and wine the most common of drink. He didn’t ask us to remember his birthday. He didn’t ask us to remember one of his miracles. He didn’t ask us to remember one of his sermons. He asked us to remember his death.
“Take, eat; this is my body.”
And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
We are to remember a cross. We are to remember a death. We are to remember a Savior who loved us so much, he died a death he did not deserve. Beaten, mocked, flogged, spat upon; betrayed, denied. Jesus obeyed the will of the Father to the bitter end. He drank the cup of suffering – filled to the brim with my sin and yours – because of his love for the Father and for us.
Peter Marshall reminds us that:
Christ had begun His ministry by telling His apostles that the Son of Man must suffer many things. Must – there was no other way. It was for that purpose that He had come into the world. “For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up…that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The First Easter (17-18)
Read the words of Jesus in John 14-16. See his calm confidence; his tender, loving words; his encouragement to them. He was not afraid to follow the Father’s will. He knew what lay before. He knew he would see them again. He knew the Father’s purpose.
The bread and cup remind us to look to fix our eyes on Jesus “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). They remind us that Jesus really lived. He really died. God really did, for our sake, make him who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The bread and the cup remind us that we are sinners; dead in our trespasses; enemies of God; deserving of wrath (see Ephesians 2). But God, who is rich in mercy, has made us alive. We are forgiven. We are set free. We are alive.
And we are called to die to ourselves. Jesus said in John 12:24, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” And in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
The bread and the cup remind us that we must share in Christ’s sufferings – not dying on a cross, but in order to experience new life and resurrection, we too must die. We must die to the old self; we must die to the flesh; we must deny ourselves; we must follow Christ.
Throughout Lent, we have practiced dying to self. We have practiced in small ways what it means to deny ourselves so that when the bigger deaths come – the bigger temptations and challenges – we will know how to let go of what is not needed and to obey our loving Father.
Remember. Remember what Christ has done on the cross. He died and by faith in him, we die too. Now we can join our voices with Paul’s in declaring, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
Take time to reflect:
Where do you need help in remembering the work of Christ in your life? What truths do you tend to forget? What untruths do you tend to believe?
Ask God to show you any areas where you need to die to yourself or your desires. What new thing does God want to do in you? Is there something that needs to be removed to make way for it?
If you’ve given up something during Lent, do you sense God teaching you obedience through the things you’ve “suffered”? What might that be? Where might he want to teach you more?
Take time to thank Jesus for suffering in our place. Thank him for the cross and for the bread and the cup that remind us of his incredible work of love. Ask him to help you remember.