Our Body and Blood

The idea of taking the communion in order to "remember" the sacrifice of Jesus is a safe spiritual idea. It only requires us to commemorate what someone else has done for us, and not what we might be doing ourselves.

When Jesus said, "This is my body... given for you... my blood poured out as a sacrifice for you..." (Luke 22:19-20), He was not simply setting up a religious tradition to be repeated each Sunday as part of public worship.

The Lord was also establishing the essence of what it meant to be His disciple. Jesus also said, "Students are to be like their teachers and slaves like their Masters" (Matthew 10:24). In the same way, disciples are to become like their Lord with bodies given and lives (blood) poured out for His purpose and service.

There is no joy, no intimacy with God, no spiritual insight into the true person of Christ until our lives begin to be poured out in ministry to others for Christ's sake. Every need that arises before us, each call to service, every opportunity to give up some of our energy, time, or resources in the service of others is really the Lord's invitation to increase the rate at which we are giving our bodies and pouring out our lives in the imitation of His sacrifice.

For too many, the communion has become a respectful and slightly repetitious ceremony that affirms faith rather than the imagery of our own Christian lives modeled on, and powered by the sacrifice of Christ.

The Lord's Supper can only become meaningful when the ceremony reflects the cross in the life of Jesus as well as our own.