Bible Reading: Mark 14:17-26
This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and his people. Mark 14:24
“Services at church are so boring,” Luke whined. “And I don’t get why we do that Communion thing. What’s up with that?”
Do you ever feel like Luke on Sunday mornings? Do you ever stare out a window wishing you could move to another time and place? Well, every time we do what Luke calls “that Communion thing,” you get your chance. In fact, when we participate in Communion—known in many churches as the Lord’s Supper—we’re like the science-fiction heroes and heroines who get flung to and fro in time.
When Jesus gathered with his disciples in the upper room to celebrate the Passover, they entered a time warp-not exactly of the sci-fi kind, however. The Passover feast reenacted the events of the Old Testament exodus from Egypt. It helped the Jews remember and applaud God’s faithfulness to them in the past.
Wherever and whenever we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we enter a kind of time warp too. It’s like we blast to the past and fly to the future:
• The Lord’s Supper thrusts you back in time two thousand years to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for your sin. “Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup,” Paul wrote, “you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again” (1 Corinthians 11:26). In other words, when you celebrate the Lord’s Supper you’re remembering what Jesus already has done for you.
• The Lord’s Supper also lets you look ahead to the end of human history. Jesus said, “I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). The day he means is the day he will come again to invite you and all Christians to a celebration feast in heaven. We’ll get to thank him personally for his sacrifice, which won our salvation. In other words, when you celebrate the Lord’s Supper you’re looking forward to what Jesus promises to do for you.
It stretches your mind to think back to the Cross and ahead to Christ’s return. Both events matter to your life right here, right now. By looking back you say, “Lord, you gave your life for me. Help me give myself back to you.” By looking ahead you say, “Lord, you have an awesome plan for me. I want to make my life count for you. And I’m looking forward to meeting you face-to-face!”
TALK: How can you make every Communion celebration a feast to remember?
PRAY: God, help us to see the Lord’s Supper through fresh eyes—looking back to your death for us and forward to your return.
ACT: Talk through this study again—perhaps the night before your church next celebrates the Lord’s Supper!
