1 Corinthians 11:26
"For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."
Last Sunday was the first time I took part of the "Lord's Supper" at our church, CCBC. For the non-Christian, it's commonly called the "Communion". It was a bitter sweet moment for me. As a matter of fact, I cried the moment I got a hold of the bread and juice. It was tears of sadness and joy. It was that overwhelming.
Some of you may wonder and say, "What made him cry? It was just a piece of bread and a cup of juice. Maybe he's just overstating things." Well, true, it was just a piece of bread and a cup of juice if you look at it plainly. But what deeply troubled me was the reality on what it symbolizes and what it really means.
It's the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. We take part of it because as Christians, we remember what Jesus Christ had done for us on the Cross. At the Cross, our sin was forgiven, our filth was cleansed, and our unrighteousness was removed. We are declared justified and made alive through His death. All in all, it is a gift given by grace to unworthy people like us. This point is misunderstood and altogether overlooked by the majority of people.
Notice the word I used here, unworthy. This is the word that moved me to tears. I cried because I realized that I'm unworthy of His love, unworthy of His mercy and unworthy of His grace. I realized that for 23 years, I constantly ignored Him and consciously rejected Him. I took control of my own life. I did not realize before that His death on the Cross was for me. My sin was so severe that He needed to sacrifice Himself in order to meet God's justice and to display His genuine love.
In 1 Corinthians 11:26, Paul reminds the church of Corinth on what the "Lord's Supper" is all about. It's not just about eating a piece of bread or drinking a cup of wine or juice. We "proclaim our Lord's death" each and every time we take part of it. But just like the church of Corinth, we people tend to ignore this reality. Like the Corinthians, we often get "drunk" and get "full" of the idea that we are taking part of the "Lord's Supper" because it's somewhat like a routine done in the church.
Instead of this kind of perspective, we ought to look at ourselves as unworthy people taking part of the flesh and blood of the One who saved us. We need to examine ourselves and realize where we stand before a holy and just God. Only then can we truly understand that we are saved and redeemed by grace. Only then can we experience joy.
Reflect on this: How do you look at the "Lord's Supper" or Holy Communion? What does it mean to you? How does taking part of it affect your life with Jesus?
Prayer: Father God, thank you for the sobering words of 1 Corinthians 11:26. Indeed, the Lord's Supper is more than just taking part of bread and wine. It's the actual consumption of the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We take part of it not because by doing so we are saved from condemnation, but because we remember Jesus Christ taking that condemnation and granting us justification on the Cross.
It is my prayer, that may we have a profound understanding of your grace towards us. May we all realize that how unworthy we are of your grace. And let the reality of being apart from Jesus can only cause condemnation sink in upon our minds. That is why I pray to the Holy Spirit to lead us, guide us, convict us and most of all, change us and mold us into the Christian you, Lord God, want us to be. Not because we have to, but because we get to. In Jesus' good name I pray, Amen.
