by Cindy Melenric | March 9, 2017
“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ ” (Luke 22:19)
Jesus was partaking in what is known as the Last Supper. The disciples were having their final meal with the Lord (unbeknownst to them). And in prayer, Jesus lifted the bread and the cup and gave thanks. Then told His disciples, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
Throughout my life I was taught and understood that Jesus was commanding His disciples to do what we now call “communion” together. And rightly so. Jesus set the example for us to follow in His steps. But I’ve discovered I overlooked something here. When Jesus said to “DO THIS in remembrance of Me,” was he just talking about communion?
If you look at the first part of the verse, He told us, “This is My body given for you…” What does communion represent? It is not just the act of sharing bread and wine together, it is an act representing what He did afterward. His body is represented by the bread, His blood represented by the wine. He gave Himself over to be crucified, to be put to death for the remission of our sins. His body was broken and His blood was poured out for us (verse 20).
So when the Lord commanded us, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” I don’t believe it was just the act of communion He was speaking about. We must do what it represents as well. We are to give our lives for the Lord’s sake, for His Kingdom, as a witness to testify of who Jesus is.
Jesus said in Mark 8:34, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” We are to die to self, we are to live for Him. Paul said, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians15:31), meaning he died to his fleshly desires. We must do the same. We must take up our cross, the painful cross, the heavy cross of life, and follow in His steps.
Communion is symbolic of Jesus offering His body and blood as a sacrifice on the Cross. Jesus commands us to do the same. We are not just to remember what He did for us, we are to DO it as well. We are to give of ourselves sacrificially and lay down our lives for Him, in response to His great love for us. This, my friends, is what we are to DO!