For many Christians, the Lord’s Supper, also known as Communion, can become a stale and somewhat repetitive activity.
While we mentally acknowledge it as an important celebration, the reality is that we sometimes have difficulty remaining interested. This is, I believe, due partly to an unfortunate lack of teaching on how truly amazing and world-changing the story of Communion really is. Rather than simply an ecclesiastical task or a command for remembrance, the Lord’s Supper is a demonstration of the eternal heart of God to pursue a relationship with his people.
The Heart of Relationship
The Apostle Paul presents the basic teaching of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11. As part of a series of corrective explanations, he instructs the church at Corinth on how they were to celebrate the observance. The instructions for taking the bread and the cup are simple and straightforward, and Christ’s admonition “This do in remembrance of me” is inscribed on countless altars at the front of churches.
Yet the actual institution of the event marked the beginning of the most important weekend of all time. As Jesus sat at a table with his disciples, they celebrated the feast of Passover—the day on which the people of Israel remembered their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. They remembered the events of the first Passover when the Israelites had to do nothing but be ready and eat. The blood of the lamb, rubbed on the door posts, protected them from the presence of God’s holiness, and thus, they could eat in peace.
This event marks the focal point of Communion: that God allows his people to eat in his presence. This is the heart of relationship, and it this very story that is told over and over throughout the Bible. Such stories look forward to the Lord’s Supper and look back on the gracious and loving hand of a good Father.
The Threads
The roots of Communion began in the garden that was in Eden. In the place where they enjoyed walking with God, God instructed the man and the woman that they could eat from any tree in the garden but one. While we often focus on the one, the true love of God is demonstrated in his invitation to eat from all of the rest, including the tree of life. God wanted his people to share his presence and eat with him.
After the first Passover, when God’s presence moved through Egypt as the people of Israel ate, we see the thread reappear in the book of Exodus. After God appeared on Mount Sinai and gave the ten words, he invited Moses and the elders to come up the mountain. While this often seems to us to be a day of judgment and law, it is so much more. As the elders and Moses proceeded up the mountain, they actually saw God’s presence and the sapphire under his feet. We are told, “And [God] did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank” (Exodus 24:11 ESV). In the presence of God, there is eating.
This short passage can seem to run past us as we read the book of Exodus. Yet stop and consider the importance. God again allowed his people to share his presence and eat. He showed love and care and hope and promise. This will be reflected in the following pages of Scripture as God gave instructions for fashioning the tabernacle and, in the holy place near his divine presence, included a table specifically for bread to be eaten by the priests (Leviticus 24:5-9). The theme will appear again as the people of Israel cross the Jordan River and immediately celebrate Passover, after which God instructs them to eat the food of the Promised Land (Joshua 3-5).
The Tapestry
And so, page after page of Scripture goes by with these hints of God’s love being repeated until we finally reach the Gospels. In the quiet moments before Jesus is betrayed, he shares the Passover meal with his disciples. But this time, Jesus fully explains the concept. The bread and the wine are not just elements recalling a past event; they are part of a beautifully woven story of fellowship with God in his presence. And now they are pointing ahead. They tell of the horrors that will come the next day, of the broken and bloody body of our Savior. They tell of loss, suffering, pain—and redemption.
As Jesus finishes what would later be called “the Lord’s Supper” that first night, he issues a promise. He says that he would not eat or drink like this again until they all shared in the coming kingdom. Once again, we see God’s desire for us to sit in his presence and eat. Christ’s body and blood, which he later instructed the church to remember through Communion, provided the means for our salvation and restored relationship with God. The Apostle John describes the culmination of this fellowship in the heavenly kingdom—again in the context of a meal—as he writes, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). The story of the Lord’s Table is ultimately about God beckoning the nations to his presence.
God’s plan for the Lord’s Supper, as described throughout the whole Bible, tells of love, hope, and his mission for those from all people groups to be saved. As you celebrate it and remember Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, let us dwell on the words of the most famous Psalm—Psalm 23—and consider this as our ultimate desire and the story we must tell others: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies . . . and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (vv. 5-6).
