Eat and Remember

“He said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’”

On his way to the cross and before his resurrection, Jesus eats the Passover meal with his disciples. For the Jew, this meal was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which commemorated God’s deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt. Yet, from this point onward, it would be a celebration of God’s deliverance of humanity from the bondage of sin and death. And it would be more than a remembrance for Israel but for people of every tongue, tribe, and nation.

Though Jesus knows his suffering and death are imminent, he eagerly desires to eat this meal, as it shows exactly why he came into the world. It points to the pouring out of his blood and the giving of his body for the salvation of humanity. The Lord’s Supper is a vivid witness of God’s salvation. Jesus also desires that this meal be more than a memorial of the past but also a current and living witness. We join the disciples and those throughout the ages who take this meal as a reminder of Jesus’s sacrifice and as a proclamation of his death to the world (1 Cor 11:26). In our eating and drinking, we bear witness of our own deliverance from Satan and sin.

As modern disciples who live in a world of hype and distraction, we desperately need to eat this meal and remember Jesus’s sacrifice for our sins and our deliverance from Satan. We can so easily forget the power of Jesus’s death and the depth of his love for us.

Jesus, as we eat this holy meal with you and each other, help us to recall with our eyes, hands, and mouths that you suffered for us and love us completely. Amen.

MIKE W. STROOPE, PHD
Professor and Holder of the M. C. Shook Chair in Christian Missions
Truett Seminary