As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving I can’t help but think of the Communion table. Communion is referred to as the Lord’s Supper and it is an opportunity to remember and celebrate the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. Accounts of the Lord’s Supper are referenced in Matthew 26, Mark 14 and Luke 22. For Jesus the table was bittersweet. On one hand, He knew this meal, commemorating the Jewish Passover, would be his last with all of the disciples before his death. On the other hand, Jesus knew his death would open his disciples’ eyes to an understanding of Passover they’d never known, where they would see their teacher as their Savior, the ultimate Passover Lamb. And this final meal with His disciples would become a regular meal of remembrance for all of His followers to recall His greatest gift to us, His very own life.
Matthew 26:17-30 specifically describes this “Last Supper.” During this meal Jesus breaks bread (verse 26) and He declares that this bread is his body that would endure death on a cross. Before Jesus’s crucifixion on the cross, where “he played host to the world by His body and blood paying the debt for our sins,”[1] Jesus told the disciples about another gift whom He called the Helper, His Holy Spirit (John 14:16). And on the third day He arose from the grave and made good on His promise to provide that Helper and also to go prepare a place for us. At a point unknown to us, Jesus will come again to take us to himself, just as the Bridegroom returns for His bride. And His reunion with the Bride will be culminated in the ultimate celebration at the table, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (which we affectionately call The Sublime Soiree). But that is just the beginning.
By taking this bread we are acknowledging that we not only need substance physically but also that we need Jesus spiritually. What a generous, compassionate God who would give us bread with a finite shelf life in order to help us recognize our deeper hunger and the infinite One who will satisfy it.
In verse 27, we read about the wine being poured out symbolizing the blood Jesus would shed for us. In Hebrews 9:22, it says, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.” Jesus’s shed blood covers every sin throughout history and for everyone.
This entire meal was opportunity for the disciples to remember just like it is for us. Each time we partake in Communion we are reminded of his death, his great sacrificial love for us, His resurrection, and His ascension into heaven. We also celebrate the fact that he has left his Holy Spirit with us. The definition of the word “redeem” is to save, exchange, compensate, pay back, and fulfill. My heart is overwhelmed with gratitude. Friends, God is a redeemer! I think of my past and that through Jesus I am now “restored.” Restore means to bring back, repair, renovate and give back. This is the good news of the Gospel. We will not physically partake in this meal with him until He returns (verse 29). But knowing we are apt to forget, Jesus gave us the Lord’s Supper to remember God and His goodness now.
The Communion Table serves as a powerful reminder of His presence with us, the sacrifices he made for us and if we choose to open His invitation, we will celebrate with Him face to face one day. In the meantime, because God has invited us to His banquet table, He also has equipped us to invite others to His table.
By God’s grace, we are (or can be) seated at His glorious table, the one He has prepared for us now and the one waiting us at a date to He has yet to tell us. He has been inviting you since the beginning of time and He wants you to feast with Him. As we gather around our Thanksgiving tables this year, let us taste and see that the Lord is good, may we count His many blessings, naming them one by one, and may we feast with Him and pass the plate of His glorious invitations.
Dear Father, we thank you for your great sacrifice for our sins. We remember your body and shed blood not for anything you did wrong but because you were paying the penalty for our sins. I thank you for what you did for me and that I have forgiveness and access to eternal life with you one day soon. Thank you for your steadfast love and the great price you paid for my redemption. Lord, help us live lives that reflect gratitude not only today but every day for what you have done. When I truly understand what you have done for me, help me to live a life of love, mercy, and grace and to extend those invitations to others. In the Name of Jesus, Amen!
— Sue M. Lindsey © November 2024
[1] Bowden, David and Steward, Seth; “3 John: Jesus Our Host,” The Spoken Gospel Podcast, August 19, 2021.
