Lessons from the Lord's Supper -- Part III

The book of Acts says that the early church was "devoted" to the breaking of bread, the remembrance we commonly call "The Lord's Supper." Last time we looked at the what the New Testament writer Mark says, that Jesus was "eager" to celebrate the Passover with his disciples. Jesus is still eager to see His followers surround the table and break bread with each other.

A second observation from the Lord's Supper is this -- Jesus uses Communion to continue the transition from the old covenant to the new.

Let's remember, Jesus was Jewish, as were the 12. As they gathered for the Passover, they were following the Law that God gave His people. The Passover represented the sparing of life, the protection of the chosen. Each and every year the story of God's wrath on the Egyptians and God's promise to the Israelites would be retold.

As was common with the Law, the Passover also represented sacrifice. The book of Exodus tells us that the Jews were to paint their doorposts with the blood of a lamb. The celebratory Passover week included the sacrifice of a lamb as a sin offering (Deut 16). Under the old law, sin was abundant. As a result, the need for sacrifices was abundant. God required blood to attain righteousness.

This theological pattern could have continued forever, sin = sacrifice. But God had a plan -- one sacrifice to end all sacrifices. The Apostle Paul makes it clear in 1 Cor 5:7 -- Jesus would become the final Passover lamb.

And thus, when Jesus asks His disciples in the upper room to take the bread and eat it, He tells them that His sacrificed body is represented. As He passes the cup, he says that it is "the new covenant in my blood." Translation -- the old covenant of Law and sacrifice has been fulfilled and replaced with a new covenant of grace, purchased with the blood of a Perfect Lamb.

This new covenant, and all that it entails, would be a point of discussion throughout the first century. Many of Paul's letters to the churches addressed this very topic. Even the disciples who reclined at the Communion table with Christ would disagree about the requirements of discipleship (remember the Jerusalem council on circumcision?)

I think we could say the same today. On one level, most born-again believers know that they are saved by grace alone, and not by the works they do -- that our personal sacrifices have no measure of saving worth compared to the one sacrifice made on the cross. Yet, we are quick to tally the balance of our sins against our works of faith, hoping the numbers are in our favor. And, we struggle to avoid counting the sins of others against them.

Jesus is eager to celebrate His death with us, because His death brings life. He reminds us, through the simple, ancient items of bread and wine, that the old requirements of body and blood are no more. Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe.