For the past six Lenten midweek services we have been focusing on the words of Christ spoken from His cross. But tonight we focus on the words He spoke to His disciples on the evening before His crucifixion, as He instituted His Holy Supper. Specifically, we are going to focus on His words, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Now, we in the Lutheran Church often talk about what it is that we are receiving in the Lord’s Supper. According to the Lord’s Word we believe, teach, and confess that in this holy meal we are receiving Christ’s true body and blood with the bread and wine to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of our sins. Our modern so-called evangelical, non-denominational, and Baptist churches today (among others) deny this and confess that the Lord’s Supper is simply a memorial meal. They focus solely on Christ’s words “Do this in remembrance of me,” and argue that these words require us to take the words “This is my body” and “This is my blood” symbolically. Unfortunately, in defending Christ’s words that this bread is truly His body and that this wine is truly His blood, Lutherans often forget about His words “Do this in remembrance of me.” And so tonight I want us to focus on the memorial aspect of this meal, without denying that what we are given to eat and to drink here is the very body and blood our Lord gave and shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.
It is, in fact, by eating and drinking the Lord’s true body and blood in this meal that we remember Him correctly. It is the “this” that we are given to do in remembrance of Him. We remember Jesus and what He did for us by receiving into our mouths the very body and blood that He sacrificed for us on Calvary. It is this eating and drinking that causes us to remember what our Lord did for us there. In this way the Lord’s Supper might be compared to a holiday. Holidays are times of celebration. They remind us of certain events. Christmas reminds us of Christ’s birth. Good Friday reminds us of Christ’s death. Easter Sunday reminds us of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Similarly, the eating and drinking of His body and blood in this Holy Supper also reminds us of His sacrifice on the cross. It reminds us that His body was nailed to this torture devise and that His blood flowed from His wounds in order to atone for our sins. It reminds us that Jesus suffered not only the physical torments of this agonizing death for us, but that He also suffered the wrath of God that was due us on account of our sins, so that we who trust in Him might not suffer under that wrath ourselves, but have eternal life.
But the remembering of Christ in this meal is more than simply thinking back or meditating upon what He did for us in the past. It is to receive in the present the benefits of our Lord’s finished work for us. In the Lord’s Supper, just as in Baptism and in the proclamation of the Gospel, the Lord delivers to you the forgiveness of your sins which He won for you in the giving of His body and the shedding of His blood on the cross. The Lord’s Supper brings the historical event of Calvary to you right here and now. It is not a re-sacrificing of Christ or a re-enactment of His crucifixion, as some would teach, but it is the delivery of that once for all sacrifice that He made for you on that mountain so long ago. By giving you His body and blood to eat and to drink in this holy meal, the Lord not only reminds you of what He did for you, but He gives that to you here at this Table.
In his letter to the Galatian churches the Apostle Paul writes that it was before their eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Paul talks as if those Gentile converts to Christianity had actually seen Christ crucified, and yet not one of them had. To what was he referring, then, when he said that Christ had been publicly portrayed before their eyes as crucified? On the one hand, it was a reference to the proclamation of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, in which His crucifixion was delivered to them through God’s Word. But on the other hand, it was also a reference to their celebration of the Lord’s Supper, in which Christ the crucified is seen in the visible elements of bread and wine which He calls His body and blood. For this reason, we sing Simeon’s song after this meal: “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace according to your Word, for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all people.”
In partaking of this Supper it’s as if you were present with Simeon on the day he held the infant Jesus in his arms. It’s as if you were present with the eleven Apostles on that very night when Christ first instituted this Sacrament before His arrest and crucifixion. But in fact it does unite you with them as well as with all Christians of all times all over the world, as they too partake of the very same body and blood of Christ as we do here. This reminds us of how all-inclusive Christ’s sacrifice was. It reminds us that Jesus gave His body and shed His blood for the sins of the whole world, so that all who believe this and confess His words concerning this Holy Supper might partake of this heavenly food, this true Bread from heaven and Bread of Life, in remembrance of Him. There are some who believe that Jesus died for their sins, but they don’t believe what He says concerning the elements in this holy meal. Placing their reason over the Scriptures, they insist that they are receiving only bread and wine, not the true body and blood of Christ. Those who deny the Lord’s words about receiving His body and blood, however, do not remember Him the way He wants us to remember Him here. According to the Apostle Paul, such people partake of this Supper in an unworthy manner. And so, it is out of Christian charity that we instruct those who do not yet confess these words of Christ that they should refrain from participating in this meal until they have been taught and come to confess these words with us. In the Lutheran Church, we make sure that those who would eat and drink at this altar believe, teach, and confess with us that the bread and wine in this Supper is Christ’s true body and blood given you to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins according to His own words. It’s this eating and drinking alone that is done in remembrance of Him.
Finally, with our Lord’s words “Do this in remembrance of me,” we would get it wrong if we looked at this meal as something we did for God. The Lord’s Supper is not something we do for God any more than receiving a Christmas gift is something you do for your parents. The “Do this” of the Lord’s Supper is an invitation. It is as if Christ were saying, “Here I have a precious gift to give you. It is my very body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Here in this meal I put myself into your mouth and into your body, that you might have life and salvation. Receive this gift in remembrance of me and my sacrifice for you. Remember that I am the Author and Perfecter of your salvation, and that you are nothing but given to. I am both the Host and the meal itself at this Table. You are nothing but a beggar on the receiving end of the hand of a gracious King and Lord. Do this in remembrance of what I have done for you, not what you have done for me.”
Luther writes that the truly worthy and well prepared guests at the Lord’s Table are those who have faith in the words “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” If you are such a Christian, then come and receive this gift again tonight, the night of our Lord’s betrayal. Don’t let the fact that you’re a sinner keep you from this Table. This Table is for those sinners who have been washed clean in the waters of Baptism, who repent of their sins, trust in Jesus for their salvation, and believe His words that He gives us His body and blood in this Holy Supper to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of Him. Let it remind you of the cost He paid on the cross for your salvation, and receive it anew as He once again delivers that salvation to you in this holy meal, this holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper. Amen.