A snatch from Paul’s account of institution says. “The night before Jesus was betrayed, he took bread; gave thanks, and broke it . . . do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24).
The account does not say what he gave thanks for. He was not somehow grateful for the betrayal, that they would crucify him in the morning, that people would make fun of him while he suffered. But there was something, something that these negatives could not override, something that it made sense to say he was glad was so.
Read Essay →In Gethsemane the night’s dread of the morning’s crucifixion weighed heavily on Jesus. The Book of Hebrews supplements the gospel accounts by noting his tears and audible crying (5:7). That evening’s burden anticipated the next morning’s pain.
Hebrews also adds the striking point that Jesus “was heard because of his godly fear” (5:7). His being “heard” refers to his prayer for deliverance from death! The comment highlights a distinction between the Father’s hearing a request and his granting it, between acknowledging its legitimacy and overriding it with an even greater concern.
Read Essay →When we do something, we say something; when we do something, we teach something. Breaking bread together “proclaims Christ’s death till he returns” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Paul notes what happened and what it meant.
His comment also splices calvary and Christ’s return. We keep that point in mind during this “meantime” era. We reach back to grasp his death and reach forward to take hold of his return. The former, verified by his resurrection, undergirds our confidence in the latter, which includes our own resurrection. What we have already seen gives hope for what we have not yet seen. It means hope in the meantime. This observance is a “remark” we make to each other, and a mark of the faith that others see.
Read Essay →We consider the beginning of the year as a time to start over. Gathering at the Lord’s table relates to that same idea. Having a clean slate feels good. It gives us a sense of release from whatever went before that would hinder going forward. We are remembering here a unique event that provides us with that feeling of release from past failures that can weigh us down and sap the energy for trying again.
Read Essay →We dare not forget about the past, because it has so much to do with creating the possibilities that have arisen from it. We use various ways of connecting to crucial events that flow down to us. Besides simply remembering, we carry out rituals, we build memorials, we use emblems to bridge the gap between then and now.
We also sing songs like “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?” The emblems are a way of putting us there, emblems Jesus himself instituted so we would continue to be mindful of him like he was mindful of us. That is why he did not do anything to avoid the cross.
Read Essay →Jesus appointed two ordinances for us to keep after he returned to the Father. Before he ascended, he included baptism in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) for identifying with himself, the Father, and the Spirit. Earlier, on the eve of his death, he instituted this “supper,” communion, the eucharist, as we variously term it. Both ordinances have ties to his death, the focal point and destiny of his ministry.
Among its many aspects, this ordinance carries with it an element of worship. It recognizes the greatness of the One we remember in it. It reminds us of the “last measure of devotion” expressed in self-sacrifice. It triggers in us the virtues that replace the sins his self-giving removes from our record.
Read Essay →Ideas, words, and symbols are not real; so thinking, talking, and observing rituals do not accomplish anything in themselves. They do not ‘become” real till they become “actions.”
When we do something we experience something, and not before. A communion service is for bringing our ‘selves” into the real presence of the “Living Word” so our behaviors become impacted.
Realizing such a simple point can prompt us to choose to do, and so to experience, the difference that being with Christ makes in daily living.
Read Essay →“Well begun, half done”; but “half done is not done.” Laying a foundation does not give us a place to live. Cutting firewood does not keep us warm. Going to the store does not feed a family. Resisting Satan’s temptations in the beginning would not have sufficed to offset caving in to them at Calvary—as in “come down from the cross.” Jesus would not have “finished” the Father’s will for his life in our realm.
Read Essay →Work is productive doing; it stresses the intended consequence of effort. Christ’s “work” on the cross completed his sinless life. It resulted in becoming the sinless One we devote ourselves to in this observance.
So, beyond pledging allegiance, we are renewing efforts at working like him in self-sacrifice to God and the good of other people.
Christian observance does not consist of going through religious motions. The Lord’s Supper is no exception. It is doing something for effect, in this case renewed commitment to doing like he did for the reasons he did.
Read Essay →Today of all days we come around this table thankful for continuously being unburdened from failure, mistakes, and sins. That relief rests on what this bread and cup represent. God continues to forgive us on the condition of our continuing to repent of our moral failures. Cleansing from sin is the flip side of considering us clean like the One who died for us.
Participating in this repeated observance reminds us of God’s repeatedly overlooking what would otherwise estrange us from him. We recall again the way the apostle John puts it, “Christ’s blood continues to ‘cleanse’ us from all sin,” from all our sins (1 John 1:7).
Read Essay →This simple, brief ceremony has connections with centuries of preparation and with matters of the highest order.
“Prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched out this salvation carefully. They wanted to find out what time or kind of time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating about his sufferings and subsequent glories. They learned that they weren’t ministering these things to themselves but to you. The Holy Spirit, sent from heaven, has announced those things now through your evangelists—things angels long to look into” (1 Peter 1:10-13).
Read Essay →The author of the Fourth Gospel termed himself “the disciple Jesus loved.” Presumably he wanted to keep his involvement from being too prominent and perhaps distracting while still emphasizing his personal witness of what he records. Choosing this self-designation later in life when he wrote may reflect Jesus’ influence on him from early being one of the “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17). Instead of a contrast, however, “the disciple Jesus loved” may be an understatement that any disciple might adopt.
Read Essay →This last Sunday of the year provides an occasion to focus on the Lord’s completing his mission, We can probably think of someone that worked a long time to accomplish something important only to clutch at the end. Previous course work was good, but not getting that dissertation written meant not receiving the doctorate. Laying the foundation, erecting the walls, even getting a roof on did not make a home for the family.
Read Essay →Christianity has two ordinances, and they deal with the same concern: the sin problem. Both ordinances derive from the same event: Christ’s death to solve that problem. We can revisit that connection by reading Romans 6:1-13:
“So should we say, ‘Let’s keep sinning so there’ll be more grace’? 2Goodness, no! How can we who died to sin keep living in it? 3Don’t you know that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death? 4Baptism buried us with him into death. As the Father gloriously raised Christ from the dead, we too can live in a new life. 5If we’ve participated in what’s like his death, we’ll participate in what’s like his resurrection. 6Know this: our old self was crucified with him to destroy the sinful body so we wouldn’t serve sin anymore. 7Whoever dies is justified from sin. 8If we’ve died with Christ, we believe we’ll live with him. 9We know that since Christ arose from the dead, he won’t die again, and death doesn’t have control over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once and for all; the life he lives now, he keeps living to God. 11We consider ourselves dead to sin too, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Read Essay →Being locked into anything means bondage to it, something that someone else often has to free us from.
Accordingly, Paul speaks of “crucifying” the sinful body, no longer being a “slave” to sin, dying to sin and being “dead” in it (Romans 6:6, 7, 11), not being under the perfection necessity that law-keeping in theory requires.
This freedom from “slavery” to the consequences of sin comes, not from ourselves, but from the One sinned against, from the One who completed his righteousness before the Father. So now the Father is willing to view us as like him, to free us from sin and its consequences, because we have committed ourselves to him who in his righteousness died to sin.
Read Essay →Vicious men have a strategy. They believe they can better get us to deny the faith by threatening to torture one of our loved ones in our presence. We probably would rather face such things ourselves than be “responsible” for a loved one’s agony.
Something of that point applies to Christ’s crucifixion. The Son was willing to show his love for us by enduring the cross as the way of “laying down his own life for his friends” (John 15:13). Beyond that, the Father was responsible for his Son’s going through that horrible experience. Even beyond that, he had the Son go through it while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).
Read Essay →Goodness has only to do with how persons interact with each other, with ways of behaving that affect and enable living together. (a) Goodness is person-al.
Goodness has to do only with a person’s own behavior. God does not hold my sin against my son, my friend, my fellow human being. The Law of Moses said the one who does God’s commandments is the one that has life by them (Leviticus 18:5 < Galatians 3:12). The prophet said that the goodness or sinfulness of a person will be on himself (Ezekiel 18:20). (b) Goodness is personal, individual.
Read Essay →A black-and-white picture lacks color. A snapshot lacks movement. Watching a party of friends on TV lacks the experience of participating. Illustrations like these lack an element that would make them better, more real, more interesting, more fulfilling.
Existing is less than living because it lacks what we call meaning. Christ came to give us life and to give it more abundantly, the sense of value that comes from friendship with our creator, the sense that he cares about us.
Read Essay →“This Do in Remembrance of Me.” Jesus’ words traditionally appear on communion tables for everyone in the congregation to see. They come from his last meal with the disciples, when he instituted this memorial.
Among the many things this observance refreshes is that he never asks us to do more than he shows us he is willing to do.
So, taking these emblems today prepares us for any unforeseen challenge that may be on the way this week. That pain, that disappointment, that rejection or loss will be less than what his example of faithfulness demonstrated.
Read Essay →During their wilderness wanderings, God gave manna to the followers of Moses to keep them physically alive in the desert. Jesus plays on that occurrence when speaking of himself as a kind of manna, or “food,” that God sent into the world to give spiritual life to his people.
Jesus calls on us to internalize what he stands for in values and purposes, to taker into our physical selves what he stood for while he lived among us. Taking his character into ourselves is like “eating” him, becoming like him as he was in his physical condition. It is like eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
Read Essay →If you do your twenty assigned jobs, you are perfect. If you do a thousand assigned jobs, you are also perfect, but you have greater perfection. If you do your twenty easy tasks, you are perfect. If you do twenty difficult ones, you have achieved greater perfection. What you do perfectly that helps many is greater than what affects a few.
Our Lord achieved the greatest goodness, the greatest perfection, because he did the greatest act: laying down his life for all others. It was greatest because of its greatest difficulty (pain, suffering, rejection, death), its greatest effect (laying a foundation for reconciling people to God), and because of the greatest number of people it could benefit (everyone, everywhere, “everywhen”).
Read Essay →Things do not mean anything unless they are connected to other things. What we say, what we know, what we own, what we do are pointless in themselves. In 1 Corinthians 13:2-3 Paul observes that, even in their extreme forms, words, knowledge, possessions, deeds do not mean anything unless we use them in connection with caring about other people:
“If I speak in the languages of people and angels but don’t have love, like a noisy gong or crashing cymbal I don’t mean anything. If I prophesy, understand all mysteries, know everything, have enough faith to move mountains but don’t love, I am nothing. If I give everything I own to feed the poor and give up my body so I can take pride in doing so but don’t love, I don’t gain anything.”
Read Essay →Embarking on a new venture calls for calculating reward against risk. Risk considers possible failures and unforeseen consequences. Reward ushers in desired prospects—perhaps even better than hoped. Somehow we measure negatives before choosing to proceed.
In the case of an all-knowing, all-powerful God, laying a foundation for human salvation did not risk failure. Success was guaranteed by the character of the Son: his righteousness and his willingness even to lay his life on the line. The Father’s certain foreknowledge meant no surprises, and his power assured success against all opposition.
Read Essay →Jesus was not alone in dark Gethsemane; an angel came to strengthen him (Luke 22:43). The same thing happened in the beginning of his ministry when Satan tempted him for forty days (Mark 1:13). These two episodes illustrate the power of personal presence; it can enable a person to deal even with extreme issues like near starvation and prospective agony.
Influence is not miracle. We suppose the angels came to encourage, not to give ability, not to reduce his hunger drive in the desert or increase his strength-of-will in the Garden.
Read Essay →The New Testament pictures Christ as both priest and sacrifice. As priest “he ever lives to intercede from us” (Hebrews 8:25). As sacrifice “his blood continues to cleanse us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). As we have ongoing need for removing the effects of failures in our friendship with God, Christ enables us to have ongoing access to God for maintaining that friendship.
Christ’s work is more than a one-time past event in history even as our salvation through him is more than a one-time event earlier in life. Initial change combines with continuing maintenance of that change. Such is the case because salvation is ongoing; it is restoring and restored friendship; it is reconciliation. Since “nobody’s perfect” before or after salvation, initial reconciliation calls for ongoing maintenance—just as in any other friendship.
Read Essay →Christ’s tomb has a broken seal, a stone rolled aside from the entrance, and a void within. That scene serves as a visual reminder of hope no matter what. Death is the most extreme negative that we will face—and we will all face it, but the open tomb of Jesus pictures relentless hope for us as his people.
If an empty tomb can follow a deadly cross, good can follow anything. As the Lord endured the cross because of what lay beyond it, we cling to relentless hope through everything we encounter that would lead to defeat, failure, and final end.
Read Essay →It’s easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of it. It’s easier to avoid a problem than to solve it. But gathering here acknowledges that the “human problem” already exists; broken relationship with God and ruined friendships between people have already become the case for all of us.
More than that, the solution to the “human problem” is also in place as this memorial to Christ’s ultimate human righteousness shows. What it took to solve that problem shows how important solving it was and how much concern for us the savior had. Coming together here shows our intention in return to stay out of the problem by staying in him.
Read Essay →Christ hung on the cross before he sat on the throne. He served the people before he received honor and glory. His self-giving came ahead of his appointment as leader with authority (cp. Matthew 28:18-20).
There is a pattern here that we do well to observe in our own everyday living. Helping before leading keeps our motives more like Christ’s whenever we are called on to take responsibility. Humility precedes honor to offset pride that sometimes comes with position.
Read Essay →Sporting events provide a familiar picture of opposing efforts: the Olympics, the Iditarod, the World Series, March Madness, the Super Bowl, and the like. The games in all these sports share one feature: they end in victory and defeat.
Competitions like these parallel what we call attention to in this ordinance: the competition between good and evil, between God and what opposes him, between the victory and defeat that come.
Read Essay →These emblems do not represent an idea but an event; more particularly they are reminders of a personal event and the features that involves; “Do this in remembrance of me.”
These notations relate to comments about theory versus practice. Life in Christ is not something theoretical, something abstract or distant, something applicable to earlier times. We are people, and our needs are real and present like they have been in the past all along the way.
Read Essay →The beginning of the week is a good time to take stock, turning our minds backward, upward, inward, and forward. The Lord’s Supper touches on all these directions.
It looks backward to Christ’s giving himself in crucifixion for us. It looks upward in gratitude to the Father for grace and love of such a degree that he was willing to give up his Son for our salvation. It looks inward in self-examination that prompts sensitivity to matters of character and gratitude (1 Corinthians 11:28). It looks forward to when the One who died for us returns to take us to himself forever (1 Corinthians 11:26).
Read Essay →Our Father sent our Brother into our situation to live out human righteousness to its highest level: self-sacrifice. Completing that venture in our realm, qualified him as savior of human children. So, the Father appointed him as sacrifice, savior, and priest in the true tabernacle of heaven itself. Committing ourselves to him is the Father’s condition for considering us righteous like him, which is the positive side of forgiveness.
These emblems picture Christ’s body given and his blood shed. So to speak, the roots of the vine whose fruit we are using were planted centuries ago when God called Abraham. The father of the faithful stands at the front end of the process that culminated on the cross, the cross we are remembering in this act of worship and commitment.
Read Essay →“In the beginning the Word was there. The Word was with God, and the Word was deity” (John 1:1-2). Not only was the Word with God; the Word was with us. Put that together with the fact that the Word that was with us was crucified: crucified deity! Who ever heard of such a thing: that deity would be with us, and we would crucify him for it!?
Let our minds soak up the implications of a “crucified God!” He honored us with his concern for us (to engender love), his presence among us (to foster faith), and his promises to us (to create hope).
Read Essay →A paraphrase of Romans 5:8 can read, “God has demonstrated his love for us in that even while we were sinners, he sent his Son to die on a cross for us.” We do not want to overlook the role of the Father’s love. Giving ourselves up is easier than feeling responsible for letting someone else suffer. Here the Father is not only “letting” but “designing” the basis for human salvation. More than that, he did it while we were still sinners. And, this all stands on top of the fact that we brought this problem on ourselves; God was not obligated to do something about what we caused.
Read Essay →When we talk about something, it is good if we can offer an example of it. Furthermore, we often give an extreme example of it because matters are clearest when we see them in the extreme. In Romans 5:8 Paul notes that God gave us his Son and did so while we were still sinners. Beyond that, the same apostle speaks of the Son giving himself (Galatians 1:4).
Giving one’s son and giving oneself serve as the most notable degrees of giving. So it is especially appropriate that we consider the loaf and cup as emblems of giving in this season of giving. In that way we acknowledge God as a God who gives and calls on us to do likewise and to do so, if need be, to the full degree that he has (Matthew 16:24).
Read Essay →“Take the attitude that Christ Jesus took. Although he was existing in the form of deity, he did not consider it something to cling to. He emptied himself and took on the form of a servant in the likeness of a man. Being found in the form of a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).
So, humility participates in the very foundation of our faith and the salvation that lies at the heart of it. Consequently, when we observe the Lord’s Supper, we observe the humility that characterized the One we are remembering and honoring here. The best way to honor him is to follow his example of humility when we leave this gathering. As we carry the emblems away inside us, so we can also carry with us the mark of Christ himself: his humility.
Read Essay →The records of what happened in Gethsemane show how hard the situation was on Jesus. Luke’s gospel even has a possible added note about his sweating drops of blood during that experience. How he managed the situation can guids us in doing likewise.
Yielding to temptation is easier than resisting it. We enjoy the experience; that’s why we do it. So we must remember that actions have consequences. If we don’t want some consequence, we have to resist the temptation that leads to it. If we want the consequence, we must endure the dread that works against it. “Strength for today” comes from “bright hope for tomorrow.” “The joy that lay before him” enabled Jesus to set aside the shame, withstand the hostility, overcome the dread, and endure the cross (Hebrews 12:1-4)
Read Essay →Jesus’ ministry began with pointed temptations designed to divert him from his purpose as Messiah. His ministry ended with one of even greater importance: “Come down from the cross, and we’ll believe in you!” (Matthew 27:40-42).
That temptation would have had tremendous power, reinforced by excruciating pain and by arrogant taunts from passersby, soldiers, the other victims, and religious leaders. Coming down from the cross would have verified his disciples’ belief in him. It would also have relieved his mother of watching his agony. But by coming down from the cross to prove he was the Messiah, he would have disqualified himself from being the Messiah. So we give tribute here to his strength of will and extreme love for us in not yielding to this last temptation.
Read Essay →Jesus had his disciples go with him into Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion. He took three of them deeper into the olive orchard, asking them to join him in keeping watch (Matthew 26:38). Even his threefold prayer for deliverance from the cross in nine hours appealed to the power of relationship, relationship with the Father about the approaching temptations and trials.
Luke notes that an angel appeared to him to strengthen him (24:43). The text does not suggest that the angels on the other end of Jesus’ ministry did anything supernatural to allay his hunger and thirst; the same happens regarding his dread of agony in this case. The personal presence provided the power. That kind of aid was especially appropriate because this crucifixion was voluntary—the other two that day were not.
Read Essay →The beauties of the Christmas season surround us: colorful decorations, sparkling lights, joyful times with family and friends, holiday songs that we have grown to love through the years, stories about the birth of the Christ child.
A beauty even more poignant follows the Christmas story. Immediately after relating the events surrounding Jesus’ birth, Luke describes his dedication of the temple, when Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus “to present him to the Lord.” At this time the elderly Simeon, filled with the Holy Spirit, foretold both the salvation he would bring and the sorrow that would result from his coming; he included a personal warning to Mary: “A sword will pierce even your own soul.”
Read Essay →The overwhelming cost of freedom from tyranny, abuse, and persecution! Today we are probably more aware of that cost than ever before. Modern communication networks can inform us almost immediately of atrocities anywhere they happen. With each new threat, we experience anew the cost in lives, resources, and the time that it takes to undo such deplorable conditions for masses of humanity.
When it comes to freedom from the sin that lives in each of us, all the negative factors come to the fore in stark relief. From sin in us grows disruption and destruction between us at every level of social existence. Here a curious, striking point comes full bore: this freedom is free! All we have to do is accept it! Yet we find it hard to accept the freedom we want! How strange! It does not cost any money, any resources, any time. We don’t have to conquer something else to get it.
Read Essay →The Christmas carol “Good Christian Men Rejoice” includes an insight: “Christ was born for this.” The beginning of his life was for the end of it; its end lay dormant in its beginning. Furthermore, the end of it led to the throne beyond it—glory after grief.
Sometimes we too get the joy only if we weather the grief, and the joy is greater when we have experienced the grief before it. Thirty-three years of normal life included the six hours of agony at the end. That proportion often holds for us too. In this respect we live out life like he did and learn about it by watching how it played out for him: the empty tomb and ascending to his throne. These emblems help us better to participate in the pattern.
Read Essay →As many of us as look at Christ’s cross can see its connection with ourselves. That is so regardless—regardless of who we are, what we have done or failed to do. Since we are all different in failures, mistakes, and sins, we specialize the meaning of the cross to the needs distinctive to ourselves. That is so regardless of what the sins were (Matthew 12:31), how bad they were, how often we committed them, when we did them, how long we lived that way, regardless of who we sinned against and whether anyone else forgives us or not.
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