Remember Him
“…and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 1 Corinthians 11:24 NKJV
Probably all of us recognize this verse from Jesus and His last supper with His disciples. Notice that Jesus told them [and this verse is still true for us today] to remember Him. We have read or had this verse read to us so many times in our life at Communion services that we likely just accept what Jesus is saying without giving any further thought to it. But read it again with fresh eyes today and think about this: does it not seem odd that Jesus would tell us to remember Him? You would not think we would need to be reminded to remember Him and do things that bring Him to our remembrance. However, if Jesus said to “do this in remembrance of Me”, then He knew we would need to remember Him. There is nothing that Jesus did for no purpose. All of His Words bring life and have a purpose for our good and are motivated by His love for each of us.
Jesus knew that we would forget Him when troubles arose, when the circumstances of this life elevated our fear and uncertainty. Jesus knew we would forget Him when finances got tight, when sickness came, when relationships crumbled, when the world came against us. And He was right, because at those moments in life we forget His promises. We forget what He did for us and the victory that He paid for with His blood and with His life. We forget that when all we can see are the troubles in front of us. At those moments we can obsess over the trouble and lose sight of Jesus.
Hebrews reminds us to “Look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” All too easily we look to the problems and lose sight of Jesus, forgetting His promises in His Word. If we forget His promises, we are forgetting Jesus who is the Word.
Jesus understood that we would forget Him in this way at those critical moments in our lives and that is why Jesus said what he did on that day so long ago as He sat and instituted the first Communion with His disciples, to do this in remembrance of Him. Jesus continues to make this point in verse 25 of 1 Corinthians 11 when He speaks of the cup. He tells us to drink from it to bring Him to our remembrance according to the Amplified Bible.
When we take communion we are not just going through a religious ritual. Jesus said to do this and do it often so that we would bring Him to our remembrance. For when we remember Him we are remembering His sacrifice, His promises and His love for us. We are reminding ourselves of all that He has given us and this takes our minds off the problems of this life so that we can walk in His best for us and have His deliverances for our lives. Remember Him today no matter what you face. Remember Jesus.
J Todd Hostetler