Remembering Christ: The Timeless Significance of the Lord's Supper

In Luke chapter 22, Jesus, in verse 7, we read, “Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John saying, ‘Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.’ So they said to Him, ‘Where do you want us to prepare?’ He said to them, ‘Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. And then you shall say to the master of the house, “The Teacher says to you, ‘Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’” And then he will show you a large furnished upper room; there make ready.’ And so they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. [00:00:51]

Now when the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him; and He said to them, ‘With fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and He said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ And He took bread; He gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ [00:01:47]

And likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table. And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!’” Now in this description of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, we see that Jesus makes specific reference to two dimensions of time. [00:02:38]

The way we generally measure the passing of time in our culture is by referring to the past, to the present, and to the future. And when we look at the meaning and significance of the Lord’s Supper in the life of the Christian community, we see that the Lord’s Supper has significance and application to all three dimensions of time—to the past, to the present, and to the future. [00:03:19]

Now we see in the first instance its relationship to the past; not only is it related to the past by virtue of its link to the Passover, but also now we understand that what Jesus was talking about in the Upper Room that was to happen on the morrow has since taken place, and so His death on the cross is past to us. And He tells the disciples that they are to do this sacrament, in the first instance, in remembrance of Him; and so to the extent that our celebration of the Lord’s Supper is a remembrance, to that extent, it is that which is related to something that has happened in the past. [00:03:54]

Now we develop traditions where we try to maintain continual links to the past. In biblical categories, ladies and gentlemen, we see frequently what we call the sacralization of space and of time. That is, we see countless examples where God or where the people of Israel, particularly, give sacred, holy, consecrated significance to particular times and to particular events that take place in this world. [00:04:53]

We remember back when Moses was called by God in the Midianite wilderness: “Then He spoke to Moses out of the burning bush. He said, ‘Moses, Moses, put off they shoes from off thy feet for the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground.’” That is, what God was saying to Moses is, “Moses, this place on the planet is now sacred; this is a holy site.” And what made the ground holy and what made it necessary for Moses to remove his shoes and to show deference and respect to this piece of real estate was not because Moses was there. [00:05:38]

It wasn’t his presence that made it holy ground; what made it holy ground was that it was a point of intersection or of meeting between God and His people. And if you go through the Old Testament, and you see special places where God meets with His people or where God enacts a specially important redemptive occasions, that it was customary for the people of Israel to mark the spot. Often it was done by building a very crude and simple altar with stones. [00:06:35]

When, for example, Noah landed on the top of Ararat and departed from the ark, one of the very first things he did was to build an altar at that place to remember the place where God had delivered him and his family from the deluge. When the children of Israel passed over the Jordan under the leadership of Joshua, they erected a monument. We see this again and again. We see, for example, when Jacob had his midnight vision, when he saw God ascending and descending from the heavens, and he was on his way to find a wife, and he named that spot Bêt’l or Bethel because he said, “Surely the lord was in this place, and I knew it not.” [00:07:10]

So he took the stone that he had used for a pillow during that night and he anointed it with oil and placed it there as a marker to mark the place forever where God had appeared to him in this dream and had made His promise to him. So again, we see that time after time after time, what we call here the sacralization of space. We do it today, where we have special places in our own lives—places that we evoke fond memories of the past, or sorrowful memories. [00:07:58]

Here in Orlando, about a year ago, there was a tragic traffic accident very close to my home in which the one of the victims of the accidents was a little girl who was a gymnast, and she lived right across the street from me, and on my way to work every day, I pass that tree where the car crashed against the tree, killing these two girls, as it were. And I pass that every day, and to this day, there are all kinds of memorials and flowers and crosses and all of that marking the spot where she died. [00:08:46]

And this has become more and more of a custom in the American culture, as you see crosses along the highway marking the place where people have lost their lives. But again, we all have special places in our lives; they may be special for good reasons, they may be special for bad reasons, but we count these places holy to us. Well not only do you have holy space in Scripture, but you also have sacred time. The festivals of the Old Testament involved the sacralization of time. [00:09:18]