“In remembrance”

Maundy Thursday; April 13, 2006

I Corinthians 11:23-26

One of the most important words in life is “remember.” Not only remember what you studied for the math test (or the bar exam, or the medical boards), but remember graces shown to you so you can be thankful, mistakes you have made so you can do better, sins you have committed so you can repent, lessons you have learned so you can put them to good use.

“Remember” is a command that shows up a lot in the Bible; I won’t go into it much of that now. We say it every time we come to the Lord’s Table, though: “Remember.” For the Maundy Thursday message let us reflect on some of the things we remember at the Holy Table.

Above all, of course, we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The action of breaking the bread and pouring the wine is a reminder of Christ’s body on the Cross, his blood pouring from his wrists, his feet and his side. Saying, “This is my body; this is my blood” – not “was,” but “is” – reminds us that Christ is alive. As the hymn says, “We know that Christ is raised and dies no more.” We can eat and drink with him because he lives; we eat and drink a sacrifice that reminds us that he died. Remember.

Every time we share at the Lord’s Table our attention is returned to Jesus Christ. We commune with him and with all who belong to him, which gets us out of our preoccupation with ourselves, if only for a few minutes. An old friend, Daneen, once told me how the Lord’s Table restored a friendship she had lost. She and another woman in their church had been fighting over something, to the point that they no longer spoke to one another.

One Sunday, when it came time for the communion, Daneen walked up the center aisle, as always, for her turn to receive the body and blood of her Savior. She was, of course, thinking about Christ and not about her own hurts, her own angers, her own grudges. And so it caught her off guard when she looked and saw that it happened that the woman she was fighting with had approached the Table at the same time, and there they were, standing side by side and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. They both broke into tears and immediately went and were reconciled to one another.

“Communion is an empty symbol; we don’t need it to be spiritual people. It doesn’t really mean anything.” Tell that to Daneen; tell that to anyone who through repeated exposure to the Lord’s Table has been lifted out of themselves and learned to remember the death and resurrection of Christ.

At the Lord’s Table we remember that Christ is present with us. Sometime, I suppose, I can discuss with you the ways Christians have fought over the mode of Christ’s presence at the Lord’s Supper. All Christian churches believe, however, that Christ is indeed present when his people break the bread and share the cup. We come to the Table because we need Christ. Perhaps many can do just fine in their lives without Christ, but I need him; I need the assurance of salvation and the experience of divine grace that Christ gives me at the Holy Table.

One weekday I was attending a Mass and was watching the people receive the wafers. This must have been some time ago, because I don’t remember them sharing the cup, only the bread. Anyway, I watched them go up the aisle and receive the bread from the priest. Lillian was the last one in line and the priest ran out of bread just before she got to him. There was no bread left on his plate. There was some, of course, locked in the Tabernacle. Well, I suppose Lillian could have accepted her fate – after all, she would get another chance for communion at the next Mass – and gone to sit down, but that never occurred to her. I know because I asked her. She simply stood there and waited patiently while the priest went out to the sacristy and got the key to the Tabernacle, then went up to the Tabernacle and unlocked it, took out one piece of consecrated bread, and served Lillian communion. She needed Jesus Christ at the beginning of that day, and she was not going to be denied.

Kathleen had a dream one night that she was attending a communion service. The people were coming forward to the Table to receive bread broken from a common loaf, as we are going to do this evening and is often done in Protestant churches. But in her dream, the people did not tear off their own piece of bread; the elder serving them tore off a piece and handed it to the faithful. Well, as long as the elder’s hands are clean, that’s probably safer. Anyway, she got to the front, and the elder tore off a piece and handed it to her, and she stood there and looked at it. She then looked at the elder and said, “I want more; I want more of Jesus Christ.”

Yes, it was a dream, but I have known her a long time, and she does want more of Jesus Christ. At the Lord’s Table we remember that Jesus Christ is with us and we give thanks.

There is a lot more to say, but I’ll say only one more thing. At the Lord’s Table we remember forward, too; that is, we remember something that is promised to us: the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. Sometimes we call this supper the “foretaste of the feast to come,” because we remember that as we come to the Table, we come with the saints of all the ages and of every place, looking forward to sitting with them at the heavenly banquet table. There is a missionary call in the Lord’s Table, a call to share our bread with the hungry and the Bread of Life with the hungry of spirit; a call to be reconciled to our enemies and to look forward to the heavenly supper with them.

My colleague Marion told us of the time she was serving communion to the people of her church. She was giving each one the bread individually, saying, “This is my body, given for you.” When she got to her son Lex, age eight, she held the plate to him and said, “This is my body, given for you.” He took a piece of bread, and reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar. He put the dollar on the plate and said to her, “This is my body, given for you.” Christ gives to us and we give to others. Christ feeds us and we share the feast. Remember.

Come to the Table of Jesus Christ and remember.

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, this evening we remember your passion and crucifixion, your resurrection and your promise to come again. Come to us in the Supper and fill us with confidence in your calling. Amen.

Robert A. Keefer

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Clarinda, Iowa