I hope I’ll always be affected by the observance of the Lord’s Supper. It’s a stark reminder that Jesus paid a high price because of my rebellion against God. He paid the price with his body and his blood.
That first Lord’s Supper occurred only the day before Jesus’ death. I’m sure the full weight of what Jesus said didn’t really hit the disciples present until after the resurrection. But it stuck with them after that. The book of Acts implies that the early church (led by these disciples) observed the Lord’s Supper every single week. And it was the focal point of their gathering together – and I believe an engine for their ministry efforts.
They came to realize that their lives had been defined by what Jesus did for them on the cross. His broken body and spilt blood had changed them forever. They were now new people.
While we can’t sit in the same room with Christ as the disciples did when they observed this first Lord’s Supper, we can make sure that during our next observance of the Lord’s Supper, we let the words about the broken body and the shed blood take root in us. We must let the truth of Christ’s sacrifice for us motivate us to tell others about Christ.
The Lord’s Supper can be the first act of a great missionary drama in our lives. If we can be transformed by Christ’s sacrifice, we should want to see others changed as well.
