For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
(1 Corinthians 11:23-32)
As Jesus partook of the Passover with His disciples He passed them the bread and He passed them the wine, but He made no mention of the lamb.
In Exodus 12:1-14 we learn that the Passover lamb was to be brought into the home on the 10th of the month and slain on the 14th… at twilight. For three days the lamb would stay in the dwelling and live among the family that would take it’s life for their sin.
For three years the Lamb of God stayed among the dwellings of those who would take His life… The One who would die at Passover for their sin… though they did so with no understanding as to the mystery of the glorious moment in which they were in or with any awareness of the glory of the One which was the Lamb of God come to take away the sin of the world.
In that upper room as He passed the bread and the wine, Jesus, the Passover Lamb said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” There would be no need to eat of the Passover lamb again. There would be no need for the blood of an animal to flow from the altars of man for the blood of the Lamb of God would satisfy the wrath of God for all eternity as His blood flowed not over an earthly altar, but over the very altar of God in the heavens (Hebrews 9).
So as you partake of the bread and of the wine do so in remembrance of the Lamb who stood before those who would betray Him, deny Him, abandon Him, doubt Him, crucify Him… and yet He loved them. He loved you. He loved me… and this death He died was for our salvation.
Never take it lightly.
With this bread and with this cup we proclaim the death that He died so that we might have life, life eternal. We didn’t deserve it. We couldn’t earn it. We won’t ever be able to repay it… yet still He gave it.
Here’s another post on Communion