122 – How do you observe the Lord's Supper

The night before Jesus was arrested he was the observing the Passover with his disciples. While he was still at the table he uttered some words which still guide us today in the way we honor and remember Jesus.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all relate the event in pretty much the same way. John shares a completely different incident that happened at that meal.

And so, down through the ages, the Christian church has endeavored to honor Jesus’s request to remember him by what we call Communion: breaking bread and drinking wine (or grape juice) in memory of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross.

What does it mean to take Communion?

Does it mean we literally drink his blood and eat his flesh?  No. 

Jesus did not give his actual flesh and blood to his disciples at the Last Supper. The bread and wine were symbols.

Jesus said to "do this in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:19)

Did he want us to eat a piece of bread to remember him by or did he want us to partake of the Bread of Life, the Word of God, be nourished by it and share it with others?

Was he asking us to drink a sip of wine (or grape juice) to remember him or to participate and take part in the sacrifice he made by making those same sacrifices in our lives?

In other words, did Jesus want us to remember him through the material symbols of bread and wine? Or did he want us to eat and be nourished by the bread of Truth and imbibe the spirit of sacrificing our self-will to God’s will?

Most Christian churches use the symbols of bread and wine, (or an equivalent) when they take Communion. But there are some who do not use the symbols.

It’s interesting that John does not relate the bread and wine part of the Last Supper, and that none of the other Gospels talk about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, as John does.

Jesus told his disciples to follow his example of washing feet, but the church, in general, does not do this literally. They see it as a metaphor for being a servant to mankind.

But the foot washing is just as much a metaphor or symbol of something deeper as the bread and wine are. Why take o

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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life.

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