Even as the apostles of Jesus made logistical preparations for the Passover meal at which Jesus would institute His Supper (Luke 22:7-13), so the apostle Paul reminds us of the spiritual preparations that are necessary before we come to the meal that memorializes Jesus’ death: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (I Corinthians 11:27-29).
As our preparation for earthly meals are informed by the purpose of those meals (is it a wedding? a family BBQ? a church crawfish boil? an anniversary date?), one way to get spiritually ready for this supper is to recall its purpose. The Lord’s Supper is at least three things: commemoration, communion, and anticipation.
It is commemoration: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” This command has reference to the past. We remember the once-for-all, unrepeatable event of our Lord’s death. We show forth His death; we declare to all around us that the heart of the good news is a bloody cross. There Jesus bore our sins in His body, and our sins were forgiven. There God’s wrath was satiated, and He was reconciled to us. And not only do we remember that event, but we remember our Lord Himself. We remember that He who possessed all glory and riches became poor for our sake so that we through His poverty might be made rich in Him.
The Lord’s Supper is also communion. There is a present aspect to what we are doing at the Lord’s Supper. Jesus Christ is present at the table; He is the host. We commune with our Savior in the here and now, in the eating of the bread and the drinking of the cup. “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?” (I Corinthians 10:16). By His Holy Spirit and by faith we partake of and feed on all the spiritual blessings that are ours in Him. The one whose death we commemorate is living and present with us as we gather around the communion table. Likewise, our brothers and sisters in Christ are present with us - together, we are the body of Christ, and we commune in one another’s gifts and graces. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (I Corinthians 10:17).
Finally, the Lord’s Supper is anticipation. We “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” We must not forget the future aspect to what we are doing as we eat and drink the Lord’s Supper. There will one day be a presence of Jesus bodily and visibly, and seeing Him we will be made like Him! The sacrament of the Lord’s supper will be no more, and the marriage supper of the Lamb will be at hand (Revelation 19:9). We anticipate that day every time we partake of the Lord’s supper.
So as you prepare your heart for this Sunday’s worship service, and in particular for the Lord’s Supper, remember what you come to do. Put on clothes fit for the occasion: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Colossians 3:12-13).
[1] Based on John Murray, Collected Writings