It’s really easy to forget. Sometimes we can even forget where we are at. Sometimes I even forget what I had for breakfast this morning. Time tends to erase many things.
I don’t know about you, but not many people knew their great great grandparents, or even their great grandparents. They may have come from different countries, in different times. My grandfather passed six months ago and I was just recently looking for something when I found a painting of my favorite team, the Lakers. I did the painting when I was in middle school. That painting brought my grandfather to mind. It was dedicated to him, so I thought: why is it, it’s only been six months, why am I not thinking of my grandfather that often? It’s not that I have completely forgotten about him, I was just not thinking about him recently.
Because time erases things, Jesus wants us to commune with him daily, even participating in the supper he left for us to remember him with. Communion is more that a piece of bread and grape juice, though it does not have to be fancy. God does not need communion to connect with us. He is always there. It is for us, because we are human and we forget things and we tend to get consumed with our kids, our jobs, our problems. We tend to forget what Jesus has done for us.
Communion is a symbolic act. If you read about it, at the end of the book of Luke, they are having a meal. They are in a house and they are having a meal together when Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Hours later, Jesus was to be arrested, beaten, he was going to be falsely accused and he was going to die.
Jesus death was not in a special way for those times. A lot of people were killed in that grotesque way, being crucified on a cross. But we do not remember so much the details of the way he died, we remember what he did three days later. Jesus conquered death and is alive to live with us today. This is what we celebrate!
The rememberance of him on the cross is a sign of his love for us. We don’t want to forget that Jesus needed to die for us. We could not save ourselves. He died for our sins, to make us right with God.
Communion is a way of saying ‘Thank you, Jesus.’ It is a moment to pause, to be grateful, to celebrate, to block all the noise and remember what he did for us, to remember how much he loves us. And to celebrate our life with him.
The Daily Communion Blogger.
