Memorials—like statues, tombstones and plaques—are used all over the world in honor of men, especially the dead. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial service. “And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise, also the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you’” (Luke 22:19-20). Christ also said, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come” (1 Corinthians 11:23-34, especially 26). So, every time a Christian partakes of the Lord’s Supper, he is partaking of a memorial feast.
The Passover was a shadow of the Lord’s Supper. The Passover feast was eaten by the Israelites once a year to remind them of their release from Egyptian bondage (Exodus 11:1-8; 12:25-27, 46). Paul described the Lord by saying, “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Jesus’ sacrifice is the Christian’s means of release from the bondage of sin (Ephesians 1:7). Because He is our Passover, not one of His bones was broken (John 19:31-36).
The memorial feast has two elements, the bread and the fruit of the vine (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:23-25). The bread would have been unleavened since Jesus and the disciples had just finished the Passover meal (Exodus 12:15). In fact, we might notice that Matthew calls it “the first day of the feast of unleavened bread” (26:17). Jesus said, “This is my body.” This has led some to teach the doctrine of transubstantiation, which says the bread and fruit of the vine become the literal body and blood of Jesus. Since Jesus was present in His physical body when this feast was instituted, it seems obvious that He was using a metaphor. Some of us say, “I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse.” We do not mean we could literally eat a horse, but we are saying we have a large appetite. Similarly, Jesus was not saying we eat and drink the literal body and blood, but that the bread and fruit of the vine represent such to the Christian.
The Lord’s Supper should be taken upon the first day of every week. Luke wrote, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight” (Acts 20:7). Paul was in Troas seven days (vs. 6), yet the disciples came together for the Lord’s Day since Jesus was raised on that day (Mark 16:9; Acts 2; Leviticus 23:15-16). Now, when God said, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8), the Jews understood that He meant every sabbath. When Paul said, “Upon the first day of the week let everyone of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:2), we have understood that to be every first day. If the boss said payday is on the first day of the week, we would understand every first day as his meaning. Why can we not understand that the church assembled upon every first day of the week to break bread? We should all partake of it as a weekly memorial of our Lord’s great sacrifice for sins.
