What Does It Mean to Take the Lord’s Supper in “Remembrance” of Christ?

More than Thinking Back

On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper when he was celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples. And one of the things that he told them was, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Many times today, Christians think that this remembrance is simply recalling past events. We think back on a past reality—that is, Christ’s death, his resurrection, his ascension, and the new life that we have in him because of this. And while that certainly happens in the Lord’s Supper, remembrance—at least from a biblical standpoint—means a lot more.

The Water and the Blood

Kevin P. Emmert

Today’s culture tells us the only way to gain significance and purpose is through a self-fabricated sense of identity. The Water and the Blood offers an alternative way through Christ, visible through the sacraments.

To remember biblically—to commemorate, that is—is to actually take something of the past and bring it into the present. It’s to make the past reality a present reality and, therefore, to give it meaning for the present. It actually shapes how we live in the here and now and actually helps us to think about who we are and how we are shaped by that past event or reality.

In Exodus 20:24, God says to the Israelites, “Wherever I cause my name to be remembered, I will be with you and I will bless you.” And one thing we need to keep in mind when we think about that passage is that remembrance, at least biblically, is something that God does. He’s the one who causes us to remember him.

To remember biblically—to commemorate, that is—is to actually take something of the past and bring it into the present.

He is the primary agent in our remembering, our commemorating who he is and what he has done. He is, first and foremost, the one who does this on our behalf, but also the text says that he is with us and that he blesses us in the meal. What we’re actually doing is we’re remembering somebody who is present with us, and indeed he is in us as we feast on him with faith and commune with him. And he brings to us all the blessings that he has secured for us in his death and resurrection.

So when we remember Christ in the Supper, what we do is we allow that past reality of his death and his resurrection to impact our present, to inform us of who he is, who we are in him, and to let all that beautiful truth shape who we are and how we live our lives.

Kevin P. Emmert is the author of The Water and the Blood: How the Sacraments Shape Christian Identity.

Kevin P. Emmert (PhD, London School of Theology) is an academic book editor at Crossway and the author of John Calvin and the Righteousness of Works. He is married to Ashley, and they have three sons: Jack, Charlie, and Noah.

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