Mark 14:22-24 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.… Picture the scene: our Lord's last night on earth — He fully aware of it — the Paschal supper, commemorative (through fifteen centuries) of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt — our Lord surrounded by twelve persons, one of whom He knew to be His betrayer, and who went out from this meal to execute his purpose — our Lord full of thoughts, not for Himself, but for them, and in this instance leaving them something to do for Him when He was gone. Holy Communion is — I. THE COMMEMORATION OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST AND OF ALL CONTAINED AND IMPLIED IN THAT DEATH (1 Corinthians 11:26). In that act of worship we express our faith in (1) the fact, (2) the intention, (3) the efficacy of the death (as the completion of the earthly life, and as the prelude to the resurrection life) of Christ, very God and very man. II. A TOKEN OF THE MANNER IN WHICH ALONE OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE IS MAINTAINED. The bread and wine are not merely gazed upon, but eaten and drunk; and that in church, as a religious act. This would be, not merely unprofitable, but irreverent also, if there were not a deep meaning in it. The key is John 6, which expresses in words the same truth the sacrament expresses in act. If we are to have life through Christ, it must be, not merely by hearing of Him, or contemplating Him as an external object, but by receiving Him into heart and soul as by a process of spiritual digestion. III. THE CHIEF OPPORTUNITY OF SO EXERCISING AND MAINTAINING THE SPIRITUAL LIFE (1 Corinthians 10:16; Matthew 26:26-28). Application 1. Form a high estimate of this ordinance, It is what we make it; great or small, according as we seek and expect much or little from it. 2. But let your high estimate be a spiritual estimate. Reverence, not superstition. "Feed on Him, in thy heart, by faith." 3. Realize Christ's presence. 4. Make due preparation. 5. Beware of delay in becoming a communicant. 6. Beware of coming once or twice and then ceasing. 7. Beware of becoming familiar with the sign and not with the thing signified. (Dean Vaughan.) Parallel Verses KJV: And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. |
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