Remember Me
Luke 22:19
Do this in remembrance of me.
1 Corinthians 5:7
For Christ, our Passover lamb, also was sacrificed.
During Holy week we typically celebrate Jesus’ last supper on Thursday. That is the chronology suggested by Mark’s gospel and accepted throughout church history. Jesus instructed His disciples to make arrangements for them to share the meal together “…on the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover Lamb was being sacrificed” (Mark 14:12). The historical symbolism of the Passover meal punctuated His evening with His disciples and the church’s remembrance of the Eucharist meal since.
“Remember Me.”
The bread that He broke was unleavened, the “bread of affliction,” because it was made in haste as the Jewish people prepared to leave their enslavement in Egypt (Deuteronomy 16:18). Leaven symbolized sin and a departure from the ways of God in both Old and New Testaments. Jesus, who was without sin, was broken for us. Brokenness for His sake is the way of the cross.
“Remember Me.”
The blood of the Passover lamb was placed on the two doorposts and the lintel of the ancient Israelites' homes as a symbol of obedience and commitment to Yahweh. The plague of the death of the firstborn would pass-over those whose doorway was marked with blood (Exodus 20:7,13). “This is My blood poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). It was a new promise, a new covenant by His blood. As His people, His followers, we are marked as sojourners: “And thus you shall eat it: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is Yahweh’s Passover” (Exodus 12:11).
“Remember Me.”
It’s not just in the elements of the Lord’s supper – the bread and the wine – where He calls us to remember Him. He spoke the words over the Passover meal, but He had a much greater hope for us. The first three gospels recount the details of that Last Supper. But John’s gospel focuses on Jesus washing His disciples’ feet, on service and the new commandment He gave to them: “Love one another that all men might know that you are my disciples” (John 13:1-11, 34,35).
Through good times and bad, we are to love. This is the blood-mark on our doorposts. It is bread without leaven. It is how we must be known.
“Remember Me.”
It is not always easy. It is mostly not easy.
He often calls us to love people who are at times tough to love.
But it is the Via Crucis – the way of the cross.
Jesus said to follow Him.
Let us gird up our loins and go.
