Eat this Bread, Drink this Cup

Matthew 26
²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."

²⁷Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."

³⁰When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Last week at church we were talking about living a life of faith all week long and not just on Sundays. It is so easy to compartmentalize our faith from our daily life and takes a conscious decision each day to pick up our cross and follow. One of the things that we talked about was communion. In Spain, two staples of any real meal are bread and wine! If you don't have them at the table it is more like a snack than a meal. It would also be really weird to invite someone to a meal and not have bread and wine. Those were also two of the most basic parts of the meal in Jesus's day.

Imagine the significance of what he said, if what he meant was "Think of me as often as you eat! Remember what I have done for you." How much more profoundly would that affect our lives than just thinking about our Lord once a week, month, or quarter at a church communion service.

Also, as I have been thinking about communion this week it is amazing to me how beautiful it is to eat together. Something happens over a meal that draws people together. The sharing of food and conversation draws people together. I think that it is awesome that Jesus took something so common and universal as eating to remind us to think of him.

Is every meal communion? I don't think so. Could it be? Maybe. I believe it has much less to do about the meal and much more to do about the posture of our souls.