On the night Jesus was betrayed, He took bread, broke it, gave it to His apostles, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:23-24). Ever since then, Christians have done exactly that. Each Sunday, we take the bread and the cup, remembering the body and the blood our Lord gave for us. Yet, looking back to the cross is only part of what Jesus intended for this special meal. From the moment He first instituted “the Lord’s Supper”, it was also for looking forward: “For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Lk. 22:18). A day after saying that, Jesus was dead and buried. Then on Sunday morning, He arose – and that changed everything.
Without that Sunday morning, being at the Table of the Lord would be a sad affair, a perpetual reminder of how our sins killed the Author of Life (cf. Acts 3:15). Yet, that’s not what it is. It’s not how Jesus observed it with His apostles, looking beyond the cross to when they would again feast together in God’s kingdom (cf. Lk. 22:16). It’s not how the apostles taught the earliest Christians to observe it: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). “Until He comes” is only possible because Jesus rose. Instead of a night of weeping, “until He comes” makes it a morning of joy (cf. Ps. 30:5).
The Bible’s final pages give us a glimpse of “until He comes” – and it is glorious:
“Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure’ – for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
“And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true words of God’” (Rev. 19:6-9).
This is the reality the Table of the Lord anticipates. It isn’t a funeral: it’s a wedding, and every Sunday – the day Jesus rose, “the Lord’s day” – we get a jump start on the celebration (cf. Rev. 1:10). Now, we still remember His sacrifice that secured our invitation. We are convicted of our choices and challenged on our priorities that could keep us from the celebration. “Until He comes”, we do the hard work of change. “Until He comes”, we proclaim His death so others might join the feast. And in all of that, Jesus is with us. How very blessed we are.
More than a ritual, the Lord’s Supper is an opportunity to be transformed by the presence of Jesus Christ Himself. Join us as we learn how to truly come to the table at https://www.georgetownchurchofchrist.com/come-to-the-table.