What would it have been like to partake in the Lord’s Supper with the apostles? Or, with Mary, Martha and Lazarus? Or any of those upon whom the Lord made such a lasting impact? What would they be thinking about as the words rolled across their minds, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19)? They could have been thinking about any of the events that we have recorded in the gospels. There was the upper room when He told them of this ceremonial meal (Matt. 26:26-29). There was the washing of the feet that took place that night (John 13:3-10). They also could be thinking of any untold number of things that were never recorded in the Bible. Maybe each of them had an event that was special to themselves that they never told anyone about. To have been in the room with them and to have heard them talk about Jesus, the man they saw, loved and missed, would have been such a treasure.
As we think about our Lord, we can only imagine what Christ would have been like. We have an intellectual understanding of the events as they were recorded and a heart of faith, but we stop short of having enough detail for an accurate mental image. The Bible was not written as a novel that it would lay out details which would allow us to form an image of the scene in our minds. We are given the events, dialogue and pertinent details as the story unfolded. The rest of the blanks we have to fill in with our limited understanding of that time period, culture, geography and ancient history. We can be confident that we have “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). It is just that those details are not needed for life and godliness.
The beauty of this is that it is no less meaningful for us who never saw, heard or touched the Lord. With the details out of the way, we are able to focus on the bigger picture and see what the Lord had been preparing for thousands of years, even our salvation (Eph. 3:9). We were given no forms, images or descriptions so that we would not create idols or things to be reverenced (Deut. 4:15-16). As we read the words, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” we are remembering a price that was paid. We are remembering a body that was hung on a tree. We are remembering a covenant that was sealed in a more precious blood than that of bulls and goats. We are remembering the love of the Father that He demonstrates in the death of His only begotten Son.
These thoughts may not give us the sensation of remembering the Master’s touch as He washed our feet, but our hearts are no less touched, moved by the profound act of love by the Creator. The Great I Am purchased us, made us His own, and at the table we remember the “Me” that made it possible.