The congregation sings a hymn to “help prepare our minds” for the Lord’s Supper. The words are very meaningful, even though we’ve sung it a hundred times before. Then, a group of men stand up and walk to the front table and pass some trays to each other. They stand there in respectful silence as a man gets up to make some appropriate comments. Initially it is a little hard to follow and make the connection, but then he reads some verses about the cross, which are as familiar as any Biblical text. He prays a short prayer of thanks, after which the men disperse and begin to pass the trays up and down the rows. The tray comes to you, and you take a miniature piece of thin bread and place it in your mouth. What now?
The tendency may be to think, “I’m done until the next tray comes around.” If that’s the case, there’s some time to kill between now and then. But, when examining the New Testament, it is evident that I’m not “done.” The early church “came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7). But their purpose was not merely to pass the trays and be reverently quiet. Their Lord, Savior and Friend had suffered a viciously cruel death for them. At His behest, they were going to “remember” Him, “discern” His body and “examine” themselves (1 Cor. 11:23-29). What would that involve?
Remember His anguish. His “soul” was “exceedingly sorrowful,” and He was in “agony” (Matt. 26:38; Luke 22:44), long before anyone laid a hand on Him.
Remember His arrest. After praying through sweat and blood, “a band of soldiers” came to Him with “weapons” (“swords and clubs,” Matt. 26:47), and “arrested Jesus and bound Him” like a criminal (John 18:3, 12).
Remember His adversaries. He was condemned by liars testifying before liars, who preferred a violent murderer be released into the public rather than innocent Jesus, and shouted with prevailing cries, “Crucify Him” (Matt. 26:57-68; 27:1-26).
Remember His assault. He was stripped, scourged, crowned with thorns, spat upon and mocked mercilessly (Matt. 26:27-31).
Remember His assassination. He was brutally nailed to a cursed tree to die the most wretched and agonizing of deaths but had “done nothing wrong” (Luke 22:26-46).
No! I’m not done when I pick up a piece of bread or drink from a little cup! Because for six long tormenting hours, He was not done! Let us remember! Let us discern! Let us examine! Let our manner of partaking be acceptable and worthy in His sight, and may we not distract others from remembering, discerning and examining themselves!