Remembering Christ Often With Bread and Wine

Remember the Passover

In the Disney animated film The Lion King, Mufasa (voiced by James Earl Jones) tells Simba, "Remember." Those who have accepted Jesus Christ were also given this commission (instruction).

In many Christian churches, the words "Do this in remembrance of Me" is inscribed on communion tables. Many Baptist congregations have communion services on the first Sunday in every month, where crackers and grape juice represent the bread and wine from the Last Supper.

The Bible says that on the night before His crucifixion, Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples. This was their custom from the time the children of Israel left captivity in Egypt.

Eating bread and drinking wine

Passover was a directive to the Jewish people to commemorate their freedom from Egyptian slavery. The food Jesus and his disciples partook of is not mentioned in his final address, but only the bread and wine.

Luke 22:19: Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it to His disciples, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."

In I Corinthians 11:26, Apostle Paul reminds believers

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

Remember His shed blood

Mark 14;22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.

23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.

24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.

25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

Mark 14:17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:

18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Do "this" in remembrance

When Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of Me" He was celebrating the Passover, but believers in Christ are not instructed to eat the Passover meal. This is why they remember the words Christ spoke about the bread and wine, and crackers and grape juice are used.

The "this" was an entire meal. Jesus never said to have a special ordinance inside a church building because there were no churches at that time. The Bible does say that the first believers broke bread together, meaning they ate in each other's homes.

My grandchildren and I once ate crackers and drank grape juice in the middle of the day. We held up our glasses, said "To Jesus", clinked them together, and then said "Cheers."

You can remember Christ often with bread and wine or crackers and grape juice at every meal if you choose. You don't have to wait for a once-a-month church ordinance.