1 Corinthians 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 1. Were a stranger, who had never heard of Christ, to come into church while we are seated at the Lord's table, he would naturally ask, "What does this observance mean?" And the answer, no doubt, would rise to the lips readily enough, "We commemorate the dying of Him whom we call Lord and Saviour." And yet, would not much remain still unexplained? Would it not still seem strange that our highest act of worship should centre in a memory of one whose death was a dishonoured death? There is no other religion whose believers can look back to a founder who was content to say, "Be true to My memory. That is all I command. Let your most solemn worship embody the expression of this remembrance." 2. You may have heard of the power of a pure and noble memory of, e.g., a well-loved home, to keep back the foot from falling and the soul from death; or of a generous and trustful love which has been a breastplate to the heart tempted to unworthy ways. But in that remembrance of Christ of which the sacrament is the visible expression, there is something more than we find in the best human memory. I. LET US SEE WHAT CHRIST'S MEMORY IS, what is implied in remembrance of Him. The sacrament is a memorial of — 1. One who lived a human life, and yet a life such as none else has ever lived. 2. Who, at a time when the world was full of darkness and unrest, came into it with a message from God for all whose hearts were weary, whose minds were dark. His life was one that gladdened other lives, and bore about with it one living message of peace and goodwill. And is it not well, amid all the worldliness, and selfishness, and untruth of man's society, to be able to look back to a life in which these evil principles had no place, in which all was truth, honesty, earnestness and Love? 3. Who revealed God the Father. Think of what the world would be to us without this truth, and of what it will be to us, when we come to lie at "the last low verge of life"; and as you think of this, and remember that all our knowledge of this blessed truth comes from Christ, do you not feel that there is an unequalled urgency and solemnity in that last charge to us, "This do in remembrance of Me"? 4. One who closed His perfect life by the sacrifice of Himself. It is indeed this, more than aught else, that the sacramental symbols bring home to us. Think, then, how but for that we had been without hope and without God in the world. II. IF SUCH THEN BE HIS MEMORY, SHALL WE NOT REMEMBER HIM as He has given us commandment? But is that commandment altogether fulfilled when we have eaten the bread and drunk the wine? 1. If we would be really true to the memory of the Master, it must be by showing forth, in our whole life, the power of His Divine example. There are stately tombs, on which in the lapse of ages the graven record of love and sorrow has waxed dim, and the very name recorded has been lost, and the tomb stands there a dumb witness to an unknown memory; and just such, no better, would be our remembrance of our Lord, if it were professed only while we celebrate the sacrament of His body and blood. But if it expresses a real union with our Lord, a real devotion to Him, a real sharing of His spirit, then in this sacrament we indeed eat of the Bread of Heaven and drink of the Water of Life. 2. Now suppose the stranger mentioned at the beginning had got his answer, and gone away, and were to return after a time and see us going about our daily works, might he not be inclined to say to us, "What has become of that sacred memory of which you spoke to me? I see no trace of it among you. I understood He was one who was pure and true and unselfish; and I see you serving your own ends. You told me that He died for you; and I look about for the memorials of such a love as that, and cannot find it." Let us be careful not to bring reproach upon our Master's name. 3. If there be one here who is burdened with the consciousness of sin, who hears the voice which is saying to us now, "This do in remembrance of Me," speaking to him in sorrow because of his faithlessness, let him be warned and recalled to a better spirit, and truer life; and he will find that that voice will change its tone of sorrow and reproach for one of encouragement and consolation, that will say, "Abide in Me, and I in you; let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (R. H. Story, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. |
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