Made Known by the Breaking of Bread
Mike,
So how would you respond to Christ’s command, Do this in remembrance of me?
Thanks,
W____
Hi again W____,
You asked me:
… how would you respond to Christ’s command, Do this in remembrance of me?
“This do” is quoted from this section of scripture:
Luk 22:19 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.
Luk 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
This is the same “my body” and “my blood” Christ refers to in these verses:
Joh 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Washing the feet of His disciples is just as much a spiritual symbol as the fish and honey He ate after His resurrection, symbolizing ” the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you”.
Notice, He sits down to dine twice in the same evening, not because He is hungry, but simply to make the point that His Word is our food.
Luk 24:13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
Luk 24:14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
Luk 24:15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
Luk 24:16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
Luk 24:17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
Luk 24:18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
Luk 24:19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
Luk 24:20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
Luk 24:21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
Luk 24:22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
Luk 24:23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
Luk 24:24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
Luk 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Luk 24:26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Luk 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luk 24:28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
Luk 24:29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
Luk 24:30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
Luk 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
Luk 24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
Luk 24:33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
Luk 24:34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
Luk 24:35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Luk 24:36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Later that same evening it all happens again:
Luk 24:41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
Luk 24:42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
Luk 24:43 And he took it, and did eat before them.
Luk 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
It is “as [we] speak” of Christ, that He is ‘standing in our midst’. It is in “the breaking of bread… fish and honeycomb” that Christ is “made known” to us all, because those things all symbolize “the words I spake unto you”. It is according to Christ Himself, that “the breaking of bread” is “the words I spake unto you”. It is the same with the breaking of bread at the so-called ‘Lord’s supper’. Christ did not wash their feet just to create a new ritual to replace an old ritual. Everything Christ did, even the healings and miracles He performed, were types and shadows of “greater works than these”.
Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
It is a much greater act of love to give a person spiritual insight than it is to give him physical sight. It is much better to have Christ healing us of our lame walk in this life of service to sin and giving us the strength to walk as Christ walked than it is to physically heal any man’s physically lame legs.
It is also a much greater act of love and obedience to our Lord to “break bread” in the way Christ meant us to do so. What Christ was telling His disciples and is telling us, is to live our lives as He lived His life. It was a life of service to all men. That is the only way we can share Christ’s body and blood with our brothers and sisters in Christ. That is incomparably more beneficial than physically washing their already clean feet, as a dead ritual practiced by millions of Christians whose lives show no sign of being of service to their brothers. If we give to our brothers and sisters the knowledge of how Christ lives His life within us, then we have truly ‘washed their feet’, and we will then have truly ‘eaten His body and then we will have drunken of His blood’.
Joh 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Joh 6:57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
“Dwelling in Christ” and “living by Christ” is “eating His flesh and drinking His blood”. Those are Christ’s Words. Outward rituals accomplish nothing according to our Lord. Living lives of service one to another is what Christ meant by “My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink indeed”. “Do this as oft as you do it in remembrance of Me” has everything to do with what is within each of us, and it has nothing at all to do with dead outward rituals, which may appear to be spiritual but are nothing more than an opportunity to glory in appearances and not in changed hearts.
2Co 5:12 For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.
Mar 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
As certainly as ‘nothing from without a man can defile him’, it is equally true that nothing from outside of a man can cleanse him spiritually:
Mat 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee [You, me, or anyone who depends on outward rituals], cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
If our hearts are clean, our feet will also be clean.
I hope this helps you to see that “as oft as we do this we do it in remembrance of Christ” has much more to do with how we live our lives as servants to our brothers and sisters than it has to do with instituting a new outward ritual that makes a man feel good and clean outwardly, while, like water baptism, changing nothing within that man. Here is what cleanses both our ‘feet’ and our way of life. Here is what the bread, the wine and Christ washing His disciples feet symbolized:
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Your brother in Christ,
Mike
P. S. Here is a URL to an e-mail I wrote several years ago on this subject of the spiritual significance of the Lord’s supper:
http://www. iswasandwillbe.com/lordssupper.php
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