The same activity can often produce dual thoughts. In this post we are focusing on things that we remember while at the same time anticipating other things. Some examples of this are the following: Christmas, vacation, the start of school, the beginning of a sports season and the seasons of the year. In all of these events, people frequently remember times in the past while looking forward to the next happening.
Whenever Christians observe the Lord's supper or communion, they are memorializing the Lords' death on the cross following the instructions that Jesus Christ gave to the disciples. Jesus had come to Jerusalem with his disciples to observe the Passover--all the while knowing that he was going to face the cross. Nevertheless he had come to Jerusalem to do what Jews had been doing for fifteen hundred years--observing the Passover and remembering the deliverance of the Hebrews from the four hundred years of bondage in Egypt. He gave the following instructions to the disciples about how and where they might find a place that they could have the Passover meal. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” 'Where do you want us to prepare for it?' they asked. He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there" (Luke 22:8-12).
"They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.' After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, 'Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.' And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you'" (Luke 22:13-20).
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Jesus took the elements of the Passover, the unleavened bread and the cup of wine, and filled them with new meaning. In the words of Jesus we are supposed to remember his "body given for us" and "the new covenant in his blood which was poured out for us." Whenever Christians observe communion, and it should not be infrequently, they are supposed to remember these central matters of faith.
No doubt most everybody who is a believer understands all this but probably not nearly as many people join in anticipating the Lord's return at the same time. Jesus clearly stated that he would "not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day he will drink it anew with them in the Father's Kingdom" (Matthew 26:20). So let us all remember what we should recall, but let us also look forward to when he will come again. The Apostle Paul wrote this to the Corinthians, "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26).
