On the night before He knew that He was going to be tortured and killed, Jesus met with His disciples and said “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you” (Luke 22:15). His desire for communion with His disciples should give us pause to consider our own desire to commune with Him.
In 1st Corinthians 11:23-26, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
The question, I think. for the modern church is, “How often do we want to proclaim the Lord’s death?” The Scriptures indicate that the early church did it every first day of the week. Acts 20:7 says, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.”
I do not understand why many churches today only have this communion of the Lord’s Supper periodically, maybe once a quarter or twice each year. Do they not want to proclaim the Lord’s sacrifice any more than that? Do they not want to remember His gift to us any more than that? Do they not greatly desire a supper with Him, as He does with us?
I have heard it said that the Lord’s Supper is more meaningful if it is only done occasionally. This, however, could be said of any act of worship. Why don’t we only preach quarterly? Why don’t we only sing praises on Christmas and Easter? Why don’t we only read the Bible and pray monthly? How about tithing? Not until I hear a preacher recommend that we only give tithes and offerings quarterly, to make it “more meaningful,” will I then listen to his argument that the Lord’s Supper should only be done quarterly.
Revelation 19:9 says, “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”
Blessed are those who commune with the Lord by remembering His sacrifice and proclaiming His death through the Lord’s Supper.