Todays readings… 1 Chronicles 12, Ezekiel 25, Luke 22

“DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME” 

The 71 verses in the 22nd chapter of  Luke’s gospel contain some of the most heart moving passages in Scripture, especially if we can really bring them ‘alive’ in our minds.  How the events and the words that Jesus uttered must have come ‘alive’ in the thinking of his disciples later

May they come alive in our minds as we read – and as this happens – may we effectively meditate on them.

Jesus said, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” [v.15].   The actual day of the Passover had not yet come, the meal occurred “before the Feast of the Passover “ [John 13 v.1: cf. 18 v.28]. Our Luke chapter tells us this was “the day of Unleavened Bread”[v.7]

The “Passover” they were to eat with Jesus was to be emulated and echoed by genuine believers down through the centuries until our day  In his first letter to the Corinthians, ch. 11, Paul tells them of the action of Jesus, that “when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [v.24].See this in v. 19 of today’s chapter   In the next verse Paul tells them, “also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Committed believers in every generation since – seek to “do this in remembrance of” what Jesus did to be a sacrifice for their sins, they usually do this “on the first day of every week” [Acts 20 v.7; 1 Cor. 16 v.2] as was Paul’s practice, but there is no command about a particular day.

Returning to Luke ch. 22 we read the account of the arrest of Jesus in the darkness of the Garden of Gethsemane, they were afraid to do this when he taught “day after day in the Temple”  “But” he said “this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” [v.53] In a sense this “power” has operated ever since!  But not for much longer!