What is the importance of the Lord’s supper / Christian Communion?

Answer

A study of the Lord’s Supper is a moving experience due to the profound significance it holds. It was during the traditional Passover celebration on the night before His crucifixion that Jesus established a meaningful new communal meal that we continue to observe today. This meal is a fundamental aspect of Christian worship, prompting us to recall the death and resurrection of our Lord and anticipate His glorious return in the future.

The Passover was the most revered festival in the Jewish religious calendar. It memorialized the tenth plague on Egypt, where the firstborn of the Egyptians perished while the Israelites were spared by the blood of a lamb daubed on their doorposts. The lamb was then roasted and consumed with unleavened bread. God decreed that this feast be commemorated for generations to come. The account is detailed in Exodus 12.

During the Last Supper, which coincided with the Passover observance, Jesus took a loaf of bread, offered thanks to God, broke it, and distributed it to His disciples, saying, “‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ Likewise, after supper, He took the cup, declaring, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you’” (Luke 22:19-21). He concluded the meal with a hymn «And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. », (Matthew 26:30), before departing for the Mount of Olives. It was there, as foretold, that Judas betrayed Jesus. The following day, Jesus was crucified.

The narratives of the Lord’s Supper are profound and rich in symbolism, emphasizing the sacrificial nature of Jesus’ actions and the covenant established through His blood.In the Gospels (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:17-25; Luke 22:7-22; and John 13:21-30), it is mentioned about the Lord’s Supper. The apostle Paul addressed the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. Paul includes a statement that is not present in the Gospels: “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man should examine himself before partaking of the bread and cup. For anyone who partakes without discerning the body of the Lord brings judgment upon himself” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). The question arises as to what it means to partake of the bread and the cup “in an unworthy manner.” It could imply disregarding the true significance of the bread and cup and forgetting the immense price our Savior paid for our redemption. Alternatively, it could mean allowing the observance to become a lifeless and formal ritual or approaching the Lord’s Supper with undisclosed sin. Following Paul’s guidance, we should introspect before consuming the bread and drinking the cup.

Another statement by Paul not found in the gospel narratives is “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” «For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. », (1 Corinthians 11:26). This sets a temporal boundary on the observance—until the return of our Lord. These accounts teach us how Jesus utilized two of the most fragile elements as representations of His body and blood, establishing them as a memorial to His sacrifice. It was not a memorial of sculpted marble or cast brass, but of bread and wine.

He proclaimed that the bread symbolized His body that would be broken.There was not a broken bone, but His body was so badly tortured that it was hardly recognizable (Psalm 22:12-17; Isaiah 53:4-7). The wine spoke of His blood, indicating the terrible death He would soon experience. He, the perfect Son of God, became the fulfillment of the countless Old Testament prophecies concerning a Redeemer (Genesis 3:15; Psalm 22; Isaiah 53). When He said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” He indicated this was a ceremony that must be continued in the future. It also indicated that the Passover, which required the death of a lamb and looked forward to the coming of the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world, was fulfilled in the Lord’s Supper. The New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant when Christ, the Passover Lamb «Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: », (1 Corinthians 5:7), was sacrificed (Hebrews 8:8-13). The sacrificial system was no longer needed (Hebrews 9:25-28). The Lord’s Supper/Christian Communion is a remembrance of what Christ did for us and a celebration of what we receive as a result of His sacrifice.