“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’” – Luke 22:19
The night before His crucifixion, Jesus gathered with His disciples at the table, breaking bread and sharing the cup. In this simple yet profound act, He instituted what we now call the Lord’s Supper. Through this ceremony, He revealed the heart of the gospel: His body would be broken, and His blood poured out for the new covenant (Luke 22:20).
From the Passover meal in Egypt (Exodus 12), where the lamb’s blood protected Israel from judgment, to the prophetic promise of a new covenant written on the heart (Jeremiah 31:31-34), the Lord’s Supper fulfills God’s redemptive plan. Christ, the true Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), gave Himself as a sacrifice so that we might be reconciled to God.
Grace at the Table
A friend and I recently discussed the meaning of communion. She shared her thoughts, and I adapted them into a story.
Sue knelt at the rail, hands open. The week’s heaviness pressed on her—her impatience at work, the careless words spoken to a friend, the nagging guilt that she had not prayed as she should. Yet here, at the Lord’s Table, none of that defined her.
“The body of Christ, broken for you.” The elder’s voice was steady, unshaken. She took the bread, its simplicity profound.
“The blood of Christ, shed for you.” The cup met her lips, cool and sweet.
Sue swallowed, exhaling slowly as the pastor’s announcement echoed through the sanctuary: Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.
This was not her worthiness on display. This was grace—not her striving but His sufficiency. The Table reminded her of the gospel itself—God’s covenant promise, received by faith. She rose with the others, strengthened not by bread alone but by Jesus Himself–the Word made flesh.
The service ended with the doxology, voices rising in harmony. The truth settled deep in her heart as she left the sanctuary: She had come empty, but Christ had filled her once again.
Communion as Gospel Proclamation
John Calvin reminds us in Chapter 17 of Book IV –
“As bread nourishes, sustains, and protects our bodily life, so the body of Christ is the only food to invigorate and keep alive the soul. When we behold wine set forth as a symbol of blood, we must think that such use as wine serves to the body, the same is spiritually bestowed by the blood of Christ; and the use is to foster, refresh, strengthen, and exhilarate.”
The Lord’s Table is not just a symbol but a means of grace, where Christ nourishes His people.
When we eat the bread and drink the cup, we are not merely remembering an event but proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26).
Sinclair Ferguson echoes this truth:
[The Supper is ] “actually a visible dramatization of the message of the gospel.”
At the Table, we encounter the gospel in tangible form—the broken bread and poured-out wine declare Christ’s finished work. This sacrament invites us to receive by faith, to feast on Christ, and to rest in His grace.
When we come to communion, we come as sinners who need grace. And in Christ, like my friend, Sue, we find more than enough. In this Lenten season, thank God for the visible, tangible reminder of His sacrifice for us.
God, You who in Your mercy
Gave Your Son to be our Passover Lamb,
May we be nourished by the holy sacrament —
Receiving in faith the grace You freely offer —
And may we be strengthened to walk
In the power of His resurrection —
Proclaiming His death until He comes again —
For Your glory and our good. Amen.
References
The Lord’s Supper: A proclamation. (n.d.). Ligonier Ministries. https://learn.ligonier.org/podcasts/things-unseen-with-sinclair-ferguson/the-lords-supper-a-proclamation
