Question: "What is the importance of the Lord's Supper / Christian Communion?"
Answer: A study of the Lord's Supper is an experience that shakes the soul because of the deep meaning it represents. It was during the ancient celebration of Easter, on the evening of His death that Jesus gave it the new meaning of "food in brotherhood" that we observe in our day, and it is the highest expression of Christian worship. It is an "act independent of the sermon," where we remember the death and resurrection of the Lord, looking to the future, waiting for His return in glory.
Easter was the most sacred annual holiday of the Jewish religion. It commemorated the last plague in Egypt, when the first-born of the Egyptians died and the Israelites were forgiven by the blood of the lamb that was sprinkled on the doorposts. The lamb was then roasted and eaten with unleavened bread. God's mandate was that this holiday be celebrated through all future generations. The story is remembered in Exodus 12.
During the celebration, Jesus and His disciples sang together one or more of the Alleluia Psalms (Psalms 111 - 118). Jesus, taking the loaf of bread, thanked God. As he broke the bread and gave it to them, He said, "Take, eat; this is My body that is broken for you. "He also took the cup, after having supped. He gave them the cup, and drinking them from it, He said; "This cup is the New Covenant in My blood; do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me. "Then He concluded the feast by singing a hymn and everyone went out that night to the Mount of Olives. It was there that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, as predicted. The next day He was crucified.
The accounts of the Lord's Supper can be found in the Gospels of Matthew 26: 26-29, Mark 14: 17-25, Luke 22: 7-22, and John 13: 21-30. The apostle Paul wrote about the Lord's Supper, by divine revelation, in 1 Corinthians 11: 23-29. (This was because Paul, of course, was not in the upper room when Christ instituted it.) Paul includes a statement not found in the Gospels: "So that whoever eats of this bread or drinks of this cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be blamed for the body and blood of the Lord. Therefore, let each one prove himself, and thus eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks unworthily, without discerning the Lord's body, eats and drinks judgment for himself. "(11: 27-29) We could ask what it means to participate in the breaking of the bread and the cup" in an unworthy manner ". It may mean taking with indifference the true meaning of the bread and the cup, forgetting the tremendous price that our Savior paid for our salvation. Or it may mean allowing the ceremony to become a dead ritual and routine, or coming to the Table with an inconfessed sin. To keep Paul's instruction, each one must examine himself before eating bread and drinking from the cup, taking into account the warning.
Another statement that Paul makes, and which is not included in the Gospels, is, "So, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes" (1 Corinthians 11: 26) This sets a time limit for the ceremony - until He comes. From these brief statements, we learn how Jesus used two of the most fragile elements as symbols of His body and blood, and instituted them as a monument to His death. It was not a carved marble monument or bronze figures, but bread and grape juice.
He declared that the bread symbolized His body, which would be broken - no bone of His was broken, but His body was so terribly flagellated that it was barely recognizable (Psalm 22: 12-17; Isaiah 53: 4-7). The grape juice spoke of His blood, indicating the terrible death that He would shortly experience. He, the perfect Son of God, became the fulfillment of countless Old Testament prophecies concerning the Redeemer. (Genesis 3:15, Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, etc.) When He said, "Do this in memory of Me," Jesus indicated that this was a ceremony that should be practiced in the future. It also indicated that Passover, which required the death of a lamb and signaled to the future the coming of the Lamb of God that would take away the sin of the world, was now obsolete. The New Covenant took its place when Christ, the Passover Lamb, was sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5: 7, Hebrews 8: 8-13). This sacrificial system was no longer necessary (Hebrews 9: 25-28).
Interesting article. 'Easter was the most sacred annual holiday of the Jewish religion'. Do you mean Passover?
Easter was the most sacred annual holiday of the Jewish religion. In this article I took it for the sake of dinner but I wanted to explain a little about what the bloodshed that had previously been done through lambs and other animals meant. that then Jesus Christ came for the salvation of the world and offered himself as the Lamb of God for love of us and forgiveness of our sins
grape juice. too funny. Grow up, please. Your "virtue signaling" immaturity is borderline blasphemous. ...but i digress.