Text: Matthew 26; Mark 14; I Corinthians 11, 12
Today is a special day and one filled with all kinds of emotion. Communion, or Lord’s Supper, is one filled with many thoughts. We are reminded of the ultimate sacrifice of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God in the flesh laid down His life for lost mankind. He paid the price that none nor all of us could pay. Jesus was and always will be the perfect Lamb. We are also reminded of the goodness of our Lord. God freely offers the gift of salvation to all who will believe and live by faith. We are reminded of the fact that there was great pain in the blood and body sacrifice of our Lord. Then we remember the fact that Christ gives us victory over this world and one day He is coming back to receive His bride, the church, to Himself.
We would be selling Communion really short though if we do not remember that Christ desires unity in His body. Jesus even prayed for unity when He was on this earth, John 17. Unity is at the heart of Christ when it comes to the church, His body. If Christ is concerned about unity, that should tell us a couple of things.
First, we should be concerned with unity as well. It is very easy to cause division or put others down. That is the world in which we live. Every day we face the cruelty of man in this world. The church should not have any of this. In the body, it is or should be all about the Savior. The One who redeemed us and calls us into His presence. It should never be about us as individuals for we are all creations of God’s.We are all given different gifts and abilities as well, I Cor. 12. These gifts are to be used to edify and bring unity in the church, not division.
When Christ celebrated passover with His disciples, they were in a very interesting place. They were fighting for position and arguing about who was better. Sounds an awful lot like the church of today. We try to impress and wow people with our “intellect” which always causes schisms. May we remember the heart of the Lord, UNITY. May we strive to hold onto and push unity and care for the body. You and I care for our bodies and do what is best for it. May we do the same for the body of our Lord.