“Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat. This is my body.’ And he took a cup. And when he’d given thanks, he gave it to them saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins.”
– Matthew 26:26–28
I am just really overwhelmed reading those three verses here in Matthew 26:26–28. When you just instituted the Lord’s supper and thinking about how for months now. Since COVID started, we have been disconnected from one another in our churches. To the extent that we’ve not been able to gather around the Lord’s table and enjoy the Lord’s supper with each other. I really miss the Lord’s supper.
In a time where many churches have been unable to gather to share the Lord’s supper, we ask for help to remember regularly what Christ has accomplished through His cross.
This is something in the church I pastor we do every week, or we did every week when we were gathering together. And it’s so significant. Whether we do it every week or not in our churches to pause. Pause just as Jesus told us to do and remember. Reflect on our need for his grace, his provision of grace, in his body and his blood, his body given for us. His blood shed for us, the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. For the forgiveness of sins to every week, remind ourselves that his blood covers over our sins. That we have been bought at a price that in Acts 20:28 kind of way. Where the church that he’s purchased with his own blood. That he’s given his life for us and his life is now in us. This is a meal for a reason.
Like we have fellowship in Christ with Christ and with one another as the body of Christ, there’s so much here. So I’m just compelled to pray. God, we really miss celebrating the Lord’s supper in the gathering of your church. We really, really miss it.
Matthew 26:26–28 Reminds Us a Way to Worship Together
And we praise you for this picture you’ve given us here in Matthew 26:26–28. This way to worship when we’re gathered together and by remembering your body given for our sins. By remembering your blood shed for our sins poured out for our forgiveness. Jesus we praise you for our forgiveness. We praise you in a fresh way today that we stand justified before God through faith in you. Through faith in your blood and Romans five, nine through 11 kind of way. We have been justified by your blood. And we are so thankful for the forgiveness of our sins. For the opportunity to gather together with other brothers and sisters in Christ. To celebrate this supper, this meal together.
Remembering Jesus Sacrifice For Us
And we look forward to when we can do it again. When we can gather with brothers and sisters in the same place, look in each other’s eyes and say, we eat this piece of bread in remembrance of the body of Christ. We take this cup in remembrance of the blood of Christ, and celebrate your sacrifice for us. So please, please, please make a way for us to do that again soon in our churches and in the absence of that, help us. Help us not to forget, help us to remember regularly your body given for our sins and your blood poured out for our forgiveness. In your name we pray. In the name of Jesus by whose blood we have been reconciled to God, by whose blood we’re in relationship with God, in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
