While listening to the communion introduction at a church I attended recently, I reflected on the way that Christians in non-liturgical churches do communion. What particular interested me is the matter of remembering. In both Luke and 1 Corinthians we are told to “do this in remembrance of me [Jesus]” (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24-25). When we have communion we remember the death of Jesus. Is there a biblical way of remembering?
There are two kinds of remembering that we are familiar with in our culture. The first is remembering a fact. Someone may ask, “What is the capital of Uzbekistan?” Either you remember that fact or you do not. The second kind of remembering is more emotional. Remembering events can bring up emotions as with memories of childhood. These memories may be good or bad, but the response to them is an emotional one. When it comes to remembering people, both ideas come into play. “Do you remember so and so?” There is a factual yes or no. But on top of the yes there are memories of the fun you had together or the fear or anger if your experiences together were negative.
My church experience regarding remembering in communion has been on this level. We can remember Jesus’ death as a fact of history. However, this is rarely very satisfying, so the person leading communion often tries to elicit some emotional response to the death of Jesus. Sometimes it is no more than telling us to be thankful for the death of Jesus and other times it involves long and gory descriptions of crucifixion. I often find it difficult to have an emotional response. Perhaps others feel guilt over their lack of emotion. Certainly some don’t see it as very important to take communion at all.
In contrast to the intellectual and emotional kinds of remembering, the biblical way of remembering is neither about recall of facts nor about dredging up emotional responses. Instead it is about action. Below I will explore the biblical way of remembering and consider some implications for the Christian life. Let’s begin in the Old Testament with a particular emphasis on connecting remembering to the covenant.
The earliest mention of God remembering his covenant is after the flood. God gave Noah the rainbow as a sign of his covenant. Whenever the rainbow appears in the sky God promises, “I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life” (Gen 9:15). When God remembers his covenant he acts to protect the world from complete destruction. The covenant with Noah matters to all humanity. But it is the covenant with Abraham which is most directly significant to the nation of Israel. When the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, they cried out for help. “God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them” (Exod 2:24-25; see also 6:5). When God remembered his covenant this led to the redemption of Israel out of Egypt. Because of this same covenant he promised to remember Israel when her enemies attacked. The priests had to sound the trumpet and then God would remember Israel and rescue the nation from their enemies (Num 10:9). When the people of God are sent into exile from the land because of their sin, God will rescue the repentant since he remembers his covenant (Lev 26:40-45; see also Ps 106:45).
God also remembered individuals who called on him and asked for help. When Samson had been captured by the Philistines he was brought out to entertain the people in the temple of Dagon. “Then Samson prayed to the LORD, ‘O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes’” (Judges 16:28). God acted for Samson and the Samson was strengthened to pull down the temple of Dagon on top of all the people in it. Hannah was a woman who was unable to conceive a child. She called out to the LORD “saying, ‘O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.’” A few verses later we see that God remembered her and acted on her behalf. “Early the next morning they arose and worshipped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son” (1:19-20a).
The Psalmist asks the LORD to NOT remember his sins (Ps 25:7). The prophet Isaiah asks the same thing, “do not remember our sins forever” (Isa 64:7). The people of God may praise his name because “he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps 103:10). We can be sure that God has no problem remembering facts about our sins. He does not have some kind of divine dementia. Instead, when he says that he does not remember our sins this means that he has chosen not to act on them. He does not treat us as we deserve but according to his covenant love for his people. Remembering involves an action and not remembering implies no action in response to the sin.
God remembers and acts for his people and the people of God also remember God’s redeeming acts. This remembrance results in action. When Jonah was in the big fish and he knew that he was dying, he remembered the LORD and acted by praying for help (Jon 2:7). There is an Old Testament command to put tassels on clothes. The purpose of this is to “remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes” (Num 15:37-40). Remembering is intended to result in obedience to God’s commands.
Deuteronomy contains many commands to remember. The people of Israel are commanded to remember what happened at Horeb, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. This act of remembrance has a purpose, “so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them [the commands] to their children” (Deut 4:10). Remembering is neither a recall of facts nor an emotional experience. It serves to keep the people obedient to God. The same idea is inherent in the Ten Commandments themselves. “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day” (Deut 5:15). The people of God must remember the redeeming acts of the LORD so that they do not fear the nations around them (Deut 7:18). They must remember God’s discipline of the past so that they will be obedient in the present (Deut 8:1-5). They were told to remember the LORD so that they would not turn aside to following other gods (Deut 8:18-19). Don’t forget that your past rebellion made God angry (Deut 9:7).
Remembering in the Old Testament is clearly connected with action. We can now consider the nature of remembering in the New Testament. At the Last Supper, Jesus “took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you’” (Luke 22:19-20). Here remembering and the new covenant are explicitly linked together. The same is true in 1 Cor 11:24-25. For this reason it is important to understand the nature of the new covenant if we are to understand the nature of the remembrance commanded here.
The new covenant is prophesied in Jer 31:31-34. The writer to the Hebrews explains why it is needed. “But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: ‘The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’ By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear” (Heb 8:6-13).
A few words of explanation are helpful. The old covenant was ineffective because the people failed to keep the covenant. The law was external to the person, written on tablets of stone that Moses brought down from the mountain. Mediators were needed between the people and God. Priests offered sacrifices over and over for the sins of the people. The sacrifices were only a temporary solution to the problem of sin (Heb 10:1, 11). However, under the new covenant there can be true relationship with God. Sin is completely dealt with. God does not remember sin any more. That is to say, he does not act on our sin since it is fully covered by the blood of Jesus, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Forgiven people are people freed from sin and able to obey God’s law, which is now internal. The heart and mind is transformed by the sacrifice of the new covenant.
The blood of Jesus is the difference between the old and the new. The old covenant was made with blood sacrifices, but the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin (Heb 10:4). Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant and his blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Heb 12:24). The old covenant was characterized by the Law and not the Spirit. But the letter kills and the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6). The Spirit enabled the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross (Heb 9:14). God brought Jesus back from the dead through the blood of the new covenant (Heb 13:20). Because the blood of Christ is so important to the new covenant, refusing the blood of the covenant insults the Spirit of grace. Those who do so can only expect judgement (Heb 10:27-29).
Let us now turn again to remembrance. The expression “do this in remembrance of me” is only one possible translation of the Greek. It may be rendered “do this for my remembrance”. This suggests that there are two parties who remember when communion is taken: humans and God. This is not that surprising if we think of communion as a covenant meal. It is the meal which celebrates the new covenant between God and humanity. Thus both parties are involved in the remembrance. With this in mind, I will now consider what remembrance means for God and what it means for the humans who participate in communion.
God’s remembrance is perhaps well illustrated by the story of the criminal on the cross next to Jesus. When the criminal asked Jesus, “remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42) he was not asking Jesus to intellectually recall his existence when Jesus was crowned king. Nor was he asking for Jesus to have fond memories of their time together hanging on a cross side by side. No! He wanted Jesus to act on his behalf when Jesus received the kingdom due to him as King of kings. This is the kind of remembering which God does when we receive communion.
What does God remember in communion? He remembers the covenant that he has made with his people. The new covenant means that God remembers the blood of Jesus which covers all our sins. So God remembers that we are his people whom he has forgiven. He remembers us and acts for us. He is on our side. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things” (Rom 8:32). When we partake of communion, God is reminded of his covenant promises to work all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28). He is reminded to be gracious to his people. He remembers us as his sons, who are loved in the beloved Son. Every time that we partake of communion everything that God has done in the sacrifice of Christ is brought before him again so that he remembers these things. Thus his covenant with his people is invoked again and again. He remembers and acts on our behalf.
We also remember when we participate in the communion meal. I have explained that biblical remembering is something which leads to action. It is not a recall of facts or an emotional response to past events. So what kind of actions should result from our remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus? There are several passages that help answer this question.
“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:11-13). We remember that we are brought near by the blood of Christ. There is a danger that we may be drawn into striving to please God, to come into relationship with him, by our own efforts. Works can be subtle but they are pervasive. Communion reminds us of who has done the work of God for us. It is Jesus who shed his blood. There is no other way to come to the Father. Grace is a gift that cannot be earned. When we eat the broken body of Christ and drink his blood we are to remember that ours is to live in the grace of God continually.
“Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins” (2 Pet 1:4-9). If a Christian does not make an effort to add these qualities to their life then they have forgotten that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Forgotten is the opposite of remembered. When we partake of communion we are reminded again that we have been cleansed of our sins. Consequently, we know that we will share in God’s nature (v 4) and must therefore work towards goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, affection and love (vv 5-7). This is the action which comes from remembering that we have been cleansed of sin by the death of Jesus.
And finally, every time that we partake of communion, “We proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). When we remember this truth it leads to a godly life. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (2 Pet 3:10-14).
Peter uses the phrase “make every effort” in the two passages above (1:5; 3:14). The communion meal reminds us of the objective fact that the blood of Jesus has made us holy and blameless before God. Jesus has cleansed us from our sin. God no longer remembers our sin, that is, he does not condemn us. Instead God remembers the sacrifice of Jesus and acts for us. But because of that objective fact, we must “make every effort” to bring the subjective into conformity with the objective. In other words, we become the kind of people who God has delivered us from sin for. His purpose is not simply to forget that we are sinners, but to make us into saints in practical terms. So the communion meal reminds us to “make every effort” to become what we already are in Christ.
Conclusion
When Jesus told his followers to “do this in remembrance of me” he was not asking us to simply recall his death. Nor was he commanding us to become emotional every time we partake of communion. Instead, the biblical understanding of remembering is something which leads to action. In the case of God, he remembers his covenant with us and acts positively on our behalf. Our sins are forgiven and God is for us. In our case, remembering leads to walking in grace instead of striving to please God by works. It also causes us to “make every effort” to become godly people, whose behaviour is pleasing to God. Remembering results in action.