What is the Lord's Supper?

On the night before He went to the cross, Jesus gathered His disciples for a final meal and left them a lasting gift. Paul records what was handed down to him: "That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:23-25). This is the Lord's Supper — sometimes called Communion or the breaking of bread — a meal of bread and cup that Jesus Himself instituted and commanded His people to keep.

The setting matters. Jesus gave this meal at Passover, the feast where Israel remembered how God delivered them from bondage in Egypt by the blood of a lamb (Exodus 12). For centuries the people had eaten that meal, retelling how the blood on the doorpost turned death away. Now, on that same holy night, Jesus took the bread and the cup of the old deliverance and filled them with new meaning. The Lamb of God was about to be offered. What the Passover had pointed toward all along was being fulfilled in Him. To eat this bread and drink this cup, then, is to stand in a long story of rescue and to see its center in the One who gave Himself for us.

Jesus tied the meal closely to remembrance: "This do in remembrance of me," He said — not a distant, sentimental memory, but a living one that draws the heart back to His sacrifice and forward to His promise. Yet remembrance is not the whole of it. Paul calls the bread and cup a true sharing in Christ Himself: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16). Jesus took bread and said, "this is my body... which is broken for you," and of the cup, "This cup is the new testament in my blood." However deeply we ponder those words, this much is plain: in the Supper, believers are drawn near to the Lord who gave Himself for them and are bound again to the covenant sealed in His blood. Every time they share the meal, they proclaim the gospel itself — that the body of Christ was broken and the blood of Christ was shed for the forgiveness of sins: "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28). And so, "as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come" (1 Corinthians 11:26). The cross is preached not only with words but with bread placed in open hands.

The meal is also a profound act of fellowship. Paul continues, "For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread" (1 Corinthians 10:17). In the Supper we are joined to Christ and to one another. The many become one loaf. Old divisions of rank, wealth, and background fall away at the table, because all who come stand as those who owe everything to the same Savior. To share this meal is to confess that we belong to Him and to each other.

Because the Supper is so sacred, Scripture calls us to come thoughtfully. "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup" (1 Corinthians 11:28). Paul warned the church at Corinth against approaching carelessly — treating the meal as ordinary food, or coming with unresolved bitterness toward a brother or sister. Self-examination is not a demand for perfection; if it were, none could come. It is an invitation to draw near honestly: to confess sin, to make peace, to receive again the grace held out in the bread and the cup. The table is for the repentant and the hungry, not for those who imagine they have no need.

So when you take the bread and the cup, do so with reverence and joy. Look back to the cross where your debt was paid. Look around at the family of faith gathered with you. And look forward, for the Supper carries a promise of homecoming: Jesus said, "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom" (Matthew 26:29). Until He comes, His people keep the feast — remembering, proclaiming, and giving thanks for the love that was poured out for them.