REMEMBERING THE LORD JESUS AT THE SUPPER
D. A. Brown
I have been impressed recently, dear brethren, as to the special character of the time on Lord’s day morning. It is like no other occasion that we gather for, it is not announced at all, but it is a very precious occasion to lovers of the Lord Jesus. We have been reading locally in Genesis 40: 23 about Pharaoh’s cupbearer who forgot Joseph—“But the chief of the cupbearers did not remember Joseph, and forgot him”. When we come to the point when Joseph was about to make himself known to his brethren, it is Judah who says, “God has found out the iniquity of thy servants” (Genesis 44: 16); something stirred up a remembrance in those brethren of Joseph. I suppose we would all be exercised, dear brethren, that persons who once remembered the Lord, and there are many, would be stirred up to remember Him again because it is not a sacrament, it is not something that is held because it is the right thing to do, it is not something that is planned out, it is the occasion for the “remembrance of me”, that is the Lord Jesus. I have also been thinking that it is not exactly the remembrance of the One who died, although the emblems are on the table, but it is the remembrance of a blessed and living Man.
It is interesting that in Luke’s account (and Luke and Paul as we know go together). Luke brings in the matter of remembrance (Luke 22: 19). I do not know which was written first, Luke’s gospel or the Corinthian epistle, but Paul’s message from heaven was special; it was a special message—“For I received from the Lord, that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was delivered up, took bread”, and so on. How precious it is, dear brethren, to remember the Lord Jesus. We were reminded recently, it used to be done at the end of the morning meeting, but as you trace things through the Acts and come to Acts 20: 7 it says—“And the first day of the week, we being assembled to break bread”, which would be the purpose of them coming together. I know that it says there that Paul “prolonged the discourse till midnight” and persons might say ‘they did not break bread immediately’, but we have been taught that perhaps the brethren needed a little adjustment as to what the import of the breaking of bread was in that section of scripture. It is wonderful to see that the young man who fell out of the window, Eutychus, was enfolded in Paul’s arms and brought into the company, “And they brought away the boy alive”, Acts 20: 12. He would be set in the midst as a recovered person, and as a recovered person his true place would be at the breaking of bread.
What impressed me, dear brethren, is what it says here, “This is my body, which is for you— this do in remembrance of me”, and if you look at the note it says, “For the calling of me to mind”. The word translated ‘remembrance’ has an active signification of ‘recalling’ or ‘calling to mind’ as a memorial’ (note i). I am thinking of this matter of calling to mind. The Lord Jesus in many ways is forgotten by many but are we persons who desire, as we come together on Lord’s day morning, to call Him to mind? We break bread and we partake of the cup, there is the feeding and the drinking, but I have this impression of what it means to remember the Lord Jesus. It is an active calling to mind, we need the Spirit to control our minds, it is not exactly a calling of the Lord into our hearts; it is a calling of Him to mind, our minds have to be controlled by the Holy Spirit and as this is done it brings in unity, it brings in unity into the gathering. It has also been said that things are prescribed up until the point where we remember the Lord Jesus but after that there is no prescription. Christ’s headship would be known, and we then enter into the most glorious and wondrous privileges that a believer can experience and that is the service of God. Dear brethren, these things are very precious. As gathering together on Lord’s day morning, I often wonder how I have been so privileged to be brought into such an august company, to which the Lord is attracted and as coming He manifests Himself in a living way.
It must have been a custom for certain persons to remember the Lord in a way of mourning. It says that in Jeremiah 16: 7, “Nor shall they break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead”, but we break bread with joy in our hearts in the light of the Lord coming to us as a blessed and glorious and living Man. We do not remember a dead Christ; we remember a living Man, a Man who has captivated our affections, a Man who is everything to us. What a centre of affection and attention He would be as we gather and as we call Him to mind.
Interestingly this scripture in Corinthians brings the setting of the breaking of bread into the assembly, and so it seems to me that this is something that we enjoy together. I know there are persons who are alone and of necessity they break bread, maybe husband and wife, but normally this would be an occasion where we would enjoy one another’s company, persons who are like minded. I also think it is the only time that the matter of remembrance is related to the cup which I think is very significant. As it is brought in, in the Pauline epistle, we have often been reminded this would be the last word—“This cup is the new covenant in my blood—this do, as often as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me”. I think the drinking of the cup really sets us together, brings us together so that the Lord Jesus as He becomes our object and our all we are set at liberty to enjoy the presence of divine Persons and to be contributors in the service of God. We are not coming together and just sitting in our place and observing and looking on, but the sisters as well as the brothers are entering into this matter in a vital and living way as the Spirit is made way for. The Lord’s supper and the service of God set the tone for the whole week. I believe it sets the tone for the testimony, and I think it sets the tone for the outgoing of the glad tidings, because really the gospel is in view of bringing persons in so that they might enjoy these wonderful privileges.
So it has just laid hold of me this matter of remembrance. Do we forget the Lord or are we desirous of calling Him to mind? How precious this is when the world is given up to their own things, but there are believers (and I trust that we are numbered among them) who every Lord’s day morning come together to remember the One whom they love. The Lord Himself said it—“this do in remembrance of me”, Luke 22: 19. Are we, therefore, going to be obedient to the Lord’s word? Setting aside everything that would hinder us, as our brother has said helpfully, so that we are set at liberty, and as was said on Lord’s day morning, we remember that blessed One as He comes in “Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills”, Song of Songs 2: 8. He would take us up and we arise with Him and He leads us on into these wonderful areas of privilege.
Dear brethren, let our hearts be affected by the preciousness of not only what Christ has done for us, but who He is as a blessed and living Man, and let us think of Him more in this matter of remembrance. We can often think of Him individually, but there is a certain character as we come together on Lord’s day morning in the remembrance of Him. May our hearts be freshly attracted to that blessed One, for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Grangemouth
24 January 2012