Crushed

Luke 22:14-20
“And when the hour came, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He said, ‘Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ And He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.'”

I find it interesting that God gave us (Christians) a physical practice in order to remember Him. You’d think that it would just be something spiritual, like a basic prayer to memorize. Yes, God gave us scripture, but He also gave us a physical exercise to remember Him: eating bread and drinking wine. God provided a method of remembrance which utilizes all of our senses. Every aspect of our experience capacities are utilized in this commemoration of Christ. Nothing of our senses is left aside.

Whether one views this experience as a sacrament or an ordinance, the practice is the same. We are instructed to eat and drink in remembrance of Christ. The neat thing about this exercise is the connection between what we eat and drink, and what Christ went through for us. I would hardly call this connection an accident.

In order to make bread and wine, the process for which each is created is the same. Both wheat and grapes need to be crushed. The same goes for our salvation. In order to make salvation possible for us, our Savior needed to be crushed.

This is the thought which now enters my mind, with every communion I partake in. But, isn’t that the whole point of communion; to remember who Christ is and what Christ has done for us? That He is God? That He took on flesh? That He became as one of us? That He shed His blood for us? That He died for us?

Hebrews 2:5-11
“For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere,
“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
Now in putting everything in subjection to Him, He left nothing outside His control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him. But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.”

We must never forget the one source… who was crushed for us:

Isaiah 53
“Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He grew up before Him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him,
and no beauty that we should desire Him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed Him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced for our transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with His wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so He opened not His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
and as for His generation, who considered
that He was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made His grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in His death,
although He had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in His mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him;
He has put Him to grief;
when His soul makes an offering for guilt,
He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied;
by His knowledge shall the Righteous One, My Servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the many,
and He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because He poured out His soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet He bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

Godspeed, to the brethren!

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