Our Body and Blood

The idea of taking the communion in order to "remember" the sacrifice
of Jesus is a safe spiritual idea. It only requires us to commemorate what
someone else has done for us, and not what we might be doing ourselves.
When Jesus said, "This is my body…given for you; …my blood poured
out as a sacrifice for you..." (Luke 22:19-20), He was not simply setting
up a religious tradition to be repeated each Sunday as part of public
worship. The Lord was also establishing the essence of what it meant to
be His disciple. Jesus also said, "Students are to be like their teachers
and slaves like their Masters" (Mt. 10:24). In the same way disciples are
to become like their Lord with bodies given and lives (blood) poured out
for His purpose and service.
There is no joy, no intimacy with God, no spiritual insight into the true
person of Christ until our lives begin to be poured out in ministry to
others for Christ's sake. Every need that arises before us, each call to
service, every opportunity to give up some of our energy, time, or
resources in the service of others is really the Lord's invitation to
increase the rate at which we are giving our bodies and pouring out our
lives in the imitation of His sacrifice.
For too many, the communion has become a respectful and slightly
repetitious ceremony that affirms faith rather than the imagery of our
own Christian lives modeled on, and powered by the sacrifice of Christ.
The Lord's Supper can only become meaningful when the ceremony
reflects the cross in the life of Jesus as well as our own.
Mike Mazzalongo