Showing posts with label the Lord's supper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Lord's supper. Show all posts

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Good Friday & Easter Sunday

In our April newsletter, we discussed Good Friday & Easter Sunday. I promised to bring you information on the origins of Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ & what the Lord's Supper means for Christians. As a little nugget, I'm also posting about the day Jesus was crucified. Well, here goes! In case you missed the newsletter, please click here to read it first!

Question: "What is the importance of the Lord's supper/Christian Communion?"

Answer:
A study of the Lord’s Supper is a soul-stirring experience because of the depth of meaning it contains. It was during the age-old celebration of the Passover on the eve of His death that Jesus instituted a significant new fellowship meal that we observe to this day. It is an integral part of Christian worship. It causes us to remember our Lord’s death and resurrection and to look for His glorious return in the future.

The Passover was the most sacred feast of the Jewish religious year. It commemorated the final plague on Egypt when the firstborn of the Egyptians died and the Israelites were spared because of the blood of a lamb that was sprinkled on their doorposts. The lamb was then roasted and eaten with unleavened bread. God’s command was that throughout the generations to come the feast would be celebrated. The story is recorded in Exodus 12.

During the Last Supper—a Passover celebration—Jesus took a loaf of bread and gave thanks to God. As He broke it and gave it to His disciples, He said, “’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 22:19-21). He concluded the feast by singing a hymn (Matthew 26:30), and they went out into the night to the Mount of Olives. It was there that Jesus was betrayed, as predicted, by Judas. The following day He was crucified.