As we come to the Table to take and eat of the familiar taste of bread and wine that we eat and drink of each week, the familiarity of the meal reminds us that this is indeed a memorial meal. The repetition and familiarity is meant to remind us. In so partaking we remember the body and blood of our Lord, how His flesh was bruised and afflicted, like crushed grapes and torn bread. We remember what He has done to save each of us here today.
But as we receive the Lord’s Supper, we are also reminded that it is not a mere memorial. The meal itself is the fermented fruit of the vine, and leavened bread. In the fermentation the fruit of the vine is crushed, but it is not left for dead, it is given new life, raised into the cup as the resurrected fruit. Likewise, the leavened bread reminds us that the body of Christ was raised from the dead. And so He is alive today, and present with us by faith, as we eat at His table together.
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