In this passage, Paul is reminding the Corinthians that the true intention of sharing this meal is to remember Jesus, to remember the sacrifice that was made so that others may have eternal life. This too, is a time for self-examination, a time to consider the meaning of the body of Christ but also their communion in the body of the
church.
Paul refers to the delivering of the tradition of this special sharing and remembrance of Jesus and it echoes the delivery, by God, of Jesus for the world’s salvation. He continues to narrate the actions of Jesus taking the bread, giving thanks, breaking the bread and giving it to the disciples and so too with the sharing of the cup. The direct instruction to “Do this in remembrance of me”
calls us to witness God’s act of deliverance experienced in Jesus giving his body and blood for us and to observe this memorial repeatedly. An act that binds us to God and to the church, to each other.
In the same way that the Corinthians are called to look back on the saving acts of God and Jesus, to look beyond the confines of the present and their self-interest, they are to look forward “until he comes” (vs 26), so too can we also observe and acknowledge this gift, this sacrament by looking at the past, the present and the future. We look back to the cross, to Christ’s great sacrifice.
Today, the present, we partake in the Eucharist and we look forward, in hope, to the return of Jesus.
Today and all days, let us remember the sacrifice of Jesus as the source of eternal life and the grace of God that encourages our relationship with him and with each other.
