Broken and Poured Out
The monthly and in some communities of faith, weekly, celebration of the Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper, is an intrinsic element of the gathering of those who follow Jesus. It comes from Jesus’ radical revision of the Passover meal that he shared with His disciples the night before He was arrested and led to the culmination of His mission… the cross.
Jesus took the singular most significant and honored religious tradition among the Jewish people, the Passover celebration, which was very familiar to all Jews in his time with over 1,500 years of faithful practice, and He infused it with new meaning that has radical implications for His disciples.
His revised version came with a command that those of us who participate in the communion celebration must be aware of and mindful of its implications for our lives and His mission. As Jesus became the meal, offering His body broken and His blood poured out, He said to his disciples, “Do this in remembrance of me”.
Now whereas we so often hear this familiar verse recited during communion and take it to mean we should gratefully reflect on the unfathomable expression of love Jesus showed us by being broken and poured out on the cross, His command “do this” adds a level of complexity to the lesson He is conveying. His use of the verb remember is not merely asking us to recall and reflect in solemn gratefulness, but rather, He is saying DO THIS: “remember me by imitating me as the teacher become friend, be broken and poured out for others in my name”.
As followers of Jesus, living in Kingdom community and providing an attractive and distinctive love to the world by who we are and what we do, we become effective agents of transformation. Broken and poured out…a message definitely not as attractive as the wealth and health gospel that is marketed to us today, but true to the core of the Good News we claim and proclaim.
The mustard seed movement of churches connected together in the Red del Camino Network are living examples of small, often fragile, communities of faith that are pushing the limits that the world places on all as a means to measure “success”, and risking everything to make a difference in the lives of their neighbors, especially the least of these. Broken and poured out as they invest all they have in creative income generating initiatives to help unemployed small farmers find a just outlet for their products. Broken and poured out as they advocate for the homeless and the forgotten on the urban landscapes of Latin America. Broken and poured out as they help families and communities recover from the devastation of a natural disaster. Broken and poured out as they provide refuge and loving care to the forgotten, abused and ignored.
The communion table is set with the sacraments of the lives of the many men women and children who are willing to be broken before their desires and agendas, plans and personal economies, and poured out to their neighbors in love. They are “doing this” in remembrance of Him the author of our Salvation and Hope.
The communion table is set with the sacraments of the lives of the many men women and children who are willing to be broken…
Let’s continue to set the table and share in this banquet offering our lives as the bread and wine.