THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 6, NUMBER 39,  OCTOBER 1, 2006

MEMORIALS

            Vicky and I went to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.  It was a wonderful place, thrilling in many ways.  We sat on the very bus in which Rosa Parks, after an exhausting day of work, refused to relinquish her seat.  We saw the chair in which Abraham Lincoln was sitting when he was shot by John Wilkes Booth and walked in the Menlo Park workshop and laboratory of Thomas Edison.  There were so many things that we saw, some of which took our breath away and all of which caused us to remember.

            It is good to remember the great events that changed the course of history and to remember the men and women who were involved in those events and brought them about.   Mankind has always sought to remember, and honor, those who have gone before us and left their mark upon the world.   Almost every city of any size across the globe has its monuments and memorials and each one is significant in its own special way.  However, there is no memorial that approaches in importance or in world-changing impact, the memorial of the Lord’s Supper. When Jesus said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me” and when He said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me”, He established the greatest memorial of all time to commemorate the most significant event.  If it had not been for the death of the Lord and His subsequent resurrection, all of mankind would have been eternally lost.

            People have been known to stand at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., with tears rolling down their cheeks – utterly moved at the remembrance of the sacrifices those men and women made.  The battlefield of Gettysburg is a monument to the brave men who died there, and the first reaction of many upon arriving at its hallowed ground is silence – silence because of the horrible pain and suffering that took place upon that field and what it meant to the continuation of the United States of America.  The waves of white crosses in Arlington National Cemetery and other military cemeteries scattered across this country can just make you stand there in awe.

            How then should the partaking of the Lord’s Supper upon each first day of the week affect us?  It is a time of remembrance, calling to mind the horrible death that Jesus suffered on the cross for me.  Yes, I wrote, “for me,” because it was “for me,” but not for me only.  When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming unto him he exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”  How was it going to be possible for the “sin of the world” to be taken away?  When Jesus instituted this great memorial, He said of the fruit of the vine, “Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”  Thus we come to learn that the forgiveness of sins spoken of by John the Baptist could only come about through the blood of our Lord.   Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”

            Consider once again that the death of Jesus was for the world, for everyone.  As we memorialize His sacrifice in the Lord’s Supper each first day of the week, is it possible to grasp even a small portion of the magnitude of His love that took Him to the cross?  I think of Romans 5:6-8, where Paul wrote, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

            The Lord’s Supper – a memorial of His great sacrifice, a testimony of His immeasurable love, and, I think, a call to arms for soldiers of the Cross.  I close with 1 John 3:16-18.  “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  But whoever has the world’s goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?  Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”

                                                Greg Litmer