Remember

Some time ago, I did a study on the word “remembrance” as it is used in Luke 22:19, I Corinthians  11:24-25 and Hebrews 10:3.  In each of these passages the same Greek word is used:  “anamnesis.”  I am no Greek scholar but it doesn’t take much digging to see that this word has some weighty significance!

If you look at this word you might see a similarity to an English word that is used to describe a state of forgetting.  That word, of course, is amnesia.  When someone has lost their memory from a blow to the head or some traumatic experience we say that person is suffering from amnesia.  In the Greek if you take that basic word and add the “ana” on the front, it negates its original meaning, which in this case makes the definition of the word change from  “forgetting” to “not forgetting” or Remembrance.  Kind of neat how that works isn’t it!  We do the same thing (sort of) in English.  Take the word “typical,” for example.  This word means normal or predictable.  If we were to change the word to “atypical” we have changed the word to mean abnormal or unpredictable.  It is a process of creating an opposite.

When the word “anamnesis” is used in these passages there is still a deeper meaning and intent, especially in the Luke passage that records the actual words of Jesus.  Think of the context surrounding this passage.  It is the time of Passover, which is the celebration of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and how the Angel of Death passed over the homes marked with lamb’s blood.  The idea of remembering was nothing new to the Jewish people.  Remembering was what this whole Passover meal is about.  But it is more than remembering, it is “reenacting.”

In other words when the Jewish people celebrated the Passover, they were reenacting what had taken place so many years before them.  This tradition had been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds years.  I’m sure you can see the wisdom in this practice; it is much easier to remember what you act out than what you simply think about.

So, we find Jesus and his disciples together in an upper room, celebrating the Passover and Jesus does something that must have completely blown his disciples away!  

And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”  And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”

He is saying that from now on the His sacrifice must be “remembered” in this meal.  This is the meal that for centuries the Jewish people observed to remember God sparing them from the Angel of Death.  This is the meal that included a perfect lamb that had been sacrificed and it’s blood spread on the doorframes of their homes to signify that they were to be passed over!  You bet the disciples were blown away!

Another interesting thought:  In Old Testament covenant agreements a sacrifice was made and a meal was eaten to “seal” the covenant…that could be significant….

The next time you are partaking of the Lord’s Supper, don’t just remember, but reenact the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross to seal the “New Covenant” that we have in Him.  Perhaps by doing this you can bring more significance to a time in our worship that all too often is neglected or…forgotten.