Proclaim his death

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “ Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “ This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. - 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

I think it is interesting to note that the Lord saw the Table as so important that He personally instructed Paul in just how the church was to observe the Table. The instructions given here could not be any clearer. There is no fancy formalism. There is no magic routine. There is no ritualism. It is a simple matter of following the simple instructions given here.

And then Jesus said this 'as often as you eat the bread and drink this cup you show, or proclaim, the Lord's death till He comes again.'

Years ago, when we were first discussing moving to a weekly Table observance one of my concerns was that if we did it 'too often' we would become to accustomed to it and that it would no longer be special. I have had a few people express the same concern since then.

But Matt made a good point. Is it possible to remember Jesus too much? Is it possible to proclaim His death too often?

Notice there is no time limit. There is no mention of how often. It is just 'as often as you do it, do this.'

But, to my mind, 'as often' implies some amount of 'ofteness.'

Anyhow, the ofteness is not the issue. The whyness is what matters.

And we do it to remember Christ and proclaim His death openly. We remember his broken body and His shed blood. We remember His sacrifice.

The next time we approach the Table lets be sure we do so with a holy remembrance of what we are remembering.