Jesus has three instructions for this meal. Take it. Eat it. Do it in remembrance of Him. But notice the gracious simplicity in what Jesus commands. He commands you to receive the bread and wine that is handed to you from Him through His ministers, and passed to you by your fellow saints. He commands you to eat (and drink) it. That is something that even the youngest saint can do quite capably. He commands you to take, to eat and drink, and to do it in remembrance.
Paul exhorts us to not partake of this meal in an unworthy manner. But notice the wise simplicity of where Paul tells us the field of play is: seeing Jesus in this family Supper (1 Cor. 11:26-29). Whose family is this? It’s our Father’s family, purchased by our older brother’s blood. Our babies sit at our supper tables, untroubled by wondering whether they belong there. All they’ve known is that these are their people, this is their table, they are in.
It’s when someone eats this meal with self-centered introspection––waving the wand of the piety-meter to ensure the holy feels are measuring high enough––that they’re failing to discern Christ’s body, and forget Him in the partaking. Soul-searching tunnel vision blinds you to beholding Christ in these gathered believers. You’re eating and drinking damnation when you eat this meal selfishly, with arrogant disregard for Christ Himself and His precious bride which surrounds you.
But you are eating it obediently––whether you’re a saint with nothing but white hair, or a saint without any hair yet––when you take it and eat it, together with this family of blood-bought saints; and in so doing, we together make a memorial of Jesus, Who is in it all, and through it all. And thus we do it in remembrance of Him.
So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…