Memory Matters
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.” Luke 22:19 NASB
Do this in remembrance of Me – Once we move in the direction of reading the Bible as if we were the original audience, then we will soon come to the conclusion that this event, the “last supper,” was not about establishing “communion” as a memorial. It was simply a pre-Passover meal, something Yeshua and his disciples experienced every year, once a year. Certainly not once a month or once a week or whatever other Christian timeframe has been added to this quintessential Jewish event. What matters in this Passover meal is the symbolism Yeshua offers, not the frequency of repetition. As the Gospel writers frame the story, this is the moment when Yeshua asks his closest friends to remember him during a celebration of deliverance they would experience again and again through the rest of their lives. What are they asked to remember? Well, maybe that isn’t quite so obvious. We have an immediate theological tendency to assume that the request is to remember his sacrifice. Of course, it hasn’t happened yet, so if this is what he means, none of those present would have any clue about his intention. They might get it later, and perhaps the story as written has a ‘post-crucifixion” perspective, but it wouldn’t make much sense at that moment—unless. Unless something else is happening here (something that doesn’t detract from the later post-crucifixion meaning).
Frederick Buechner offers some insight:
“I am inclined to believe that God’s chief purpose in giving us memory is to enable us to go back in time so that if we didn’t play those roles right the first time round, we can still have another go at it now. We cannot undo our old mistakes or their consequences any more that we can erase old wounds that we have both suffered and inflicted, but through the power that memory gives us of thinking, feeling, imagining our way back through time we can at long last finally finish with the past in the sense of removing its power to hurt us and other people and to stunt our growth as human beings.”[1]
Think about this. Yeshua knows he is heading for the end. But none of the others know this. They are still operating under the false assumption that he will soon usher in the new Kingdom—and, of course, they will be the insiders, the powerful, the privileged. When Yeshua suggests that this meal is a time for remembering, maybe it’s his call to reassess what they have experienced over the last few years. Maybe it’s time to go back and think, “What if I had to do it again? What would I change to make it better? What have I learned in the process?” I am sure each one of them would love to have another chance. Maybe you would too. “Do this—at this moment when we reflect on God’s willingness to deliver—in remembrance—in a moment when you wish you had a ‘do-over’—of me.”
Topical Index: remembrance, memory, do-over, Passover, Luke 22:19
[1]Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life (HarperOne, 1992), p. 232.
