On the first Monday each September, we celebrate Labor Day. Common traditions include parades, picnics, and barbecues. While most people enjoy the long weekend, many may not know the holiday’s origin or why it is observed.

So it is with the Lord’s Supper. Everyone has undoubtedly seen, and most people have likely participated in, this sacred ritual that Christians have observed for more than 2000 years. But many might be mistaken about its meaning. 

Luke’s original readers were Gentiles. They weren’t as familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures. They could have mistaken the Lord’s Supper for some mystical, ritual sacrifice more akin to their previous worship of pagan gods. 

So, as we continue in our salvation story, we learn that the church’s regular observance of the Lord’s supper was rooted in Jewish Passover, which Jesus celebrated with his disciples on the night that he was betrayed, transforming the Old Covenant meal into a New Covenant symbol. The Lord’s Supper is a forward-looking, celebratory meal of thanks, a backward-looking, unifying meal of remembrance, and an inward-looking, solemn meal of reflection. 

Eating the bread and drinking the cup doesn’t save us, but it does remind us of the One who has. Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice for you and me. Therefore, we commemorate the Savior and His sacrifice by observing the Lord’s Supper regularly.