Communion is a Representation of Jesus’ Covering
God elevated Joseph in Egypt to the point that his authority was second only to Pharoah himself. At the time of the great famine, Egypt was prepared because of Joseph’s leadership and controlled all of the food stores in the region. People traveled from all around to receive Egypt’s help during the famine, including the people of Israel and Joseph’s own family. It is interesting that in the Bible, Egypt is often used to symbolize the world.
Sometimes it looks advantageous to get in with the world. Sometimes what the world has seems really nice. The problem is, once you get in with the world, you discover what the world’s motivation really is. When you are married to the world, at first it seems as if it is providing for your needs and looking after you, but eventually you will become a slave to the world. Egypt would eventually come to dominate and enslave the nation of Israel.
God raised up his prophet Moses to bring judgment to Egypt and free his people. This judgment culminated in plagues, famine and a visit from the angel of death. God instructed Moses to have his people to paint their doors with sacrificial blood. This blood would cover the household and protect them from the touch of death. The nation of Israel remembers and celebrates that moment as the Passover. Jesus is both the blood and the door.
At the last supper, Jesus was having His final Passover celebration before His crucifixion. He was preparing to bring a final sacrifice that would supersede the law - His blood as a blameless sacrificial lamb. At the end of the meal, Jesus takes the bread and breaks it and literally injects himself into the bread by saying “This is my body”. He then takes the wine and says “This is my blood.” He tells the disciples that every time they do this in remembrance of Him, they will be invoking what was to come - His sacrifice. At this point, the disciples were not aware that the crucifixion was coming or of its significance.
Fifteen years later, Paul preaches that he had done everything he could according to the Law to be good. But then he writes, I need something more. If I know the law but I can’t keep it, and if the sin inside me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it. I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions don’t result in action. Something inside of me has gone wrong and gets the better of me every time. He is talking about sin. We want to do what is good, but our sinful nature keeps influencing us to go against our desire to do good. This is the oppression of the law. We keep trying to revert to the law. We can’t understand that God wants to free us from our sin at no cost. We invent things that we can do to make ourselves feel better about our fallen state. There is something in our nature that causes us to struggle with accepting the freedom that was bought for us by Jesus.
It is not the law that is going to free us. Paul says, parts of me covertly rebel and when I least expect it take charge. I am at the end of my rope. Is there no one that can do anything for me? Isn’t that the question? The good news is the Jesus Christ can and does. He worked to set things right in this state of confusion. With His arrival, this fateful conflict has been resolved. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. A new power is in operation - the Spirit of Life in Christ like a strong wind has magnificently filled the air, freeing you from a lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death, clearing the black cloud of fear and guilt.
Religion - the law - has no justice or fairness in it. Religion holds no grace. Jesus brought the new law - the law of life, freedom, deliverance. If there is one thing we must defend and fight for, it is the freedom and deliverance that Christ died for. It is easy to fall back to works and find fault and bring judgment. God could do that with any one of us if He wanted, but He doesn’t. God is always trying to cover us. To shield us. The blood over the doors was to cover the people and protect them from death - taking life. There is no judgment while the blood of Jesus covers this world. There is only the covering of our sins. We have been set free and do not have to live under the condemnation of that sin. We don’t sin purposefully because of grace - Paul says may it never be. The blood is there for us as we strive to do what is right, knowing that if and when we fall, the blood will be there to cover and redeem. It is so powerful that, because of the blood, God cannot see anything that we have done wrong. All He sees is His children who have been set free and, as He looks through the blood of Jesus, He sees us made whole. That is what communion is. Everyday we live under Christ’s covering. Communion is a representation of this covering.
