Food and the Cross
Scripture Reading — Luke 22:14-20
“This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
—Luke 22:19
Jesus wants us to remember him, and he uses food as a means to connect with him. The Lord’s Supper is a celebration of Christ’s victory over sin and death, and over Satan and his allies. Engaging in this meal is a powerful testimony to the world that Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings.
How can eating a small piece of bread and drinking a little wine do that? Back in the Garden of Eden, an act of eating plunged the world into sin. One bite of disobedience led to death for Adam and Eve—and for us. It caused conflict between Adam and Eve. It caused thorns and weeds to grow in the garden. It caused pain in childbirth. It led to sibling rivalry between their sons Cain and Abel. All this came about through the act of eating and the rebellion against God that it represented.
And behind the forbidden fruit was the whispering of the devil. As Tony Evans says, “They got devilish consequences because they were eating at the devil’s table.” But sin and the devil do not have the last word.
Jesus, the Son of God who became human and gave up his own body and blood for our sake, has made new life and restoration possible for us. Eating at his table signifies our participation in what he accomplished on the cross on our behalf. He has fully paid for all our sin. We celebrate by eating the meal by which he calls us to remember him!
Father, we honor you and your Word. Thank you for reversing the curse of sin by inviting us to be one with you through the work of Jesus. Amen.
About the author — John Kuperus
Since he was young, John Kuperus has had a passion that everyone would know Jesus. Spreading the good news that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15) is very important to him. To be better equipped for missions, John attended Reformed Bible College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He applied these skills with marketplace evangelism in a business he started in Sussex, New Jersey. This calling continued to follow him, so John attended seminary and became a minister in the Christian Reformed Church, serving a church in Ontario for eight years. Currently he serves as a missionary for Youth with a Mission (YWAM). He witnesses Jesus changing lives as people walk out of the darkness into the light. John is married to Helen, and they have seven children.
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