Remembering the Forgetting

And he took bread, and when he had 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.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. (Luke 22:19–23)

When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, he told his disciples to, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

I find it powerful that we are told to remember that God will forget. We stop and remember that he forgets our sins. In the new covenant, which is inaugurated with the “new covenant in [His] blood” (Luke 22:19), He “will remember [our] sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:31–34). 

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people…For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31–34)

What a glorious truth that our sins are forgotten by the All-Knowing One. Sins are removed from His people as far as the East is from the West. God is the only one who knows everything, and through the grace of repentance and forgiveness, even He will forget our blood-paid sins.

When we come to the Lord’s table, we examine ourselves. But this examination it is not so we can remain downcast. We celebrate communion. It is a joy to hear the Savior say, “this is my body, which is for you” and “this is the cup that is poured out for you,” “the new covenant in my blood.” In Matthew’s gospel:

“Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” 

“Drink of it, all of you.” What a potent moment in the upper room, for Jesus to turn to each of his disciples, and say, “Drink.” That is still the Lord’s invitation when you take communion with the people of God at church. 

How much greater is the New Covenant than the Old! In this new covenant, we have the promise, “I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sins no more.” It would have been enough of a surprise for us for God to forgive us, but he has done more than that. He has made a covenant of forgiveness with us, founded on better promises. 

The early church, and many Christians today, call communion “the Eucharist”, based on the Greek term εὐχαριστία: Thanksgiving. It is a means of grace where God ministers to us as we remember Him. We receive His body, the “bread from heaven”, and the blood “of the new covenant.” We hunger and thirst for righteousness, and are more than satisfied in Christ. We remember, with thankful hearts, the betrayal, and the spitting, and the mocking, and insults, beatings, and rejection of the Holy One. We remember His exceeding sorrow, His walk to Calvary, the nails, the crown, the heavy cross, and the even heavier weight of the sins of the world. We remember His death, His burial, His resurrection, His sitting at the right hand of the Father, and His return. As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim His death until He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Communion, Mike Brennan, https://www.mikebrennan.me/

Without Christ, even if you have forgotten it, God will remember it. Even if you have been able to numb yourself to the deep wound of your transgression, the Great Physician can see your limp. Without Christ, even if you have been able to push out from your memory the details of that one situation with that one girl in college, God has not forgotten. Even if you say, “Oh, well I am not like that anymore!”, and trust your forgetful mind to be your defender, the God who sees thousands and thousands of years as a day will not have such a short memory. The Judge of all the earth will call it to account on the day of judgement.

But, with Christ, even if you remember it, God himself will forget it. Even if you remember your hardness of heart, your fall to temptation, and your disobedience; your Father has chosen to remove it from you as far as the East is from the West. With Christ, even if Satan throws the great guilt of your sin into rememberance, the merciful blood of Christ is greater. Even if you remember your rebellion, the King has extended His pardon. He sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for your sins, and to take them away. If we confess and forsake our sins, the Faithful and Just has forgotten them. 

He will again have compassion on us;

   he will tread our iniquities underfoot.

   You will cast all our sins

   into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)

Remember Christ walking up to Mt. Calvary, carrying His cross. Remember His bare feet, carrying Him to His crucifixion, and treading all our iniquities underfoot.

And prepare to see him resurrected in three days, as He casts His grave clothes behind Him, and your sins far, far into the depths of the sea. 

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