And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19, NIV)
It’s Masters week, the most “sacred” of all American golf traditions. The members of Augusta National have played this tune almost magically, building bridges and cabins to the commemoration of the game’s greatest players and the tournament’s greatest moments. When it comes to remembrance, these folks get it.
I find a similar reverence for the Masters—one in particular—among Links Players. Many have told me of their memory of that Sunday afternoon in Butler Cabin in 1993 when second-time champion Bernhard Langer expressed his delight in winning the tournament on the day that Jesus’ resurrection is celebrated. That same connection may be made again this year, as the final round will again be played on Easter.
With Jesus and tradition in mind, we can hardly help the sudden turn in our thoughts to the act of the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, communion—that meal when Jesus’ people specifically remember the act of the Savior’s death on their behalf.
In the variety of our churches, we set aside time to eat a bit of bread and drink a bit of the vine’s product. These, Jesus told his disciples that eve of his death in an upper room in Jerusalem, are his body and the new covenant of his blood. This is the enduring picture of his sacrifice for us.
Sometimes it is easy in our contemporary micro-generations, when ideas and practices turn over so fast that modern and moldy are about a half-step apart, to dismiss commemorative practices. The Jews would never have done this. Remember that Jesus and his disciples had come together for the most symbolic meal of their year; they were there to eat the Passover Seder. The dinner was (and remains) laden with glimpses of the freeing of the Jews from their desperate life of slavery under the Egyptians.
Now, Jesus told his disciples, it was time for fresh symbols, newly purposed remembrances. It was time to paint pictures of the new covenant, which would be bought by his death on the cross.
Maybe then, our best words on this day, as we remember to remember, are these: not so fast. We carefully attend to the ancient sacrament not to “waken the dead,” but to honor the living—the King who did die that wretch’s death, but who then fulfilled his grandest prophecy by rising to rule forever. His are the only scars that will last through eternity. Our wounds will be healed by his wounds that will remain for this one reason: that we may praise him on and on, just as we remember and praise him now.
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Jeff Hopper
April 4, 2012
Copyright © 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday through Friday and is archived by passage and topic at www.linksplayers.com.