More Than A Cup of Juice: Part 1

I never truly understood the reasoning behind communion (Lord's Supper) until earlier this year. My knowledge of the bread and the juice was simply; Christians take communion because Jesus told us to and we do it to remember his sacrifice. If that is the only reason, it doesn't seem very important or worth thinking about it. It wasn't until I met a young man that didn't practice communion, and in fact refused to take it while he was on Earth, that I truly was convicted to know the real reason behind communion and why it is more than just a cup of juice and piece of bread I take at church. In this two part series, I'm going to answer a few questions that came up during my recent debate. Feel free to correct me, add your opinion, or pose more questions. Also please note I jump through different versions of the Bible without referencing them. I encourage you to look at the passages referenced in the version of the Bible you typically use and then over versions to get more of a clear idea. This is just what I found through scripture and thoughts of other Christians.

Part 1-

What is the Lord's Supper ? 
Although I already know the basics of communion, I don't think this post would make sense without a quick description of the Lord's Supper and Communion.  The Bible references the Last Supper and the Lord's Supper in several difference places. I'm going to mainly focus on the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 24-26 and Matthew 26 verses 26-29. It was during the time of passover and Jesus' disciples asked Him where they should make preparations for passover. Jesus tells them to go into the city and find a man and tell him they wanted to do passover at his house. (This actually strikes me as odd. Was this man just a random guy or did they know him or what? More questions for a later time.) Eventually they are all eating together when Jesus takes a moment to address his disciples for a serious moment.
Twelve disciples are gathered together with Jesus around a table. Each disciple is deep in talk of theology with their neighbor but Jesus remains silent. Silent until Jesus looks up and the chatter quickly stops. The mood from a pleasant gathering changes to a serious and almost uncomfortable mood. The disciples know Jesus is about to say something life changing.
Jesus enlightened them that one of the twelve of them was going to betray him.
Whispers filled the room,"No. Who? Me? No way, but what if?" Few dared to speak out, "Surely not I Lord?" Jesus answered, "The one who had dipped his hand in the bowl with me will betray me..." and boom. Judas who has kept his eyes down, his hands in his lap, and not even a breath has escaped his lips looks up and utters the words, "Surely you do not mean me, Rabbi?" Jesus looks at him with not angered eyes but loving and hurt ones, "You have said so." Silence falls but minds are racing. 
Jesus soon broke the science when he picked up the bread and said "Take and eat; this is my body for which is for you, do this in remembrance of me." After the disciples had done that, Jesus then took the cup and said "Drink from it; all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the many forgiveness of sins do this I'm remembrance of me. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom."
So the physical acts of the Lord's Supper is eating bread and drinking "wine" in remembrance of Jesus...but there is sooooo much more to the reason behind.

Is there a difference between Communion and the Lord's Supper? And what is Eucharist? 
Communion, Lord's Supper, and Eucharists are basically all the same thing. By calling the act the Lord's Supper some people are reminded that the meal was instituted by Jesus, aka Lord. By calling it Communion people are reminded that this act is intimate and sharing, making us one with Christ and part of the body of the church. Eucharist is a term that comes from the New Testament Greek meaning thanksgiving. This word can remind us to give thanks to God and remember all He has done for us. Throughout the Bible, communion is also referenced in other terms such as, breaking of the bread.
Whether you call it Communion, the Lord's Supper or Eucharist the meaning is the same. I prefer to call it Communion and the Lord's Supper, but keep in mind it isn't what it's called, it's what the meaning behind it is.

Did Jesus actually tell us to continue doing the act of the Lord's Supper/Communion, or was He only talking to His disciples at the time? 
Is is pretty clear that when Jesus called His disciples together on different occasions, it was to teach them things that were to be passed onto the church, and communion falls into that category. (Keep in mind Christians are references as the Church.) The Bible does not specially say, 'only you should take this in remembrance of me' nor does it say, 'go out and tell others to do this in remembrance of me.' Therefore we must look at other scripture to confirm that Jesus was changing the meaning of Passover for Christians. The Passover for the Jews is meant to be as a remembrance of their deliverance for Egypt.
If we look again at 1 Corinthians, we see that believers are supposed to take part in communion. "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake in the one bread."-1 Corinthians 10:17 (ESV). Notice the  'we all partake', this is references believers. Also in verse 23 Paul says, "For I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you..." he goes on to talk about the event of the Lord's Supper, and then continues to say, "For as often as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." Now take a look at the 'for as often as you' segment. This is Paul talking to the believers saying continue do partake in communion. Also Paul stated that he is passing on the act of communion from when Jesus passed it on to him. I quickly want to point out something that I glanced over earlier. When Paul was describing the Lord's Supper to the church he was correcting, he stated that Jesus said, " This is the new covenant of my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in remembrance of me." This is Jesus saying to continue doing this act aka the Lord's Supper aka Communion. Therefore it didn't just stop at the Last Supper but is supposed to continue on today. So did Jesus mean for all Christians today to take in communion? From evidence of Scripture I would say yes, and that Jesus called for us to do so.


Now that we have examined what Communion is and that believers are called to partake in it, we can now dive into why we should or the reason for communion. Which I will do in part 2, along with answer more questions and ideas about communion, because lets face it, this particular post as gone on for quite awhile...