Exodus 12 & Matthew 26 | Crossroads Daily

Hey, I'm Chuck, and I'm Jamie, and I'm Miko. All right, spoiler alert, we are going to take communion together. So if you need to pause or whatever, like grab some elements, it doesn't matter what it is, some more soul food, something else, and hey, maybe you're driving right now or for any other reason you can't. At the end of this, your next meal, you can do this. But we're going to do communion today because we're talking about bread and we've been talking about bread all this week. And today is about the Passover, this incredible celebration of God's provision for the nation of Israel, the way that he rescued them from slavery, and it's just a powerful remembrance of God. So I guess, let me ask you a question. So Passover, communion, Lord's Supper, what's your most memorable experience with any of those things? Jamie's got something. You got something, I see it in your face. Okay, so I grew up traditional black church. We took communion after you got baptized and that kind of thing. But I remember going to Catholic church with my aunt as a kid, just once. She was watching me and I did not know the rules of what you do. So I literally got up and followed her and the priest just looked at me and I looked at him and then my aunt just snatched me and she was like, you should have stayed in your seat. And I'm like, how many verbal clues? I don't know. I can't read. So I just remember that moment and I could break it down and what that meant and that kind of thing. But just having that explanation and understanding that it wasn't just a tradition. It wasn't just a rote action, that there was a meaning to taking communion and the remembrance

of it. So that's the first time I began to understand what that was. That's funny. Yeah. I love because yours was comical at the beginning, but then it ended with substance. Mine doesn't have any substance to it. I also was at, I visited, I guess a mass with a friend of mine and we were taking communion. I'm like, okay, yeah, sure. And then I got up and we were getting ready to go up to take communion and I saw that everyone just drunk out of the same cup. And I said, yeah, no, I'm not. And I'm like, I'm like the biggest germaphobe in the world. So I'm like, yeah, I'm not doing that. So I'm going to just sit back down. But that's the most memorable, I guess, moment. I love it. Well, I too grew up in a black church and communion was a whole thing. Like white gloves, they would put on white gloves before they would do it. We use matzo crackers. And you know, I remember my uncle Barry would like read this before I received from the Lord. That was the whole thing that they would read. I remember the whole thing. But the thing that was amazing about that is high sacredness for it. White gloves, you know, let a man examine himself, the time to examine yourself. Are you worthy of communion? I mean, that's a whole other thing. But then in the back of the church, they had all these extra crackers and juice. And I went to church for like four hours. Yeah.

I think I know where this is going. So me and my cousins would go back. We would go to town with the extra crackers and the extra juice. Listen. Because we were hungry. Snack time. We were hungry. Snack time. I love communion Sunday. It was my favorite Sunday. Right. Wow. All you needed was a tablet, man. I just needed a tablet, man. That's all I needed. So, man, so I think about this, this sacred, beautiful thing. And it really is a beautiful thing. And even, even these, you know, comical experiences of it. I have really grown in my life. I have grown in my life. I have grown in my life. I have grown in my life. I have grown in my life. to be taking communion far more frequently than I do. Well, if Chuck needs to do it, we all need to do it. But like, there's just something about it. I think the thing that unlocked this for me was remembering teaching that I heard, that there is something we get from communion that actually helps us in the spirit realm. And I don't mean like, well, I won't even get into the theology of like what Catholics believe versus what Protestants believe.

I think it's just this simple. Communion is a reminder that I have union with Jesus. And when life is challenging or when life is good, if I'm on a mission and God's calling me to do something, in all of those scenarios, it is a great thing to be reminded that I am in union with Jesus. And communion is such a tangible way to do that. So that's why I told you we're actually going to take communion. Now you guys didn't know that we were going to take communion. And I wish I had grape juice and matzo crackers. I do not. I've just got, I've got some Cheez-Its. That's what I have. So we're going to do Cheez-Its. At such a time as this. And we actually have Coke in here because I'm realizing that, you know, whenever believers get together, thankfully. You don't need a priest to take communion. You don't need a pastor to take communion. This is something that as believers, when we come together, we can do this. We can remind ourselves of the goodness of Jesus and the fact that he broke his body for us when he died on the cross and that he spilled his blood for us and that we are made right with God through that. So I'm going to give you guys a Cheez-It, and I want to take communion as we wrap up. And wherever you are, you probably don't have Cheez-Its, or if you do, look at you. You're with us. But I want us to take communion together. And like I said, if you can't do it in this moment, at your next meal, whenever your next meal happens, just take the first morsel of your food and take the first sip of whatever the drink is that you have and remind yourself that the body of Christ has been broken for you and the blood of Christ has been shed for

you. So, Jamie, this is the body of Christ broken for you, and Nico, this is the body of Christ broken for you, and we're going to eat it together. Once I sit down, just as a reminder, the body of Christ is broken for you. And I'm going to have us do something that has become just a simple thing that I do. Just break that Cheez-It a little bit. Because I think it's really important to remember that Jesus broke himself for us. Let's eat together. Jesus had wine, not Coca-Cola. Although I'm sure if he grew up in the time of Coca-Cola, he probably would have had Coca-Cola too. Coke Zero. That's right. Coke Zero. You know me. You know me well. But as we drink this, for us it's symbolic of the blood of Jesus that atones for our sins, but that also at a spiritual level makes us family. Makes you and I family, if you're a follower of Jesus. So let's drink as family in gratitude for our Savior. Jesus came to satisfy us, not just to save us. He came to satisfy us. And so this week we've been on this theme of bread and wine. And so I just, you know, as we wrap up, what's something that maybe you just want people to hear as they go into their day or as they go to bed, whenever they're doing this, what do you want them to hear as we wrap up this time? I'd say I'm just like even on this afternoon taking communion and I'm always struck at the beginning in the passage. It's like, do this often in remembrance of me. And when I think about the passage that was in Exodus and then in Matthew of like

Jesus hadn't died yet. And for the nation of Israel, Jesus hadn't been born yet. Like they were passing down these stories of like what would come and they were looking for it. And I am, I'm just like in awe of remembering something and like, what does that really mean in my day to day? Or as often as I would take communion or as often as I would sit around and have a discussion with people of like, what does that mean? And in my heart of like, no, Jesus didn't academically die for everyone else. No, he died for me. And how does that impact how I walk out of here? So I would hope people would consider what it means for them. Just kind of the way that you, you know, you explained that this is, this is a reminder of what Jesus did. This is a reminder of our unity with him. And something just in my reading that like always stands out to me is how often God tells us to remember. Yeah. And so it's a mixture of him always telling us to remember, but yet the significance of this thing he wants us to remember, but then also how practical it is. Like, I love how that all just ties together because it's like right now, right here, as significant and, you know, powerful this is, it's like, it's Cheez-It and Coke. That's right. You know what I mean? And he's like, I'm pleased with that. You know what I'm saying? So I don't know. I think, I think that's, that's just super cool.

And I think to not, you know, get too heady or too in the clouds with it. But like embracing the significance of it, but then also embracing the practicality of it. Yeah. I learned this from a woman that was in a seminary class with me and I've never forgotten it. It's so profound. And I don't know if it's in the Matthew. I have to reread it to see if it's in the Matthew retelling of the Last Supper or not. But in one of the tellings of it, Jesus says to his disciples, I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover meal with you. you. He says, because I will not eat it again until all things are fulfilled in the kingdom of my Father. And so what that means is, in Revelation we see this story of what's coming. And it's not Cheez-Its and Coke. It's not even just simple bread and wine. It's a feast. It's a whole feast, the wedding feast. And what Jesus was saying, which is so profound, Jesus is literally fasting until he eats that feast with us after his second return. So as much as communion is a remembrance of what Jesus has done, it's also an eager expectation that a day is coming when he will feast with us again. And it will be in abundance. It will be where there's no tears. It will be what God had always intended this earth to be. It'll be very, very good. And so I also want to look ahead with hope. And maybe you're in a situation right now or in a place where, man, looking ahead with hope feels like, oh man, I want to do that. Well, communion is another way that we do that. Because one day, Jesus will eat a meal again. And we'll be at the table. We'll be right there with him. So be encouraged by that today.