More Than Juice and Crackers | Mark 14 | Crossroads Daily

If you break that down, what does it mean? Breaking of a fast, a uno means fast. And so it was cool. It was early in our relationship, early in being a family. I was like, breakfast is now sacred for us. Because the word is rooted in breaking of fast. It's for breakfast, literally. Technically, if you look at the word in English, it also-- - Same thing, yeah. - Browned it the way it is for the rest of our lives, right. But that's maybe our sacred place where we try to do the-- - I love that. - When we try to have communion together, it's something we didn't do. - I love that. - And it's rooted in understanding. We're breaking the fast together. - This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people. Just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. (upbeat music) Hey, y'all, I'm Chuck. - I'm Alex. - I'm Caleb. - I'm Arturam. And we are talking about Mark 14 today. And we're gonna talk about the Lord's Supper. Communion, the Eucharist has a lot of names based on maybe the tradition you grew up in.

Let's start here. What's your earliest experience or memory of doing communion or the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper? Whatever you call it into your context. What's your first memory of it? - We called it communion. - Okay. - And my dad was actually the pastor. So I was pretty familiar with it. They would pass these like very ornate, like gold trays. I don't know if they're real. - Yes, we have those two pretty trays. - They had like little cups around the outside with juice, definitely not wine. And then in the middle were like the little crackers. And my mom was very adamant, Caleb, you do not get that until you have chosen to follow Jesus. As a little kid, I just wanted, I just wanted to snack. I was like, and in my mind, it was built up to be like this amazing, I bet it tastes amazing, right? 'Cause I couldn't have it. And then when I first had it, I was like. - Oh, it really is just juice in our crackers. - Oh, it's really, really crackers terrible. (laughing) - That's right, what crackers are that, right? - I definitely also just wanted to snack because who does it? Yeah, very similar experience, like the pretty gold trays, the little cups of juice, the cracker. And I remember in, it wasn't,

I forget what we called it, kids, we didn't call it kids club, but it was something similar. Like kids church, in kids church, there was this one girl and she had chosen to follow Jesus and she had been baptized. And so at the time, at kid service, when they wanted, you know, it was time for communion, that only that one girl got to come up and take communion. And I also remember like asking my parents, like, well, can I do that? And they were like, well, why do you want to do that? And I said, because I want the juice in the cracker, I'll just snack, obviously. And they're like, okay, you're not quite ready for that yet. But that's what, that was my earliest memory of communion, was Michelle got to have a snack and I couldn't. - Michelle. - Shut up, Michelle. - Yeah, shut up, Michelle. - I, we went to Catholic church or Mass, whatever it's called, sometimes when I was a kid, not free, not often. That's my earliest memory and I think we all felt pressured because there were some times when we didn't go to the kids, whatever it was, so we were in the big cathedral and it was time to take communion. And I think out of pressure, my mom and dad just told my brother and I to go up. Like, you have to come up with us and do this. I'm like, okay, so I never thought about it.

I just knew I did it a few times we went and we weren't in the kids thing. I was like, okay. And it was wine. So I did take, I did not look forward to it. And then I'm like, this is really bitter and they dipped it. - Yep. - I'm like, oh, no. - Yeah. - Not a good snack. - Soggy. - Well, I think we're all kind of touching on that. I mean, I grew up very similar to you. The ornate trays, they were white gloves to serve the trays. - That was a big deal. - But we're talking about is there's a sacredness to this, right? And whether that was handled well or not in our church context, Jesus is establishing something sacred. And he established a meal. I mean, the way that I think this was celebrated in the church for many centuries probably was like a real meal and they would share the meal together. Why do you think Jesus chose a meal as the thing that would be the practice, the instituted practice of the church over and over again? And remember his sacrifice. Why do you think he chose a meal? - I mean, so many reasons, but one that just jumps out is you have to do it regularly.

I mean, you gotta eat. I mean, sometimes I push the bounds, right? But you should eat like three times a day, right? And so that meal, that repetition, it's just keep. I mean, if you give yourself time to think about it, to make the connection. And I can mindlessly pray before meals and not actually be grateful to God. So this is actually that you just like pinged me with that. You know, it's like, yeah, I'm praying all the time, but am I really feeling gratitude in my heart for the food that God's given me. And above that, for the sacrifice Jesus made for me. - Yeah. - I always feel like something physical to represent something spiritual for me is helpful. And I'm sure it's a very similar reason of Jesus chose to teach a lot of his lessons in parables, things that related to people at the time. - To lead to the physical world that the people lived in. - Yeah, 'cause it helps you understand something 'cause when you're living in the physical. And so that's just helpful. So I'm sure that's part of it. And I know culturally at the time Passover was celebrated with a meal. And so a couple of years ago, Cameron, my husband, and I, Cameron thought it would be cool to like host a traditional Passover meal at our house. And so that's a tradition for us

that we do around Easter time every single year. And that puts the story in a totally different context. So if you've never looked into it or experienced it, I actually highly recommend because it puts you in the space that the disciples would have been in. And it makes what Jesus was saying click a little bit differently because he's specifically speaking to something that these people would have experienced every single year around this time. - That's right. - But he's talking about it differently because of what is about to happen. - He's fulfilling it, right? He's fulfilling the story that goes thousands of years into their history. - Right. - And saying, no, today the reality of it is me. - Yeah. - That's why Jesus did this. Yeah, no, it's so good. - And it all happens over a meal. - It happens over a meal. - Yeah. - It happens over a meal. I think that's so, so good. You know, I've been, I literally just list a podcast about communion. I've been thinking that for me, this is just for me, something's been lost

on me about this meal. And I think part of it is, it's an infrequent experience for me currently. And I think God is kind of pushing me on that, pushing me on frequency, pushing me on maybe getting outside of the bounds of like waiting for it to happen at a church service and bringing it into my world. So one of the things I've done, this is, I don't know, this is just an experiment. At the church that I'm at, we use these little cups. It's like a self-contained juice and cracker cup. Man, I went on Amazon and just bought some of those. And so, not all the time, but there are times when, as a part of my morning time with God, I just take communion. Just to have the symbolic remembrance of what Jesus did for me in a tangible way. I don't think it's only for isolated experiences like that. I think what God's encouraging me to do is maybe bring it into more communal settings again. I do a Passover dinner every year too. And part of the reason for that is it kind of brings this story back to life and what all the symbolic symbols meant and everything like that. But like, I wonder for you guys, what's your relationship to communion now? Or maybe something that God is inviting you into as it relates to your relationship to the Lord's Supper, you, Chris, communion?

- Yeah. - I wanna go. - Go for it. - So, I wanna share something that I think goes with that and goes with your guys' experiences and traditions now with your family. In Spanish, the word desayuno is breakfast, right? And a little context is, I'm sure I'm not the only family. My family struggles to understand the importance of breakfast. You gotta wake up and you gotta go. Or you're not hungry, right, right away? Which is crazy because if you think about it, your body's burning, like however many calories when you're sleeping all that, you haven't eaten technically for hours, whatever your sleep time was. - Yeah. - Anyway, okay, so I remember sharing with my wife and I think our daughter was in the back. Maybe she was listening, maybe she wasn't. Hey, so, breakfast in Spanish is desayuno. If you break that down, what does it mean? Breaking of a fast, a you know means fast. And so it was cool. This is early in our relationship, early in being a family. I was like, breakfast is now sacred for us. Because the word is rooted in breaking of fast. It's where breakfast literally, technically,

if you look at the word in English, it also-- - A same thing, yeah. - Pronounce it the way it is for the rest of our lives, right. - But breakfast is sort of like when we do it on the weekends, as often as we can during the week too. That's maybe our sacred place where we try to do the-- - I love that. - When we try to have communion together, it's something we didn't do. - I love that. - And it's rooted in understanding. We're breaking the fast together. I just wanted to share that dude. I love that. I love that it invites to it doesn't have to be a dinner meal Yeah, I love that man. It's so good. Yes, so good and it's the meaning you're bringing to it mm-hmm That makes it powerful. Yes. Oh, man. I love that. I love that. Good. I feel like Chuck. You said it in The in frequency that you're taking communion. I think that sometimes The frequency that I've taken communion just like over the span of my life, you know, like I said It was just a snack to me. That's a little girl That I coveted of Michelle. Yes, and but because of that I actually think that I've probably lost the sacredness of it some and it's just become a Thing like oh, this is just a thing that we do. This is just a Whatever for at church, you know, we just like eat the crack or drink the juice without like reading this Just reminds you of what it actually means. Yeah, and so being I feel challenged by you Chuck to be more intentional about it No matter what the frequency is because it is sacred and it is a holy thing And it is something that Jesus asks us to do to remember him So I'm feeling I'm feeling challenged by that today. You know what? I think it's it's invitation and challenge Yeah, and so today think about that think about your relationship to Communion and maybe a way that you can to the point that you just said Elevate the sacredness of this incredible meal that reminds us of what Jesus differs

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