18 posts tagged “jesus”

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted...until I saw the title for my last one. Sorry about that.  Anyway, Happy Lent! :)
What is Lent, anyway?  Well, it's a Christian thing that begins on Ash Wednesday, and goes 40 days until Easter.  Ash Wednesday is always on Wednesday, is 40 days before Easter Sunday, and the ashes used, which are smeared onto our foreheads, are from the burning of the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday.  (Still with me?)

Miriam Webster defines "Lent", if I understand correctly, as "Spring" or "Springtime", which "includes a time of penitence & fasting, and is dated back to the 13th Century".  So no, it's not something that was practiced by the early church, nor is it in the Bible, nor something that Jesus told His followers to do, so you're not doomed to Hell if you don't fast from something for these 40 days.  Yet, it is a good spiritual discipline.

So what is this fasting time about, and from what are we to fast?  Many choose something like chocolate or pop (soda). But they don't replace it with a spiritual discipline...they just diet from the certain food for 40 days and tell everybody it's for Lent.  Some choose to fast from Television, and replace it with reading a book, or for youth, doing their homework instead. And though reading is a nice habit to replace TV with, unless it's the Bible they're reading, I don't see how it becomes a spiritual discipline.

Fasting is mentioned all throughout the Bible, and though it's most often associated with fasting from food, there are other things to fast from. Numbers 6, for instance, tells us about the voluntary vow of the Nazarite, which included fasting from anything off the vine (grapes, wine, grape juice, etc.), no shaving or hair cuts, and staying away from dead bodies (I'm sure the last one would be the easiest). But the whole point was “to separate themselves unto the LORD” for a determined amount of time, and during these days of separation, the person is to be "holy unto the LORD”.  So refraining from junk food for the body is good, but if there's no health food for the spirit, then how is one "holy unto the Lord"?

A few years back, I discovered more on this when I decided to fast from lunch, and replace my lunch breaks with prayer. Such was great for my spiritual journey, for my prayer time was more constant, as well as longer, but it also took a toll on my health, for I lost a lot of weight, which also lowered my immune system, and also caused some migraines. So this year, I thought I'd try something new...I'm fasting from worrying and stress. I got the idea because, for a few weeks before Lent, I was stressed out and worrying so much about something that it gave me chest pains, and it wasn't until the migraine that I realized something needs to change. Jesus even said that, medically speaking, worrying and stress can actually kill you.  Then He tells us to stop worrying, and give it up to the Father who knows our needs before we ask for them.  I think the hardest part of this though is that, well, you know like when you pray for patience, instead of giving you patience, the Lord puts you into situations where you'll have to train in patience? Or when you pray to be a better driver, and the Lord allows you to get into, or come close to getting into, accidents so that you'll learn quickly what not to do?  I'm finding more things to be worried and stressed about. 

But hey, nobody said fasting was easy.  And if it was, then it wouldn't be a very good spiritual discipline, would it?

While in seminary, I had this idea that denominations are sinful, for they separate the members of the Body of Christ.  But when talking with my late professor, he’d mentioned that denominations in themselves are not sinful, for they promote differences…denominations only become sinful when they do separate.

In the 17^th chapter of John, Jesus gives excellent examples, first of how to pray for ourselves, each other, and then also for the Church.  But in each prayer, notice how strongly Jesus stressed the importance of unity within the Church (Body of Christ).  Of all the things that Jesus could have prayed for (boldness in sharing the message, lack of persecution, prosperity, etc), what’s the importance of unity?  So that the world may believe that the Father sent Him.  But when we look at the Church today, is it really united?  How will the world know about Jesus through our unity?  How will/can this ever manifest?

I think that one of the reasons I so much enjoy playing soccer is because, I’m reminded of the great fellowship we developed through it while in seminary, which also reminds me of how I imagine the Church:

We’d gather together several mornings a week just for the love of the game. Newer players were encouraged and mentored by more experienced players in order to sharpen their skills, and so they might become better at the game. When somebody didn’t show up for practices, everybody was disappointed, and several people were sure to inform them of how they were missed.

Out on the field/court, though competitive, the way we played gave evidence to our love for the game.  We’d communicate regularly, set each other up for passes and shots, encourage one another when we made a bad play, congratulate for good plays, and do the same for the other teams. We played as a team, subbing-in often so everybody had a chance to play their best as often as possible, backed each other up, and worked together in unity for the common goal (no pun intended).  And ball-hogs were not an issue as long as our focus remained on the game. Sure there was danger, and injuries almost always occurred.  But our love for the game trumped every pain, bruise, sprain, or break that ever occurred.

Now, re-read this, replacing the underlined words with the following:

• “The game”                          with  “The Lord”
• “Players”                             with  “Christians”
• “sharpen their skills”            with  “be encouraged in the Word / become better familiar with the Word”
• “Become better at”              with  “Grow closer to”
• “Practices”                         with  “Bible study, Sunday service, church events, ministries, etc.”
• “people”                             with  “Brothers / Sisters in Christ”
• “On the field”                      with  “In the field/world”
• “Played”                             with  “lived / shared the Good News”
• “Playing”                            with  “discipling / ministering to”
• “other teams”                     with  “non-Christians”
• “We played as a team”       with  “We were united in Christ”
• “Backed each other up”      with  “prayed for one another”
• “ball-hogs”                         with  “pride was”
• “injuries”                            with “rejection, persecution, etc.”

I believe that when Jesus prayed in John 17, He knew the future formation (or fate) of the Church, and so prayed that it…we, Christians everywhere, would be united, just as He and the Father are united. If a soccer team is united, then it has a better chance of making it to (and possibly winning) the championships, than if it’s not.

This is the beginning of a new year, a time when improvement is promised.  Can you imagine if we of the Church was on the same page, following ultimately the same mission & vision, praying for each other and our congregations, gathering regularly, communicating, helping where needed, being of like mind & spirit, and working towards the same goal?  Just imagine the Church’s testimony to the world!  No wonder Jesus stressed unity so strongly!

---Marturo

  I can remember as a child, each Christmas, waiting for Santa to arrive. I’d put cookies out on a plate, a glass of milk, and a note, in case Santa didn’t know that the snack was for him. As I grew older (but not too old to stop believing in Santa), I’d stay up late, excited about my hopes in seeing him! Then I’d wake up learning that I’d missed him.  Yes, Christmas Eve is about waiting.

  After the Israelites returned from Babylon, God promised to send them a Messiah. All throughout the Israelite history, the only people known as Messiahs were Priests, Kings, and Prophets (Jesus was/is all 3!)  But He never gave them a real warning as of when…just that He was coming soon. So the Israelites, by then known as Jews, kept watch.  For 400 years, people waited, and waited, and waited.  A few times, people would give off the image of a Messiah raised up, getting the people all excited, only to become disappointed.  Can you imagine 400 years of hearing “Ahhhhh? ….awwww…”?  Hundreds of thousands of people waiting for God’s Messiah, only to be continuously disappointed when they learned that the person in whom they’d put their trust, wasn’t the Messiah at all.  But you see, they were waiting for a human, and humans continued to fail them.  They were looking for a Messiah from God, and expecting him to be human. And they weren’t too far off, but God wasn’t talking about sending a simple human…He was talking about something so much more!

Today, we’re in a similar position as the Israelites of the time.  Only for us, it’s not when the long awaited Messiah will come the first time…now, we’re waiting for Jesus to return…to come a second time.  So like the Israelites, we are waiting for the promised coming of God’s Messiah, we don’t know when He’s coming back (like a thief in the night), though we have been commanded to “Watch”, while at the same time, given landmarks to watch for, and even when we do, we remember that Jesus said they’re simply pangs that have to happen before He can return.  So in a sense we’re in the same position as the Jews of Jesus’ time.

  Wait…same?  Are we really in the same position as the early Jews?  Have we not been commanded to do more than simply wait for His arrival? 

The Jews then were called to:                                        Christians today are called to:

1.  Be a nation of God’s holy priests.                                1. Be a nation of God's holy Priests

2.  Testify of God’s history and presence among them       2.Testify to the nations about Christ's first coming

3.  Wait & keep watch for the Messiah’s first coming      3. Wait & keep watch for the Messiah's second coming.

 

Christmas Eve then was about waiting for Jesus, God’s Messiah, to finally come.

Christmas Eve is now about waiting for Jesus to come…to return.

Christmas Eve is about waiting.

---Marturo

While talking with a high school friend, I learned some things about myself. Actually, I don’t know if I learned something new, realized something old, or just remembered. But either way, it’s made me rethink the details about my conversion story. When asked, I’d always reflect on the fact that when I’d “given Jesus the chance” to take hold of me, I was coming to the realization that I couldn’t be right with God without Jesus.  This is still true.

 

But in terms of “being churched”, even though my mother brought me to church every Sunday; has a recording of me singing a hymn to the Lord in my toddler years; and even though I’d attended Sunday school as a child; gone to pre-school in our church; attended VBS every year that I was able and helped out when too old to attend; was a regular member of the youth group (until high school sophomore year); graduated confirmation; was involved with events within the church; and attended youth and family retreats, I’d always looked at the fact that I was neither taught nor encouraged to read the Bible (other than from my parents), felt like an outcast in youth group, and often daydreamed or slept during the Sunday morning sermons. And so I considered myself “un-churched”, or that I didn’t “grow up in” the Church, or that I grew up going to church but never came to know Jesus there. Why? Because since I’d come to know Jesus at age 21, and I mean really know Jesus, all I can say is that I must not have known Him before. But now, after the conversation with my friend, I realize that I actually had, and can only figure or understand that sometime in my life, I just fell away from Him for a while. But then, was my realization of needing Christ a real conversion experience that finally happened for the first time, or just a personal experience in sync with the parable of the Prodigal Son?

 

So that next Sunday morning, my wife & I went to church, and the topic of the Pastor’s sermon was the foundation on which our faith was built, and about how when we’re tested with fire, that’s when our true self comes out, and whatever foundation we’re actually built upon is revealed. During it, I envisioned a crack in the stone…the stone that was formed around my heart, and a bright, yellow light shining through this crack, breaking it open. 

 

I thank God for using my friend to remind me that my foundation, not just from my young-adult conversion, but from the foundation laid upon me as a child and throughout my childhood, is Jesus Christ. And since this light has been revealed, breaking forth, the rock can no longer hold it back.  I felt…renewed.  See, before serving here, I was enduring a time of healing, where I backed off some and began following Jesus from a distance…like a wounded soldier. But then, like Superman coming back to life, I felt ready to get back in and fight for what was lost during my time-out.

 

So often we continue to look forward for our answers, sort of like there’s a “don’t look back” syndrome. Maybe we get it from Jesus’ reply that "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” But that was in the context of somebody wavering on their call to follow, not somebody already on the journey.

 

I think that when we’re feeling lost, we need to look at the map, retrace our steps, remember where we’ve been and how we got here, who we were, and even ask our friends/family who remember who we were back then, and let the fire reveal who the Lord created as and brought us up to be.

Any thoughts?

-Marturo

"You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and clasp hands with pagans. Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots. Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. So man will be brought low and mankind humbled--do not raise them up."

As I was reading through Isaiah today, I came across this passage, and was reminded of the United States, believe it or not.  For example, the reason people (not the Native Americans) came to this land in the first place was for religious freedom.  But as more people came, and trades among other nations grew, so did other religions, beliefs, wives' tales, "stupid-stitions", etc, and this new land that was based on the worship of the Lord God had soon become as the land of Canaan before it vomited out its inhabitants...or as David's kingdom during the reign of Solomon...most admirable and great to look at, but no grounding in the Lord

America has been looked up to by nations upon nations.  Our Dollar was once the standard for the rest of the world's currencies.  Though a small country in comparison, our land was once filled with silver and gold, and no end to our treasures.  We were filled with strong pride in our military, "nobody can beat us," we said.  People escaped to the USA during wars in order to help us win. This was once the country that stood above the rest.  Many even saw it as being the land where dreams come true, sidewalks of gold, land of opportunity, and some even dared call it "The New Jerusalem".  But then it was also full of idols...like the Israelites of old, we lost our focus.  People began to bow to the work of their hands, claiming their deeds as their means of salvation.  The rich are held high in the clouds, as heroes to hopefully become like one day.  New ideas and twisted theologies emerged: "God helps those whom help themselves" (which was actually taken from a fable of Aesop, from Greek Mythology, not the Holy Bible).  Idols took on new forms, not just statues, but superstitious beliefs; lies; money and wealth; prosperity; fame; glory; jobs; relationships; material items that break, rust, and burn; busyness; sexualities; identities; "happiness"; whatever one could focus themselves after, and put above their worship of the Lord Almighty, became their idols.

Jesus said that those who are exalted will be humbled.  History has continued to show us this among nations and kingdoms: Egypt, Babylon, Alexander the Great, Persia, Greece, Satan, Rome, China, Germany, England.  Is it now time for the U.S.A. to join its predecessors?
Our dollar is no longer the world's standard and economy is plummeting. Our country is losing its desired image. People have turned away from the Lord and to demons in hopes for happiness and salvation: New Age, Witchcraft, religious cults, atheism, "feel-good messages", they've traded Absolute Truth for "whatever they think is right and makes them happy"; Holiness for Heresy; Grace that cost the life of Jesus for "cheap grace"; Kingdom and Body for personal and individual.  "...they practice divination like the Philistines, and clasp hands with pagans."    No longer is it about holiness and being set apart as God's people, for now the focus of the world has been on "coexisting"..."what I think is truth, is"..."what makes me feel good"..."whatever makes you happy, makes me happy", yet in this "co-existence", REAL Christians are not among the invites (not that we want to be). 

Before entering the Promised Land, the Lord told the Israelites: "You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, neither any of your own nation nor any stranger whom dwells among you, (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, whom were before you, and thus the land is defiled),  lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you." (Leviticus 18:26-28)

The USA has been held high for a long time. Is it now time for America to suffer the same fate as its fellow countries, as has been predicted by so many for so long?  When looking at the roots of this country, one looks to its fore-fathers...those whom had escaped here in order to worship the Lord (as the Israelites did from Egypt in the great Exodus).  They sought out freedom to worship the Lord Almighty, the God of Jacob, as members of the House of Jacob through faith in Jesus Christ.  Looking at the USA today, has it abandoned these people? Has the time arrived where "man will be brought low and mankind humbled"?

As I continue to talk with people, it's interesting to hear their excuses for not believing in God.  And I'm amazed that the oldest one is still in circulation:
"If God exists, then why can't we see Him?".

For the sake of entertainment, let's go down the line of some gods that we CAN see...

• Hindu gods:  No, wait, I guess you can't really see them...but they do have statues of these gods, which are placed all around their homes (watching over them?).  But I don't suppose there have been any recent sightings of a 6-armed person with the head of an elephant...or any of the other assumed gods and goddesses in that faith?
• Egyptian gods: Are they still around? I mean, I know they're displayed in Stargate SG-1, but outside of TV & movies, are they really still worshiped by people today?  And if so, have there been any sightings recently of living men with the heads of cobras and birds?
  
• New Age: I was helping one day to stack books on the shelves of a Borders Book Store once, when I saw a "make your own idol" kit.  Basically from what I could see in the box, it was a block of wood, some carving tools, and instructions.  Now, as understood, the block of wood obviously cannot be a god, for what god is created by that which was created?  Instead, the idea is that something from the spiritual world actually jumps into it.  The Old Testament talks about such, and through prophets, God calls them 'not gods at all', and basically repeats the foolishness that I'd just mentioned.  The Apostle Paul talks about them in the New Testament saying that they're actually demons that jump into the wood (much like the Duke boys jumping into their General Lee), which is why people who pray to these things sometimes actually witness a response.  But technically speaking, they're still not gods.
• Self-gods: There are actually some religions that teach that you are a god...the 'I'm god, you're god, we're all god (or gods)' message (some of these also fit into the New Age category).  So when you're in a bind, sick, want something to happen in the future, or want to complain to somebody when life begins to suck, you can simply yell at yourself, pray to yourself, heal yourself, and believe that in situations that you can't control by yourself, you being a god can get yourself out of it.  Interesting, laying all our burdens and the burdens of the world upon ourselves...sounds more like the path to self destruction.  So then if we're the definition of gods, then there really is no hope.

Surely there are more to mention, but there's no need to drag it out.  My point to mentioning these is that so many complain about not being able to see God, yet they choose to believe in other things they can't see, or create something to worship and believe in, which is why I see no merit in their question to start with.

So the question is, "if God exists, then why can't we see Him?"  Or, if we turn it around: "If we can't see God, then how do we know He exists?"

In Florida, there are these little bugs.  They come out in both the day and night and are always there, but you can never see them.  But you know they're there because they devour your legs like a bleeding cow in piranha infested waters.  Their little mouths leave welts on your legs bigger than, and with more of an itch-factor than, big mosquito bites, and their bites sting like that of a flea.  I don't know what the scientific name for them is, but the people there call them "noseeums" (no-see-'ems) because they can't see them...but they know they're there.  They're like insect-ninjas.

Now, the reason we can't see them is because our physical eyes can't focus onto something their size...but there's no doubt that they're there.  But then if you were to use a strong lens, you would surely see these little high-jumping vampires.  And that's my point.  Our physical eyes can't focus onto something the size of God, either, but we recognize evidence of Him everyday.  And if you were to look through a different lens, surely you will see God, too.

While driving today, I'd mentioned to the Lord that I really don't know what to pray to Him lately...I'd prayed for a ministry, and He gave me one, sort of, so that's good.  But I've also been praying for a long time for a means of income...enough to live on.  But still, nothing.  And people continue to pray for me, and tell me not to worry because the Lord has a plan (and I know all this), but yet I still don't see anything happening.  Then mentioned that I'm not "mad" at Him, just...I don't know...I just don't know what to pray for anymore concerning our situation.

Then tonight, as I was waiting for my wife to get off work, the next fellow for the shift walked in.  The first words out of his mouth after "hello" were what my thoughts are on prophesy.  I probed the question some, then answered "well, almost all my dreams come true," then explained the Apostle Paul's take on prophesy, which is basically that if you have something to say, then you should say it, for such is in order to build up and for the benefit of the Body of Christ (the Church).  When I asked him why he asks, he said that I'd said something yesterday that sounded prophetic to him, but doesn't remember today what it was I said.
 
  I later brought it up again, and he said that basically, I said it in passing, possibly as one who just hasn't learned to develop the gift yet.  Now, I'm 36...and I'd mentioned that my dreams have been coming true since Kindergarten.  He nodded his head as if not surprised.  When I asked how to develop it, he said that when I'm ready to, the Lord will send a teacher to help me develop it.
 
  So now I'm thinking..."Thank you Lord, for something to pray about."  For the longest time, I've been trying to figure out how to develop several gifts, but never thought to ask for somebody to teach me.  I mean, I've got gifts of:

• Prophesy: a huge percentage of my dreams come true.  Plus, the Lord often speaks to me, and "tells" or shows me something to say to others when needed.
• Healing: The Lord's healed people through me several times (not always, though), but it's freaked me out, and I've often pushed it away because:
• Sometimes the illness will jump to me.  People have often said that's not supposed to happen, and that I may need to rebuke something to keep that from happening.  But sometimes, I've seen it as a sign to let me know that the Lord has taken it from them.
  
• Other times, the Lord had healed people without my knowledge of doing so, only for me to learn of it later.  For example, once while serving as a hospital chaplain, I prayed with 2 women for their mother who was expected to die that coming night.  The next morning, I'd learned that same woman had gotten up and walked out on her own...she'd been healed!
  
• Sometimes my palms will become hot, a symptom that I'd heard "healers" get.  
• Controlling the weather: Rain
  
• The Lord has often used rain to show His presence...some examples:
• When in Chicago, it rained. I flew to Japan, that same week, and it rained for 3 days straight. I prayed about it for understanding and guidance. Then flew to Las Vegas, and within an hour of my arrival, Las Vegas received the most rain it has ever received in over 100 years.
• The Lord has kept it from raining when we needed Him to:
  
• While hosting youth rallies, whenever we saw rain, we'd pray that it wouldn't rain, and it wouldn't.  One time, I promised a Christian band that it wouldn't rain.  I didn't...around the area where we were.  Everywhere else, in every surrounding state and throughout the state we were in, people said it was raining like a hurricane. Some people turned around and never arrived because the weather was so bad...but not where we were.  The band, "The ApologetiX", still to this day call me "the Rain-stopper".
• The Lord has stopped the rain in the middle of violent weather when I asked Him to:
  
• Twice, when raining hard, I'd raised my hands and said "Peace, be still!", and it stopped raining...one time was even in partial-joking.
• Friendship:  This one, I believe, I've developed, and learning to better communicate came from watching (and learning from) one of my friends.

So my prayer request now? "Lord, please send somebody to teach me how to develop these gifts you've given me."

At the same time though, I've heard in the past that the whole point is sharing the Gospel.  If the gifts are needed for the ministry, then the Lord will provide them for the sake of the ministry.  Nowhere have I ever heard anything about having to develop them.  So I'm back to confusion on this.  Maybe I should continue instead with the question, "Lord, how do you want me to use these gifts you've given me?"  I'm also up for suggestions.

John 14:1-6

In old Jewish times, when a man was interested in marrying a woman, he would first go to her father with a proposal.  Next, he would go back to his own father’s house, and build a new room onto it, where he & his new bride will live.  Once finished, he would return to the bride’s father and ask him to look at the new room. If her father approves of the room, the man will then return to his bride, and then bring her back to their new home.

 

In the context, Jesus is explaining to His disciples that this is not the end, but the beginning of something great…they will see Him again, He will bring them back with Him to His home (Heaven), and be with Him forever…it’s a marriage proposal.  But what opens this passage up to discussion is when Thomas asks, "No, Lord, we don't know.  We haven't any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?" And Jesus replies, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." 

 

I can imagine the disciples mocking, “Way to go, Thomas…just tell Jesus we don’t understand…you remember what happened last time with the talk about the bread!” or maybe, “Good thinking, Thomas…see if Jesus will draw us a map!”  "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  That’s a nice map…no turns, just straightforward and to the point. 

But many refuse to believe this claim by Jesus.  Instead they want curves, shortcuts, secret passages, and for every path to lead to the same destination.  Now granted, I can understand their reasons for wanting to disagree…why they so badly want to believe that there are other ways to Heaven other than through Jesus.  Some have friends/relatives who’ve died before coming to know Jesus, and so want to believe they’ll go to heaven; or they know people who are doing such great things for others and so expect to see them in Heaven for their good works; Some even want to believe it, but are afraid of “offending” people by having to tell them of God’s Good News about Jesus Christ being the only way.  So in response, instead of straight out saying, “God, you’re not fair!” they explain it away, often using theology and scripture out of context to support their claims, such as explanations of God’s grace or the misuse of Baptism; or John 3:16 to claim God’s love for all His creation, but they leave out verses 17-18; even 2 Peter 3:9 where God’s will is that none should perish (yet they leave out the last part about God taking His time because He wants them to repent).  But Jesus didn’t only say that He is the Way, but also the Truth and the Life.  Jesus is giving His credentials in this passage:

• To get to the Father, one must know me, because I am the Way to the Father.
• The way to know me is to listen to the Truth (I am the truth...listen to Me).
• Once you listen to me and come to know me, then you will have Life.
  

If we take out 1, then we must take out all 3.  And if we take out all 3, then Jesus is neither, our message is void, and as Paul said, “we should be pitied most above all.”

 

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Nobody comes to the Father except through me.”  Before Jesus, there was no other way to the Father.  But now, Jesus has drawn a map and it leads straight through Him.  So how were people saved before Jesus walked the earth?  By listening to the Truth and knowing the Way, they received Life.  For Jesus said, "The Father and I are one."  Those who had a close, knowing relationship with the Lord, knew the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Today, Jesus has asked us into a commitment relationship based on true love...marriage.  How can anybody argue this passage to be anything other than an invitation to true love?

  The first Sunday of every month is a day of celebration and excitement for me.  Why?  Because it’s the day when most churches partake in Communion, a.k.a., “Eucharist”.  Although I’m not sure everybody “gets” what it’s actually all about.  I mean, it’s not just a free meal, and it’s not just a coming to the table, or the partaking of the bread & grape juice...in fact, Communion is about SO much more.  Let me explain:

  First of all, in old days (Old Testament times), when a nation wanted to wipe out somebody completely, they'd make it so that even their name wasn't remembered.  But at communion, Jesus (and His name) is to be remembered. 

  Also, in the culture at Jesus’ time, people mostly just ate with friends, and their friends were often peers.  But Jesus' friends weren't peers.  And the fact that He ate with sinners and such outcasts, expresses Jesus making friends with them at meal-fellowship, and also points to the eschatolical age (the end days), when the outcasts will be (and are now) invited to eat with the Lord, as friends. 

 Speaking of outcasts, let’s take a look at the motley crew and outcasts that Jesus chose to associate Himself with regularly:  The 12 Apostles.  Other than the fact that Peter & Andrew had the same parents, neither of the 12 really had anything in common...I mean you had fishermen (religious rejects), a tax collector (scum of society), a Zealot (believed in forceful conversions), 2 guys with really bad tempers, and a thief (in charge of the money, no less), just to name a few.  If not for Jesus, you'd never see them together.  But that’s the point, for the only thing they had in common, was, Jesus.  And after Jesus' resurrection and ascension, it was Jesus who held them together even as friends. 

  So in the same way, taking communion together brings us together at the table as friends, and as siblings in Christ as we join the Lord at meal fellowship.  So even if we have enemies, we make them friends with us when we have fellowship with them at the table, because its sharing at the table with them, and also because it's sharing at the table with them in the presence of the Lord, as HE eats with us, too.  It's really pretty deep when you think about it...especially when you recognize how important meal fellowship is to the Lord.  For in Revelation 3:20, Jesus tells the struggling Church, "look, I'm standing at the door, knocking.  If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me."  Eating at the table with Jesus, in fellowship.

 Now let’s look for a moment at the word, "Eucharist":  "Eu-Charis-t"

“Charis” in Greek means "Grace".  So the Gentile Christians at that time couldn't even say the word "Eu-Charis-t", without being reminded of the Grace of God that bound them together as the Body of Christ (Maybe that’s connected to why they call the prayer before meals, “saying grace”?)  I also heard a story once that the early Church believed so strongly in the Body of Christ, that after one house church would partake of the elements, somebody would take that same loaf and cup to the next house church so that they too may partake of that loaf.

I loaf, 1 cup, 1 Body. So taking communion is not only partaking with other believers, but also with Christ.  The Last supper was the last time that Jesus would eat food on earth...the next time He'd eat would be in Heaven.  So it's suggested that when we partake in communion in remembrance of Jesus, not only are we remembering Him, but actually eating WITH JESUS at the table...as His friends…together,

 ---Marturo