[MUSIC PLAYING] As a final and
specially prepared Passover supper
was ending, Jesus took bread, blessed
and broke it, and gave it to his
apostles, saying, "This is my body,
which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.
This cup is the New
Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. This do in remembrance of me." Since that upper room experience
on the eve of Gethsemane and Golgotha, children
of the promise have been under covenant to
remember Christ's sacrifice in this newer, higher,
more holy and personal way.
With a small cup of water,
we remember the shedding of Christ's blood and the depth
of his spiritual suffering, anguish, which began in
the Garden of Gethsemane.
Tarry ye here.
Watch with me.
It would be the
supreme contribution to a plan designed from before
the foundation of the world, for the happiness of every man,
woman, and child who would ever live in it. The hour of atoning
sacrifice had come. God's own son, his only
begotten son in the flesh, was about to become the
Savior of the world.
Father, all things are
possible unto Thee.
Take away this cup from
me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.
The Savior's spiritual
suffering, and the shedding of his innocent blood so
lovingly and freely given. Christ suffered for the
sins and sorrows and pains of all the rest of
the human family, providing remission
for all of our sins as well, upon conditions of
obedience to the principles and ordinances of
the gospel he taught.
With a crust of bread-- always
broken, blessed and offered first-- we remember his
bruised body and broken heart. The Savior's physical
suffering guarantees that through his mercy
and grace every member of the human family
shall be freed from death and be resurrected
triumphantly from the grave.
And surely that is why
this particular ordinance, with all its
symbolism and imagery, comes to us more
readily and more repeatedly than any
other in our life. It comes in what has been
called the most sacred, the most holy of all the
meetings of the Church. It should be a powerful,
reverent, reflective moment. It should encourage spiritual
feelings and impressions.
In the simple and
beautiful language of the sacramental prayers
those young priests offer, the principal word we
hear seems to be remember. If remembering is the
principal task before us, what might come
to our memory when those plain and precious
emblems are offered to us?
And this shall ye do. And it shall be a
testimony unto the Father, that you do always remember me. And if ye do always
remember me, ye shall have my spirit
to be with you.