In a place known as the upper room, the Savior “sat down with the twelve” (Matthew 26:20) and observed the Passover feast one last time while in mortality. During this final Passover meal, Jesus Christ instituted the ordinance of the sacrament as the new way for His disciples to remember Him. This lesson can help you understand and feel the importance of remembering the Savior as you partake of the sacrament.
Inviting students to share. Look for opportunities to invite students to share their experiences. Sharing insights and relevant experiences can help clarify a student’s understanding of gospel doctrine and principles. As students share these insights and experiences, they are often led by the Holy Ghost to a deeper testimony of the very truths they are expressing. Through the power of the Holy Ghost, their words can also have a significant impact on the hearts and minds of their peers.
Student preparation: Inform students that in this lesson they will be invited to assess their experiences partaking of the sacrament. Invite students to think about their most recent experience partaking of the sacrament and to come prepared to share what they were doing, thinking, or feeling that helped them remember the Savior.
Possible Learning Activities
The importance of the sacrament
For the following activity, consider inviting students to respond in pairs or small groups. Then invite them to discuss their responses with the class. It may also be useful to invite students to role-play this scenario.
How might you respond if someone were to ask you the following question:
Why do members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints go to church every Sunday?
As an alternative to reading the following statement, consider sharing a personal experience about recognizing the central role of the ordinance of the sacrament as part of Church attendance
One important reason we attend Church is to partake of the sacrament. Sister Cheryl A. Esplin, formerly of the Primary General Presidency, shared an interaction that took place between a 96-year-old man and his son that demonstrates the central role of partaking the sacrament as part of Church attendance.
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Cheryl A. Esplin
The more we ponder the significance of the sacrament, the more sacred and meaningful it becomes to us. This was what a 96-year-old father expressed when his son asked, “Dad, why do you go to church? You can’t see, you can’t hear, it’s hard for you to get around. Why do you go to church?” The father replied, “It’s the sacrament. I go to partake of the sacrament.”
What do you think this man understood and felt about the sacrament that made it so important to him?
Invite students to silently ponder as they complete the following self-evaluation. Consider giving them time to record their answers in their study journals.
Evaluate your experience attending church and participating in the ordinance of the sacrament. Using a scale of one to five, with one being low and five being high, answer the following questions.
How much of a priority is it for you to attend church and partake of the sacrament?
When you partake of the sacrament, how likely are you to think of Jesus Christ and have a meaningful experience?
After you have evaluated your experience, contemplate why you ranked yourself as you did. As you study this lesson, seek the Lord’s help to know how to deepen your understanding of the importance of remembering the Savior as you partake of the sacrament.
Jesus Christ institutes the sacrament
Jesus Christ participated in the Passover feast just prior to His sufferings in Gethsemane and death on the cross. This event has come to be known as the Last Supper. As the Savior ate this Passover meal with His Apostles, He instituted the ordinance of the sacrament.
If students would benefit from a deeper understanding of the ordinance of the Passover and its connection to the sacrament, consider doing the activity in the “Supplemental Learning Activities” section at the end of this lesson.
Read Matthew 26:26–30 and Luke 22:19–20, looking for what the Savior taught His Apostles about the purpose of the sacrament. You may want to underline important words or phrases. You may also want to watch the video “Always Remember Him” from time code 0:00 to 0:53. This video is available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Luke 22:19–20 is a doctrinal mastery passage. Consider marking doctrinal mastery passages in a distinctive way so you can locate them easily. You will learn more about this doctrinal mastery passage in the next lesson.
What was the Savior’s purpose in instituting the ordinance of the sacrament?
One truth that we can learn from these passages is that Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament to help us remember Him. Although the Savior had not yet experienced the suffering and anguish of His atoning sacrifice, the ordinance and emblems He was teaching His Apostles were to help them remember Him and the gift of His Atonement.
What scriptures or personal experiences have helped you reflect on the sacrifice the Savior made for you?
What feelings for the Savior do you have when you read these verses or think of these experiences?
If students need help recalling experiences and feelings, consider sharing personal experiences, Brother Lund’s words in the “Commentary and Background Information” section of this lesson, or other scriptures such as Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–19 or Alma 7:11–13. In a future lesson, students will study these passages in greater detail as part of understanding the Savior’s suffering and experiences in the Garden of Gethsemane.
How can the symbols of the sacrament help you better understand what the Savior has done and can do for you?
Creating a lesson outline
Imagine that you have been asked to teach about the sacrament in an upcoming scripture study discussion in your home. Using the scriptures you have just studied and other references you choose (such as Gospel Topics, “Sacrament,” topics.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, or recent general conference addresses), prepare to help others understand and feel the importance of the sacrament.
In addition, the article “The Bread and the Water” (Ensign, July 2017, 68–69) could also be helpful.
Display the following instructions for students to refer to as they create their lesson outline.
Your lesson outline should include the following: (1) one or more scriptures or statements by Church leaders about the sacrament to study and ponder, (2) at least two questions you might ask to deepen understanding, and (3) an invitation to apply the truths you discuss. Use some or all of the following questions to help guide you in the creation of your outline.
What is the sacrament?
How can the sacrament help us better understand the Savior and His Atonement?
What has helped you to have meaningful experiences while partaking of the sacrament?
How might your life be different if you were to remember Jesus Christ more often?
Encourage students to strive to do more to remember the Savior as they partake of the sacrament.
Commentary and Background Information
What is the connection between the Passover and the sacrament?
The infographic “The Passover Supper” (New Era, Apr. 2019, 8–9) can help in understanding the connection between the Passover and the sacrament.
Why do we use water for the sacrament instead of wine?
Doctrine and Covenants 27:1–2 states that it does not matter what is used for the sacrament as long as it is done “with an eye single to [Christ’s] glory” (verse 2). Today, Church leaders ask us to use water as we partake of the sacrament.
What can I do to make the sacrament more meaningful?
President Steven J. Lund, Young Men General President, taught:
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Steven J. Lund
Every time a deacon holds a sacrament tray, we are reminded of the sacred story of the Last Supper, of Gethsemane, of Calvary, and of the garden tomb. When the Savior said to His Apostles, “This do in remembrance of me” [Luke 22:19], He was also speaking through the ages to each of us. He was speaking of the unending miracle that He would provide as future deacons, teachers, and priests would present His emblems and invite His children to accept His atoning gift.
All of the sacramental symbols point us to that gift. We contemplate the bread that He once broke—and the bread the priests before us are, in turn, now breaking. We think of the meaning of the liquid consecrated, then and now, as sacrament prayers solemnly pass from the mouths of young priests into our hearts and into the heavens, renewing covenants that connect us to the very powers of Christ’s salvation. We may think about what it means when a deacon carries the sacred emblems to us, standing as he does where Jesus would stand if He were there, offering to lift our burdens and our pain.
President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency shared the following counsel:
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President Dallin H. Oaks
During sacrament meeting—and especially during the sacrament service—we should concentrate on worship and refrain from all other activities, especially from behavior that could interfere with the worship of others. Even a person who slips into quiet slumber does not interfere with others. Sacrament meeting is not a time for reading books or magazines. Young people, it is not a time for whispered conversations on cell phones or for texting persons at other locations. When we partake of the sacrament, we make a sacred covenant that we will always remember the Savior. How sad to see persons obviously violating that covenant in the very meeting where they are making it.
To help students understand the connection between the Passover and the sacrament, invite students to examine pictures of the Passover meal and the sacrament, or consider displaying flatbread (or crackers) and a cup on one side of a table and sacrament trays on the other side of the table. Invite students to share what they know about the elements of the Passover feast observed anciently and its connection to the ordinance of the sacrament that we observe today.
Making the sacrament more meaningful
Consider showing the video “That They Do Always Remember Him” (6:29) by Elder Claudio R. M. Costa of the Seventy. Invite students to look for counsel from Elder Costa that could help make the sacrament more meaningful for them.