Have you ever considered how The Lord’s Supper resembles a wedding? There is a gathering of family, friends, and neighbors, most of them people we love to be around, even though some are considered the ‘black sheep’ of the family, but they are still invited and welcome because this is a momentous, once in a lifetime occasion for the bride and groom. There is a service that lasts about an hour, which includes music, scripture, prayer, and the main event, the profession of love and undying devotion of the happy couple, and a declaration before God and man that these two have become united, both one in spirit and one in flesh.
So, what marriage vows are exchanged during the Lord’s Supper? As we partake of the bread representing Christ’s broken body, sacrificed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, to purify us, to make us holy, and to prepare us to become Christ’s bride as members of His church, we proclaim before God and man we choose to become one in spirit and one in flesh with Jesus, to enter into an eternal covenant with Him, to love Him unconditionally. As we partake of the fruit of the vine, we acknowledge the depth of His love for us, having willingly shed His own blood to pay the dowry price for our holiness and worthiness to become His church. We join Him, for better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. Check that! Even death cannot separate us from the love of Christ.
Grace & Peace, Charles