A Communion Meditation

Today, I was asked to deliver the Communion Meditation. This is what I wrote:

Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. When they got there, he told them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." Jesus took along Peter and the two brothers, James and John. He was very sad and troubled, and he said to them, "I am so sad that I feel as if I am dying. Stay here and keep awake with me."

Matthew 26:36-38, CEV

Jesus knew what was going to happen. Only a short time before, He had told His disciples about it. He was going to take on all the sins of all people - past, present and future. For one to bear their own sin is much more than any single person can bear. How, then, can one Man bear the sins of the whole world?

His humanity couldn't handle it. His deity could, but it required great physical agony, prompting the emotional agony in the Garden.

He prayed three times that this cup be taken from Him, but His relationship with the Father led him to say, "Not My will, but Yours." What You know needs to be done, let it be done.

We take the elements, the bread and the cup, in memory of His sacrifice. It's our way of saying "Thank You!"