52 Passages to read before taking the Lord's Supper

Jeff Himmel, the preacher at the Spring Warrior Church of Christ in Taylor County, Florida, wrote an interesting article in the church's weekly LifeLines bulletin entitled, Thoughts Around the Lord's Table.

Before we pass around the Lord's Supper each week at Spring Warrior (Acts 20:7), the man responsible for leading the observance will usually read a passage from the Bible reminding us either of the significance of taking the Lord's Supper or the significance of Christ's death.

In his article, Mr. Himmel points out that Christians oftentimes needlessly limit their choice of passages to simply a trite few (e.g., Matthew 26:26-29 1 Corinthians 11, etc.). There are many more passages available. So my challenge to the readers is this: If you lead the Lord's Supper, what passages do you read aloud? If you don't "head the table" in your congregation, but do read from your Bible while the Lord's Supper is being passed around, what passages do you read?

I will begin our list with the tried and true mentioned in Jeff's article. Let's see if we can't come up with 52 different passages, one for each week throughout the year. Add your passages via a comment.

1. Matthew 26:26-29. Matthew's account of the evening in which Christ instituted the Lord's Supper.
   
2. Mark 14:22-26. Mark's parallel account to Matthew 26.
   
3. Luke 22:14-22. Luke's account of the institution of the Lord's Supper differs from that described in Matthew and Mark in that it tells of Jesus instructing the disciples to "divide" the cup among themselves before partaking of the bread and fruit of the vine. This passage is useful when studying with someone who insists that everyone in the congregation should drink from the same cup ("one-cuppers").
   
4. Acts 20:7. Yes, this is a great passage for the authority for the observance occurring on the first day of the week, but can't we come up with a better passage for the meaning of the occasion?
   
5. 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes." (1 Cor. 11:26, NKJV)
   
6. Psalm 22, often referred to as the Psalm of the Cross. "They have pierced my hands and my feet ... They divide my garments among them" (NIV vss. 16, 19).
   and cast lots for my clothing
7. Isaiah 53. A Messianic prophecy which actually begins In Isa. 52:13.
   
8. Romans 5:6-11. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8, NKJV)
9. 1 Corinthians 5:7 with Exodus 12:5, 14 (or Numbers 28:19). Christ is our passover sacrifice who saves us from death.
10. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 with Exodus 12:14-20. Taking the memorial feast in sincerity and truth. not in a sinful condition, and not with sinners.
11. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21. "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. " (2 Cor. 5:15, TNIV) 4/26/2009
    
12. Philippians 2:5-11. "He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—
    even death on a cross!" (Phil 2:8, TNIV)
13. Philippians 3:10 with 1 Corinthians 11:24 and 1 Corinthians 10:16-18. "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death" (Phil. 3:10, NKJV). Christ says that the bread represents his body which was broken for us. Paul says that we partake or share the communion. So, in a sense, by partaking of the Lord's Supper we share in the sufferings of Christ. (5/17/09)
    
14. Hebrews 2:14-18. "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. 2:14-15, NKJV)
15. Hebrews 9:12-15. "For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:13-14, NKJV) You could start reading in verse 1, but I have paired these down into smaller readings simply to prepare our minds for taking the Lord's Supper.
16. Hebrews 9:16-28. "He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. ... Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." (Heb. 9:26, 28, NKJV)
17. Hebrews 10:1-10. "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. ... He takes away the first that He may establish the second." (Heb. 10:4, 9, NKJV)
18. Hebrews 10:11-18. "But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. ... For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. ... Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin." (Heb. 10:12, 14, 18, NKJV)
19. 1 John 4:9-10. "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." (NLT)
20. Jeremiah 31:-34 with Matthew 26:26-28. "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant .... I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”(Jer. 31:31, 34) "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matt. 26:27-28)
    
21. Luke 22:20 with Genesis 31:44-54. Pointing out that part of the purpose behind the memorial feast is to remind people of their covenant relationship with God in much the same way that Jacob and Laban shared a feast to memorialize their covenant of peace.
22. Exodus 12:5, 14 (or Numbers 28:19) with John 1:29. "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
23. John 3:16. By partaking in the communion, we are proclaiming Christ's life, death and resurrection. John 3:16 affirms that Christ was obedient to the will of God to the point of death for all who believe in Christ. Some may want to read this passage with 1 John 4:9-10.
24. Deuteronomy 8:3 with John 6:30-33, 48-51. God gave the Jews manna so they would learn that they could not live by bread alone. Then He gave the world Jesus, the bread of life.
    
25. John 6:54-56 with Deuteronomy 12:16 & Leviticus 17:10-11. Under the Old Law of Moses, God was given the blood of the sacrifice. Men were prohibited from drinking blood because life is in the blood. Under the New Covenant, Christ says that whoever drinks his blood has eternal life, and figuratively, we drink his blood when we drink the fruit of the vine. Although the context of John 6 is not directly related to the Lord's Supper, Christ is saying that whoever believes in Him eats His flesh and drinks His blood. Who believes Christ, but those who obey all His teachings, including the command (1 Cor. 11:24-25) to eat the Lord's Supper?(3/22/09)
26. Acts 2:21-36, Peter's sermon on Pentecost. "Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it" (Acts 2:23-24, NKJV).
27. 1 Corinthians 10:24 with Deuteronomy 16:3. Comparing Christ's body of suffering to the Passover bread of suffering.
28. 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. When we come together and share the same bread and fruit of the vine, we stress not only our unity and equality before God, but also His call for us to be holy, sanctified, set apart and consecrated. "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God." (2 Cor. 6:14-16, NKJV)
    
29. Ephesians 2:11-18. Christ's death reconciled Jew and Gentile to each other and to God. The fruit of the vine represents Christ's blood which was shed for the remission of sins. (Matt. 26:27-28)
    
30. Colossians 2:11-15, "... buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ... having nailed it to the cross...." (NKJV)
31. Hebrews 9:18-20, Matthew 26:28 and Exodus 24:8.  Both the Old and the New Covenants were inaugurated with sacrificial blood.  (2/7/10)
32. Exodus 24:3-8 with 1 Corinthians 11:25-29.  Under both covenants, blood was used to seal a covenant, an agreement under which the Lord's people agreed to obey God.  Therefore, when we "examine" ourselves, we are evaluating how well we have kept our part of the covenant. (2/7/10)
    

What additional passages can you come up with? Leave a comment.