As
Christians we have the opportunity to observe “Memorial Day” in a spiritual
sense when we observe the Lord's Supper EVERY first day of the week. The
disciples left us a clear example of this in Acts 20:7 “And upon the first
day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread....” We
are required to “remember” Jesus Christ as we understand that he paid the
greatest price of all in that while we were yet sinners He died for us (Romans
5:8). He died so that you and I can have the freedom of everlasting life with
Him. We remember Jesus in the emblems that we partake of each and every week.
The unleavened bread which represents His body that was broken on the cross for
us and the fruit of the vine which represents His blood that was shed for us
that we can have forgiveness of our sins. Jesus said that when we partake of
these emblems that we are to do so “in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).
The
Greatest Sacrifice of All
When
we remember our men and women once a year on “Memorial Day” that have given
their life for this country, we are remembering their sacrifice and the life
they gave for us. When we remember our Lord Jesus Christ each “Memorial Day”
(first day of the week), we think of His great sacrifice for us. But we
remember not just His death, but His resurrection! If Jesus would have simply
died and never risen, then His death would have been in vain. But oh what a
precious memory it is to know that He arose! And it was through that
resurrection that we can have life (John 3:16). As we remember our Lord Jesus
on the first day of every week we can remember that He suffered and died for
us, but more importantly, that He was risen on the third day, overcoming death,
so we too might also live. This remembrance of Jesus is sad in that He had to
die for sinners but it was also joyous in that He loved us, even to the point
of death. Now as we remember His resurrection, gaining new life, that we too
might have new life in Christ. The apostle Paul said it very plainly when he
wrote "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we
have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall
be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no
longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once
for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord”
(Romans 6:3-11). What a wonderful thing it is as Christians to have the
opportunity to have “Memorial Day” every week, as we remember the
greatest sacrifice of all!
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