This Do in Remembrance of Me

This Do in Remembrance of Me  

Remembrance.

What comes to my mind, unbidden, as I  reflect on this word is the command, “This do in  remembrance of me.”

I search in Luke for this sentence, but  the words are not in the exact order I remember. I am using  the Revised Standard edition of the Bible, which has been  my go-to edition for 34 years now. I finally find the sentence,  exactly as I remember it, in the King James version, the  version of the Bible I used as a child. Ah, memory – remembrance.

Jesus says these words in Luke 22:19 at the Last Supper  as he breaks a loaf of bread and gives it to the disciples. There is much to absorb in this passage about the Last  Supper. But today, what captures my attention is this single  sentence: “This do in remembrance of me.” Jesus not only  wants the disciples to remember him, but He is also  instructing them how to do so.  

What does it mean to do something in remembrance of  someone? Why is it important? The dictionary tells me that  a remembrance is “something that serves to bring to mind  some place, person, or event.” Jesus is leaving, but he wants  the disciples to bring Him to mind after he is gone, to  remember Him. And he must believe the disciples need some  act to help them remember, some act to bring Him and His teachings to mind, some act to anchor them to Him even  though He is no longer physically present with them. 

But, today, I do not pause for long on the actual  breaking of bread, on this particular act of remembrance. Instead, the idea of an act of remembrance expands and  deepens for me. I begin to wonder what it is exactly I am  called to remember and whether other acts of remembrance  might be important to my faith?

This type of remembering  seems deeper than just calling something to mind; it seems  relational. I think the disciples are being invited, as they  break bread, to continue to enjoy Jesus’ presence.

This brings to mind John 14. As Jesus is explaining to  the disciples that He is leaving them, He tells them the  Father will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in His name  to teach them everything and to remind them of all that  Jesus has said to them. Here it is again: a remembering that  seems active and relational. 

My mind travels from Jesus and his disciples back into  the Old Testament. I think of Adam and Eve, who began life  in the Garden of Eden and knew God intimately before they  were cast out. The circumstances were certainly different  than those surrounding the disciples, but they, too, were  separated from the God they knew. I wonder if they engaged  in acts of remembrance to remain anchored to God. It seems  to me that would have been important. 

And, I think of Psalm 139, which tells me that God  formed my inward parts and wonderfully knit me together in  my mother’s womb. So I had my beginning with God, too,  much like Adam and Eve. But being formed in the womb is  most likely an unconscious memory. Being separated from  God is part of the human condition. How am I to retrieve  these ancient, primal memories of my Creator?

I am  beginning to think that acts of remembrance are surely  critical to this retrieval, critical to satisfying my hunger for  what once existed. 

This Do in Remembrance of Me was written by Trained Spiritual Director Diane Bricker and originally published in House of Remembrance, Retreat House’s 11th book in our House of series. You can purchase here.