Remembering Jesus' sacrifice
It wasn’t a scene that Jack Housley will soon forget.
There next to him in the bush church building sat the man Jack had walked along the river with for most of the morning. The river area was home to this man and to the 300 other people who sat waiting for their turn to be served bread and juice.
Jack noticed the man’s hands were wrapped tightly around the little black wooden cup that held the juice representing the blood of Jesus that had set him free from sin and death. And Jesus’ words came to him powerfully, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
Jack thought of those words that Jesus had first spoken to His twelve disciples—the disciples who He had walked and talked with for three years. The familiar words were now being spoken again in a small bush church in Papua New Guinea. They took on new meaning as he remembered Jesus’ sacrifice for him and for this group of believers that he fellowshipped with.
Because of that sacrifice, Jack shares, the Gospel had been delivered and received by these brothers and sisters. It had powerfully changed lives, bringing people from darkness into light.
Sitting preparing to take communion, Jack pondered the significance of Jesus’ words, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
And watching that man next to him clutching his cup of juice, Jack realized, “I have preached and broken bread in churches from Northern Canada to Southern Tasmania. But as I looked at those hands holding that old cup, I realized that this is the best it gets.”