“Jesus said to them, ‘Come and eat breakfast’” (John 21:12)

Christ likely ate hundreds of breakfasts with His disciples, but this would be His last meal with them on Earth. After the meal, Christ, who recently gave His life for the glory of God, told the Apostle Peter he would suffer a similar fate. In fact, all the Apostles at that breakfast were to die as martyrs except John, who according to church tradition, miraculously survived being boiled in oil.

For three years, Christ had warned them, “he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me … he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:38–39). This warning continues for us today.

God gave us the Lord’s Supper as a way of reminding us of our “death-pact” with Christ. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Romans 6:3). Communion is a shockingly intimate meal of saints with Christ. The celebration of Christ’s sacrifice is a serious affair and shouldn’t be taken lightly. It is as serious as the marriage bed, and for the same reasons. It’s a time for repentance and recalibration with Christ. Each saint examines himself before he shares the symbols of Christ’s body and blood and reminds himself of his utter dependence on the sacrifice that purchased him.

When the saint has Communion with Christ, he identifies with His Sacrifice. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me” (John 6:56-57).

This is a measure of intimacy with Christ we can’t fathom. This is a source of strength for every Christian. Christians may differ in many ways, but they have all one spiritual appetite; if Christ saved you, though it’s mysterious in many ways, He commands, “feed on Me!”

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