Powerpoint Pictures: Bonfire; Poppy; Present; Hot Cross Bun; Birthday Cake

Why do we do the following?

Have a bonfire and fireworks on November 5th? [To remember the failure of the Gunpowder Plot to kill the king by blowing up the Houses of Parliament]

Wear poppies once a year? [To remember the brave soldiers who died in World War I and II defending our country]

Give presents at Christmas? [To remember that Jesus is God’s gift to the world and He was given gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh]

Eat Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday? [To remember that Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday]

Have a birthday cake with candles on them? [To remember that on that day — years ago that person was born]

We do different things throughout the year to help us remember important things that have happened in the past.

Jesus and his followers were in an upstairs room in Jerusalem eating the Passover meal.  They ate the Passover meal together to remember something that had happened in the past.  They were remembering a time when God had rescued His people from slavery in Egypt.

God had instructed His people to remember that great rescue every year by eating together this meal.  Now as Jesus and his disciples ate, two important things happened.

The first thing was that Jesus told his disciples that He knew that one of them was going to betray Him.  He knew what Judas was planning to do.

The other thing that happened was that “And as they were eating, [Jesus] took bread, and after breaking it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take, this is my body.”  And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.  And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out from many.” (Mark 14:22-24)

Jesus said to them that the bread they were eating was to remind them of His body that was going to be put to death on the cross, and the cup they drank from was to remind them of His blood that He would shed to rescue many people from their sins.

In this meal He was reminding His disciples again about what was going to happen to Him, but before He died He had some more things to say to His followers.