For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. –  1 Corinthians 11:23-26

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1 Corinthians 11:29-32 – “For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.  But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.  When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”

At the Last Supper, Jesus took bread and the cup and distributed them to the disciples at the table.  He broke a piece of bread and passed it around.  Each took a piece of the same loaf or piece of bread.  Jesus said to take it and eat it because it spoke of His Body.  The same bread was then inside each person who was present.  Jesus was teaching an important lesson.  Jesus Himself is the Bread of Life, and as He indwells each one of us – as we receive the Bread of Life in our souls – he united us spiritually with the other people who have the same Bread of Life (Jesus) inside of them. continue

Jonah 1:6 – “…The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god!  Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.“

Jonah was a prophet of the Lord in ancient Israel.  The Lord assigned him an unpleasant task: to go preach judgment on the great city of Nineveh, capital of the Assyria Empire.  At this time, the Assyrians (based in Nineveh) posed the single greatest threat to Israel’s national security and survival as a nation.  They were Israel’s enemies, and the people of Israel feared them.  Indeed, some years after this, the Assyrians invaded and destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel, carrying the people into exile, and leaving only the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the Promised Land.  Before this attack, however, God sent Jonah to preach to them.  Jonah was afraid and resisted this assignment – not only because Israelites naturally felt intimidated by Nineveh, but also because he did not want the people to have a chance to repent. (see Jonah 4:2).  He wanted God to judge them, and giving them a chance to repent could leave the opportunity for them to receive grace and forgiveness, at least for a season (this is, of course, exactly what happens at the end of the book of Jonah).

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