Years ago I watched a movie called Memento. In the movie, the main character is a man whose tracking down the people he thinks killed his wife. There’s only one problem: the main character also suffers from short-term memory loss. So the audiences watches as the man wakes up each day and literally forgets everything…
Who he is…
What happened to his wife…
What his mission is…
At one point in the movie the main character decides to tattoo himself with clues in order to help him remember who he is and what happened to his wife. With each new tattoo that the man gives himself he gets closer and closer to solving the mystery of his wife’s murder. Although most of us don’t suffer physically from memory loss like the man in the movie, I’m convinced that you and I suffer from a far more insidious sickness.
Each morning we wake up we with spiritual amnesia.
We forget who we are.
We forget who God is.
We forget what He’s done for us.
We forget what our mission is.
Every single morning.
Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people constantly forget God. In one sense it’s nearly impossible to imagine how the Jewish people managed to forget God.
How in the world do you forget the God of the Exodus?
A God who protects you with a pillar of fire?
A God who sends Pharaoh armies into the sea?
A God who feeds you supernatural cereal from heaven?
How in the world do you forget a God like this?
And yet, Israel did.
“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” [Jeremiah 2:32]
Like a bride who wakes up on the day of her wedding and forgets the dress. This is God’s people.
And, by implication, it’s also us.
Each day we wake up and live like we’ve forgotten who God is and what He’s done for us.
We forget the cross.
We forget the empty tomb.
We forget the gospel.
Throughout scripture, God’s remedy for forgetful people is a meal. In the Old Testament, the Jewish people were given Passover–a meal that helped them remember who God is and what He’d done for them. For a Jew, no meal was more important than Passover. Eat bite of the Passover lamb told a story.
Passover was a remembering meal.
In the New Testament, Jesus tells his followers to remember him in an even greater meal.
We call it Communion.
“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when 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 also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” [1 Corinthians 11:23-26]
Right on man!
We just met some new neighbors and got to chatting about Inception, and he highly recommended momento. This just sealed the deal.
Speaking of Inception, have you seen it and or my blog post? It has some interesting theological implications.
I will check out your blog post brother…BTW–I did see you on the front page of the Oregonian today. That was an awesome article and I’m praying that people will see the beauty of the gospel through it.
The Greek word Jesus uses for “remembrance” literally means a “loss of forgetfulness”. It’s the Greek word anamnesis–We get the word amnesia from this term.