Will Fitzgerald
November 23, 2008
We have so far looked at how the Lord's Supper is a feast of communion, of remembrance, and of hope. When we examined the Lord's Supper as a feast of communion, we focused on how that feast is a communion among the people of God; it is part of what makes us a community of faith. We thought, too, about how that feast of communion not only ties us together with those who happen to be in the room with us at the same time, but also all those who are Jesus's followers in all the world. But not only with followers of Jesus in all the world, but with all those who have died and all of those who will follow him. It is a communion for all time, for all people, and as a feast of hope we look forward to that time when the whole clan of God has come together for the great Thanksgiving Feast, when there will be enough for everyone, and no one will get cranky or spoil the party.
Let us turn our attention today to how the Lord's Supper is a feast of communion between Christ and the church. This has been a point of division among Christians over the years, and I can't say that I will give a definitive or theologically sophisticated answer. Let's start by examining two sets of scripture that are key to understanding communion. The first set is the account given in the first three gospels of Jesus's initiating the Lord's Supper, and Paul's retelling in 1 Corinthians 11. Here is what Paul says:
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.
In Paul's retelling, the focus is on remembrance. Paul repeats this twice. Only Luke records Jesus asking his disciples to celebrate the supper in remembrance of him; and Luke does this only once, while Paul reports Jesus saying it twice. So, one way we can describe the relationship between Jesus and us in the Lord's supper is that we hold Jesus in "our hearts," in the tender recollections we have of what he has done for us.
Paul also says that, in eating the bread and drinking the cup, we "proclaim the Lord's death until he come." Partly, this is a restatement: we express in the symbols of this supper the memory of the death of Jesus for us. Partly this reminds us of the hope and expectation and warning about the return of Jesus. We are to keep doing this until he comes back. I'm not quite sure how to describe this relationship, but it seems to be that it focuses on our obedience to Jesus as his followers and as his ambassadors who have a message about his saving death to proclaim to others.
And, so far, I don't think any Christian community has ever thought of the Lord's supper as *not* a feast of remembrance and proclamation. I think Christians at all times and in all places would say our communion is *at least* holding Jesus in our hearts and memories, and being obedient to his command to engage in this symbolic dinner.
But in all the gospel accounts, and even in Paul's account, we read an interesting equality that has caused the church to think very hard about what is really going on in the Lord's supper. Jesus says, "This *is* my body. This *is* my blood." That is, he points to the bread, and says it is his body. He points to the wine, and says it is his blood. What are we to make of this?
Orthodox Roman Catholic doctrine declares that Christ is really present in the elements, in the bread and wine. The essence of what is there in the bread and wine is not its breadness or its winicity. It is essentially and truly the flesh and blood of Jesus, and the fact that we continue to perceive the taste and feel of bread and wine is just "accidental," just as I remain who I am whether or not I get a sunburn, for example. Of course, we are not Roman Catholics here, and so we are not obliged by tradition or vow to believe this. And one of the points of disagreements between the early Anabaptists and the ruling Catholic church was the insistence by the Anabaptists that the Lord's Supper was a feast of remembrance, and not much more.
But I've left out an important scripture that we have to wrestle with. It is interesting that the gospel of John does not contain an account of the institution of taking bread and wine, although John has the longest account of what happened in the last hours Jesus spent with his disciples during his last supper with them. (Of course, he does institute feet-washing, a topic for another day). But early in John's gospel, there is a shocking story which is at the heart of the Catholic doctrine. John's account of the feeding of the 5,000 happens relatively early in his account. The day after, the people were after him for more bread and miracles; they seem to want Jesus to give them heavenly manna as God did in the wilderness. We pick up in at John 6:35:
35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42 They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43 Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me-- 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread [3] the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." (John 6:35-58, ESV)
So there you have it: you have to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus to have eternal life; if you don't you won't have eternal life. You can understand why the Catholics came up with the notion of the real presence; Jesus has to be *really* there in the feast in order to feed on him.
How do we handle this theology? Are they right?
Let me give an answer by not giving an answer. Let me tell another story instead.
This week I was listening to the radio program "The Story" with Dick Gordon, and he interviewed some people whose story very much drew me in [1]. Liz Carpenter is a woman who was born with a congenital heart disease. She was diagnosed at 11, started taking medicine at 13, got her first pacemaker at 18. When she got married, she was so weak she had to go to her own wedding in a wheelchair, and she fainted after the "I do's." She finally was so sick that she was placed on the waiting list for a heart transplant. As a Christian, it was hard to pray. She knew that if a heart became available, it would be because of a tragedy, so she couldn't ask God to give her a heart. How would you pray if your condition was so bad that it required someone else to die in order for you to live?
One day, she got the call. A young woman, Lindsay Miller had been in a car accident that left her with very severe brain injury and would die soon. Lindsay's father was himself a doctor and often counseled others to donate their organs; now he faced the decision to decide for his daughter. But there was no question for Lindsay's parents: it was a small bright spot in this very dark time that their daughter's heart could save another life. Lindsay's mother told the transplant surgeon that he would never find a more beautiful heart than Lindsay's.
Before the surgery, every breath that Lindsay took was painful. As soon as the transplant was completed and Liz Carpenter woke up, she could tell the immediate difference: she could breathe deeply and normally, without pain. They wheeled her into the hospital for the surgery, but she was able to walk out on her own. Eventually, she was able to run three 5K races, and hopes that someday she might even run a marathon.
It's a bit unusual for transplant recipients to meet the family of the transplant donor, but Liz Carpenter met the Millers when she told her story at a medical convention that Dr. and Mrs. Miller attended. Seeing Liz give a speech before hundreds of people confirmed Mrs. Miller's comment about Lindsay's most beautiful heart.
Liz sends Mrs. Miller cards on her birthday, and flowers from Lindsay to Mrs. Miller on Mother's day. When they meet, Mrs. Miller will feel Liz's--no, Lindsay's--pulse. Liz is acutely aware of the Millers' loss. Liz is not afraid to show people her heart transplant scar--from the base of her neck to near her belly button--and tell her and Lindsay's story. Liz wears a locket with Lindsay's picture in it, and Liz feels a deep gratefulness that she says she will try to express every day of her life. She said in the interview, "Each and every day I will be very thankful."
The locket that Liz wears around her neck, she wears in remembrance of Lindsay. It reminds her of the gift she received from Lindsay and her parents. Her willingness to bear her scar and tell her story is a proclamation every day of the good she received from the Millers and a witness to the good done through organ donation. But it is Lindsay's living heart inside of Liz that gives her a pulse, that gives her a life. It is literally the case that without a little piece of Lindsay inside of Liz every day, Liz could not live.
I don't pretend to know what exactly happens when we take the bread and wine and how that relates to the 'real' flesh and blood of Jesus. I do know that without Jesus giving up his flesh and spilling his blood, that without his death--which I would never pray for, but am so grateful for--I could not live. I do know that Jesus promised that whenever at least two of his followers gather, he would be there, literally and really, if not physically and in body, there in the midst of us. And so, when we take the elements of communion, Jesus is really present, and the symbol and ritual stops and makes us remember that he is among us.
And so, I believe that the Lord's Supper is something more than just a remembrance, a locket around our neck to remind us of the great gift given to us; although, of course, it is that. I believe that taking communion together--that is, together with one another and with the Lord who provides the supper--can begin to synchronize our hearts, souls and minds to the life-giving pulse of the Spirit. It's good to be reminded, to tell the story of Jesus's life, betrayal, death and resurrection to one another and to those who haven't heard the story yet or who need the truth of what they know stirred up a bit. And it's good to be in synch with the pulse of the life-giving blood of God, to feed on the life-giving bread of God.
In a few weeks, when, God helping, we eat the Lord's Supper together, let us do it as a feast of communion, of remembrance, and of hope.
Mark: And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and 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 for many. Truly, I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." (Mk 14:22-25)
Luke: And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup after supper, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." (Luke 22:15-20)
Matthew: Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." (Mt 2626-29)
1 Corinthians: 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 Cor 11 23-26)
The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, as he was were eating with his disciples, took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take; eat; this is my body which is for you. I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer, for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Do this in remembrance of me."
And likewise, after supper, 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 new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Truly, I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."