Why do we regularly celebrate the Lord’s Supper?

1 Cor 10:14-22; Jer 31:31-34; Heb 13:1-8

Introduction

The Presbyterians do it. The Uniting Church does it. The Roman Catholics and Lutherans do it. The Anglicans do it. They all do it. We all do it. Regularly we celebrate the “Lord’s Supper”, the “Eucharist” – which means “thanksgiving”; “Communion” or “Holy Communion” which stands for Koinonia and means “fellowship” or “sharing”.

But why do we do it? And why do we do it regularly? Some Christians do it every week; some go to Mass every day. When I was a member of a Southern Baptist church in the USA we did it once every three months. Here in our church we do it once a month, which is somewhat less than most, but more than others. But: why do we do it? And why do we do it regularly? That is the question we want to ask this morning.

In short, here at the Lord’s Table we confess who we are: “Jesus is Lord” was one of the earliest Christian confessions – and it is the “Lord’s” Supper that we celebrate. At the Lord’s Table we are reminded – and we need to be reminded! -  that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” If God is God, and if we know a little about God, as we meditate on what we know about Jesus, then in our uncertain and changing world here are some things we can rely on.

At the same time, it is sad, but it is true, that the very celebration that calls us to Christian unity, has been a point of controversy through the ages. The Reformers Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli split over it and to the present day Christian denomination cannot agree on its proper meaning.

We have several reports of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament. The oldest comes from the Apostle Paul, written down 20 years after Jesus lived, was killed and was raised from the dead. In his letter to the church in Corinth Paul encouraged them and is encouraging us to distinguish the Lord’s Supper from magic and demons and idols, but at the same time to see it as a wonderful celebration of God’s presence in our lives and in our midst.

The Merging of Horizons

In one of the earliest texts about the Lord’s Supper, the Apostle Paul thinks Jesus Christ and our life together. There is a merging of horizons. The reality of past and present becomes inter-linked. Paul says it this way:

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing (koinwni/a!) in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing (koinwni/a!) in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

The secret here is in Paul’s use of the term “body of Christ”. It refers, on the one hand, to Jesus’ body, the body, the life, given for us on the cross (e.g. Rom 7:4). And on the other hand, it refers to the body of believers, the community of faith, the community of the friends of Jesus, the church.

That’s what I mean with the merging, the coming together of horizons.

Jesus is the “mediator” between God and us. Jesus reconciled us with God. What we could not do for ourselves, God has done for us. In Christ, God loved the world and reconciled the world with godself.

This reconciliation becomes real for us in the event of faith. By faith we tune into the story of Jesus as God’s salvation for the world. We who are far from God are brought near; we who are caught up in our individualism are opened up to worship God and become friends with others.

As we hear the word, as we taste and eat the bread, as we taste and drink from the fruit of the vine, horizons converge and melt together. The story of Jesus interlocks with our story. The life of Christ intersects with our life. Christ is part of us as we abide in Him. Indeed: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

What does that mean? How can we bring into an understandable picture what Christians from earliest days and of all confessions in all cultures celebrate as they meet regularly to be together for the Lord’s Supper, for Holy Communion, for the Eucharist? Allow me to make three points in an attempt to gather up the meaning of the Lord’s Supper for us.

1.       Jesus Christ – the Foundation, the Centre and the Well-spring.

The Apostle knew what he was doing when he called it the Lord’s Supper. The Lord is Jesus Christ. He is the centre of our life. He is the Lord of the church. When God raised Jesus from the dead he created the wellspring for our faith and God laid the foundation of our life.

We need to be reminded of that - Sunday by Sunday.

How easy it is to drift away from Christ the Centre. How easy it is to loose focus. How easy it is to forget that He is the foundation of our lives. How easy it is to overlook that He alone can provide the resources for the journey of life. That He provides the wells to drink from.

We tend to get familiar with Him and we seek other and new ways to feed us. We talk about Spirituality and Awareness and Meditation. And indeed, it is important that we engage in many ways to feed our spirituality. And it is wonderful that people have found contentment and healing in many ways. The rainbow that arches our journey has many colours.

But these colours receive their depth and beauty from Jesus Christ – his life, his death, his resurrection. The Lord’s Supper reminds us of the name, the person, the story that gives us identity and provides food for the journey. Again, the apostle Paul gets it right:

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Rom 8:11)

That is the first point: Jesus Christ, the Centre, the Foundation, the Well-Spring of our lives. It is not the church’s meal. It is the Lord’s Supper.

2.       Koinonia.

Secondly, let us become aware that the apostle Paul also calls the Lord’s Supper Koinonia - sharing, fellowship, community, communion.

I had said that the Apostle thinks the life of Christ and our life together. That at the Lord’s Supper we celebrate that He abides in us and we in Him. That our stories, his story and our stories, interlock. That the horizon of His life and the horizon of our life merge and melt together. The early Christians called that flowing together: koinonia – communion, community, fellowship, sharing.

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing (koinwni/a!) in the blood of Christ?

The bread that we break, is it not a sharing (koinwni/a!) in the body of Christ?

Sharing in the life of Christ!

Sharing in the lives of each other!

Because there is one bread,

we who are many are one body,

for we all partake of the one bread.

I love this saying from the Hebrew Bible:

Two are better than one,

because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other;

but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.

Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone?

And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one.

A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

(Eccl 4:9-12)

Two are better than one – and then the reference to a threefold cord. When two stand and hold together, there is always an added dimension of strength!

And let us not forget! Just as “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”, so the community of the friends of Jesus includes not only those with whom we share our life now, but also those past and those before us. We are standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before us and we are responsible to leave the earth behind in such a way that our children and grandchildren and generations to come can enjoy the gift of life.

Jesus Christ the Centre, the foundation, the well-spring of our life. That was our first point. He becomes real as his story inter-relates with out story. We experience Him in the community of his friends – that was our second point.

3.       Transformation.

We need, thirdly, speak of “transformation” when we try to fathom the meaning of the Lord’s Supper.

When we accept that our lives are interwoven with the life of Christ. When we realise that our lives are interwoven with each other – then something happens. We are transformed.

We realise that our identity is not being an island in a sea of meaninglessness, but our interrelatedness with Jesus Christ and with each other shapes who we are. Our individualism which isolates and kills us, gives way to worship and friendship. Our self-centredness which isolates and strangles us – individually and as a nation - is transformed into the awareness that the “other” is necessary for our well being.

“Transformation” has always been associated with the Lord’s Supper. If you read theology books, they will tell you about “transubstantiation” and “consubstantiation”. They explain how, when the Priest speaks the words referring to the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the elements of bread and wine are changed into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. So, when people at the altar eat the bread and drink the wine, they acquire salvation. They eat salvation into themselves. Bread and wine have become a “medicine of immortality” – and priest and the church have acquired great power, becoming privileged distributors of salvation.

But all of that approaches magic and makes the church into a powerful global corporation dealing with and handing out salvation.

No, at the Lord’s Supper we are not dealing with magic, but with wonder. Not the bread and juice are changed – we are changed! As we focus on Jesus Christ; hear his story with our ears and taste it in our mouths, we are reminded that He is the foundation and passion of our life. From his wells we drink.

Conclusion

My friends, by hearing the Gospel, the good news that God is for us and wants to share God’s life with us, by taking the bread and drinking from the cup you move by faith into the realm of Christ. You recognise that you belong to Christ as He has shared his life with you. Let him be the Lord of your life, and the freedom that he alone can give will be yours. By intentionally participating in the Lord’s Supper you confess your faith in Christ, you participate in the community of believers and by inter-relating your life with the life of Christ, we are transformed.

TL: Canberra, September 4, 2011.