Can Ask That? – Part Twenty Five – Communion
1 Corinthians 10:17
New International Version (NIV)
“Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share in one loaf.”
Communion is one of the church’s most sacred acts. In some Christian traditions, communion is considered one of the two ordinances given by our Lord, the other being baptism. Many Christians refer to communion as a sacrament. Holy Communion is one of the most universally recognized practices of Christian people. Because of how central communion is to our faith, it deserves some of our best and most reflective thinking. When we do this, we provide a feast for our soul, devoting our thoughts to the most precious spiritual food that God has provided for his people.
In this sermon/essay, I am going to look at the church’s understanding of Holy Communion. We will talk about what Holy Communion is and what it is that we believe happens when God’s people take communion. We will start by talking about Holy Communion as a sacrament.
Saint Augustine said that a sacrament is a visible word. A sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace. But communion does more than point to God’s grace. Sacraments carry a message, while also being part of the message. Let me give you a few examples from ordinary life.
If I kiss my wife when she comes home from a long day’s work, I do not have to explain what that means. When I give my child a high-five after scoring a goal in soccer, I do not have to add words. The actions carry the meaning and are a part of the meaning, and the words alone would not make the same emotional impact. Words might take something away from the meaning. This idea is vital to understand because not everything God wants to communicate can be reduced to words.
A famous Russian ballerina gave the best performance of her career, before a packed house. One admiring fan was in tears as he made his way backstage to express his delight in the show. “Please,” he said, “if you can, put into words what it was that you were expressing through your dance.” The ballerina replied, “If I could have expressed it in words, I would not have had to perform the dance.”
– This story was told to me by John Boyd.
Holy Communion is a visible word through which we connect with God’s grace. We cannot reduce such a mystery into something verbal. The Apostle Paul writes: “When we bless the cup at the Lord’s table, are we not sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, are we not sharing in the body of Christ? And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. Think of the people of Israel. They were united by eating the sacrifices at the altar.” – 1 Corinthians 10:16-18
Communion says something and does something. It is both how God communicates his grace and the way he imparts that same grace.
Food for Our Spirit
The Gospel of John focuses on seven miracles that Christ performed. Interestingly, John doesn’t call them miracles. He calls them signs. The idea is, according to John, that Jesus didn’t go around performing supernatural deeds so that people would be impressed. Nor did he do them to convince people of his divinity. Instead, each miracle revealed something new and important about Jesus. Each of these signs teaches us something about who Jesus is and how to relate to him.
Keep that in mind as we take a detour. In the Old Testament, we read these words: “Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” – Deuteronomy 8:2-4
This passage records Moses’ reflection on the forty years he and his people spent traveling through the wilderness. During those forty years, the people had to learn how to depend on God for every need they had. They depended on God to provide their daily bread. But the provisions were not always as plentiful as the people would have liked. Yet, God always delivered what they needed.
According to Moses, God wanted people to see that we have needs more essential than food or water. This need is for God’s presence and for the spiritual nourishment only he can provide.
Now, back to the Gospel of John. In chapter six, Jesus refers to this passage in Deuteronomy, when he calls himself the Bread of Life. He does this after having multiplied the fish and loaves for the hungry multitude. As Jesus speaks to the people, the Lord wants them to know that he is offering something more than a free meal. He is telling us that in the same way that bread and wine nourish the body, our souls are nourished by him.
Now, we need to remember that Jesus often used shocking language to make a point. He said, “Eat my body and drink my blood.” He meant for this language to get their attention. It did. Many were offended. The imagery was pretty disgusting if taken literally. It sounded like cannibalism, and many could not get over the disturbing images.
Sadly, many people stopped listening just after Jesus got their attention. He was trying to tell them something very important. He was using the language of Deuteronomy chapter 8 to explain the multiplying of the fish and loaves of bread. He was saying that the Lord was offering something better than lunch. Lunch was just the introduction.
Jesus then goes on to make a further point. He is the source of this spiritual food. He is what our souls crave and what we need most0. These ideas are very similar to what we hear Jesus saying in John chapter 15. “I am the Vine, and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.”
This language informs our understanding of Holy Communion. Through the very ordinary gifts of bread and wine, Jesus offers us something more substantial. We get physical food. We also receive food for our souls.
The people we read about in John chapter 8 wanted the perishable food while refusing the better gift. Jesus offered nonetheless. And the same gift is on offer every time we come to the communion table. Sadly, many of us are no better than the people in John chapter 8 – and we leave the communion rail with only a bit of bread and a sip of juice.
All of this talk about physical food being a way to receive the body and blood of Christ brings up issues like transubstantiation. Transubstantiation is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. It is an attempt to explain how physical food becomes spiritual food without ceasing to be physical food. Roman Catholics insist that Jesus is really present in these elements. Transubstantiation provides a complicated formula for explaining how the elements are transformed into Jesus’ body and blood without ceasing to be real bread and wine.
Transubstantiation caused centuries of debate between the Protestant Reformers and the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. We Methodists, like our spiritual father, John Wesley, have never had an interest in these Medieval arguments. We simply believe that Jesus is present without needing to know how God makes it happen.
How often should we take communion? Well, how often do you feed your physical body? John Wesley believed that neglecting Holy Communion was akin to starving the body. Neglecting Holy Communion can lead to having a malnourished soul. That is why John Wesley took communion daily.
Shouldn’t communion be reserved for special occasions? In one sense, the answer is yes. Of course. Holy Communion is always the highest moment in Christian worship. We should never treat it as trivial. On the other hand, Holy Communion is the ordinary way we nourish our souls, even as food is the ordinary way we nourish our bodies.
Yet, we treat some meals as being extraordinary. We serve special meals, in special ways, on special occasions. But on ordinary days, we still eat food. Food, whether physical or spiritual, is no less important because it is eaten in an ordinary way and at regular intervals. In some sense, all meals are sacred.
Holy Communion is a meal of thanksgiving.
We should take communion seriously without partaking of it somberly. Sometimes we call communion the Eucharist. The word Eucharist is Greek and means to give thanks. The word implies a mood of celebration. Oddly, many Christians miss the meaning of the word and end up treating Holy Communion like a funeral service.
In the Gospel of Luke, we read:
“When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, ‘I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.’
He then took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, ‘Take this and share it among yourselves.'”
Why was Jesus giving thanks? First, he was giving thanks for the freedom and redemption God had given to his people. God gave his people the gift of salvation in the first Passover and the Exodus. The Passover meal was all about celebrating what God had done. Passover, then and now, has always been a meal of celebration for Jewish people.
Jesus was also thanking God for the act of redemption he was about to accomplish. Jesus used the meal to teach us about the meaning of his death. When we take communion, we remember the Exodus and Passover, but we also celebrate an even greater deliverance.
Look at what the Book of Acts tells us about how the earliest Christians celebrated Holy Communion. “They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity – all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”
The mood was one of celebration. That is why the liturgy of the church calls the service of Holy Communion The Great Thanksgiving. Each time we say this liturgy, we celebrate some of the great moments in the story of salvation. As the preacher/priest tells the story, they focus on the central role of Jesus. As we participate in the liturgy, we remember God’s great acts of salvation in Jesus Christ. We also recognize the specific ways in which this story has shaped our own lives. Let us approach the table, filled with great joy and thanksgiving, for all that Christ has done.
Now, sometimes, it is inescapable that sadness would attend our service of Holy Communion. In times of mourning, tragedy, or repentance, we may not be able to celebrate with gladness. We do not disqualify ourselves because of sadness and despair. Yet, we remember that the Lord is the one who can turn our mourning into dancing (Psalm 30:11).
Communion is a meal of remembrance. Rob Staples tells the story of a couple he was counseling. Their marriage felt stale, and the couple did not feel like they were in love anymore. Gone were the days of adventure and romance. A once passionate love had cooled off.
He had a recommendation for them. He encouraged them to recreate their honeymoon, paying attention to as many details as possible. The couple acted on the advice.
They planned a trip to the same seaside town where they honeymooned the first time. The couple was able to book the same room in the same hotel. They spent the week walking the beaches hand in hand, smelling the salty air, and recalling old memories. The week sparked something in the couple they had not felt in years.
Now, the couple could have stayed home and talked about their first honeymoon. But this would not have produced the same experience. What the couple needed was not to recall the first honeymoon, but to relive it. They needed to revisit and relive the moments that had made them feel in love.
The same kind of thing happens in our relationship with God. Our affections grow cold. Things can get a little stale. We forget our first love (Rev. 2:40). What we need is to revisit and relive those moments when our love for God was fresh and alive. Holy Communion provides us with an opportunity to do that.
Let me point out another detail from Luke’s telling of the last meal. In verse 19, we hear, “Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.'” The Biblical concept of remembering is about far more than bringing something to mind. To remember is to revisit and relive. It is to take a spiritual trip back to our first love, to rekindle that which is in danger of being extinguished.
Communion is like a portal that opens to us the moment when Jesus first announced the New Covenant. Once again, we can discover his offer of forgiveness and grace. And, we take that trip again and again.
Communion is a sacrifice. Roman Catholics talk a lot about this aspect of Holy Communion. Protestants have been too quick to dismiss this vital understanding.
We like to put all the focus on Jesus’ sacrifice. This impulse is right. But it misses the point that Jesus’ sacrifice requires a response. It requires our sacrifice. At the end of the liturgy, we say this prayer: “Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us. Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your Spirit to give ourselves for others.”
Of course, the focus is on Jesus’ sacrifice. It is only in light of Jesus’ sacrifice that ours even makes sense. Yet, unlike the sacrifices made to pagan gods, our sacrifice is not made to gain the favor of our God. God’s favor comes first. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. No. Our sacrifice is not about gaining favor and acceptance. Our sacrifice is a response of gratitude to our Self-giving God, who poured out his life to redeem us.
What, then, is the nature of the sacrifice that we make? The Apostle Paul writes: ” And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let your very selves be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” – Roman 12:1. The only fitting response to God’s self-giving is our own.
Let’s look at the meaning of the word communion. The word communion comes from the same root word that gives us the words community and communication. Each word implies people are coming together in some way. Calling the sacrament communion means that people are coming together and coming to God through the act of coming to the table.
Christianity is all about relationships – a relationship with
God and relationships with other people. Sadly, sin has radically disrupted God’s design for human life and community. Sin is that which ruptures the community. Sin severs us from God and other people.
Holy Communion is about all that God has done to overcome the alienation caused by sin. God restores the community. The Apostle Paul writes: “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him, God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” – Colossians 1:19-20
Through the body and blood of Christ, we receive the gift of fellowship with God and one another. When we present this message verbally, we call it preaching the Gospel. When we perform the Gospel through bread and wine, we call it Holy Communion.
The invitation of both preaching and Holy Communion is the same. Come. Be reconciled to God. The invitation is for all. Yet, some people think the invitation is only for some. They read the words of Paul. “So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 11:27
Many sensitive souls have deprived themselves of communion because of this verse. Some believe that they are not holy enough. Others worry that they may have forgotten to confess a sin.
In verse 28 of this passage, Paul says, “We should examine ourselves before eating the bread and drinking the cup.” I make no argument against the idea that this examination should include confessing our sins to God and asking for forgiveness. We should make this confession before communion. That is why the liturgy includes a prayer of confession and words of pardon. The purpose of confession is to clear away anything standing between us and the Lord’s table.
But, the only qualification for coming to the table is needing God’s grace. When we preach the Gospel, we do not tell people to get their lives in order before giving them to Jesus. No. We say come as you are. He will receive you now, and his grace and love will help you become the person you need to be. Communion is the visible presentation of the Gospel, and the invitation is the same as when we present the Gospel verbally.
So what is Paul warning us about? In 1Corinthians 11, Paul is condemning the selfish behavior of some of the people in the church at Corinth. They are ignoring the needs of the community of Christians. They are acting as if all of the actions of the church, including communion, are all about them. They think that their needs come before the needs of others. Paul is telling them that you cannot receive communion in the right way if you do not care about the people in your church.
These words of Paul are very similar to some words from Jesus. In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus says, “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar of the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.”
At the Table of the Lord, God offers us true communion. But living in fellowship with others is a part of what it means to be in communion with God. Like spokes on a wheel, the closer we draw to God, the closer we will draw to one another.
Communion is a foretaste of heaven.
Matthew 8:10-12 – Responding to someone’s act of faith, Jesus was amazed. “Turning to those who were following him, he said, ‘I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all of Israel! And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world – from east and west – and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
When Jesus spoke of his final return, he often used the image of a great banquet. At this banquet will be people from every corner of the world. They will come and sit together at God’s table. The Old Testament prophets used the same language to talk about the work of the Messiah, as did the New Testament writers. Ephesians 1:10 says, “And this is the plan: At the right time God will bring everything together under the authority of the Messiah-everything in heaven and on earth.” Holy Communion is the appetizer that whets our appetite for the main course of heaven.
1 Corinthians 11:26 – “For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.”
When we kneel at the rail with the family of God, we see just a glimpse of what it will be like when heaven and earth are one in Christ.
Let’s talk about real presence. By real presence, we mean that Jesus meets us at the table. He is there every time we break the bread and serve the cup. We encounter Jesus in the act of taking communion. The table is one of the places where we can rely on this encounter.
Though human hands may act as the instruments, it is Jesus who is the true Host. That is why it is proper to invite to the table, all who are willing to come by faith. Even a very young child or a mentally challenged adult can rise to this requirement. Faith is about trust and is a response more basic than a cognitive understanding of the Gospel. Anyone can express trust, even a baby or someone with a very low IQ.
Jesus knows how to meet and interact with each person that comes to the table. Jesus knows how to reach our child or a parent that is suffering from dementia. We do not have to worry about how. We leave that to Jesus.
But the real presence means more than Jesus being at the table. We also mean that Jesus is present in the elements. This idea is easy to mock. When we eat a piece of communion bread, we are not eating a part of Jesus. We are receiving all of Jesus. Through bread and wine, Jesus offers himself. We tangibly connect with Jesus.
Some would want to deny this idea. Some people think that bread and cup only represent his body and blood. That is not what Jesus says, and we dare not change his words. He says, “This is my body, and this is my blood.” The word represent is not in the text, and to try to add it is to add something alien to the Holy Scriptures.
Though it defies explanation, Jesus offers himself and his grace through the common elements of bread and wine. Imagine if Jesus can use such ordinary elements to do that, what he can do through us, who are a part of the body of Christ on earth.