The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that
Christians ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather is a
sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death; insomuch that, to such as rightly,
worthily, and with faith receive the same, the bread which we break is a
partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of
the blood of Christ.
Transubstantiation, or the change of the substance of bread and wine in the
Supper of our Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the
plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, and hath
given occasion to many superstitions.
The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper,
only after a heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the body of
Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is faith.
The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's
ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshiped.
In John
chapter 6, Jesus was being stalked by a crowd of fans, and followed by a
handful of disciples. They followed Him
from one side of the sea/lake to the other.
And when they
found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him [all innocent-like],
“Rabbi, when did You come here?” (John 6: 25)
Jesus was
like, “You know good and doggone well the only reason you’re following me is because yesterday I gave 5,000 of you free
food.” (John 6: 26, slightly paraphrased)
Then, almost
as if to purposely mess with the dinner-stalkers’ heads, Jesus launched into a lecture
on redemptive theology, the thesis of which could be summarized by the
following suggestion:
“Eat Me!”
Jesus said to
them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink His blood, you have no life in you.Whoever eats My flesh and drinks
My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My
flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and
drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I
live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. (John
6: 53-57)
“Eat Me.”
The Jews
therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His
flesh to eat?” (John 6: 52)
Christians
have been having the same argument since Jesus went back to Heaven. In the sacrament of Communion (also known as
the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist), we receive bread and wine and call it
receiving the body and blood of Christ.
But what does that mean?
How can this
Man give us His flesh to eat?”
Jesus
explained it to His disciples like this:
It is the
Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you
are spirit, and they are life. (John 6: 63)
Get it, now?
Spirit and
life.
Jesus’ words (His
lecture about body and blood) were ALIVE.
The concept was real. He wanted to be taken literally.
At the same
time, the whole speech was spiritual.
It’s hard for
us to see a concept as both literal and spiritual.
When we speak
of a concept that truly exists we say use the word literally. But when we talk
about spiritual concepts we say that they are NOT to taken “literally,” which
is like saying that spiritual things don’t exist.
Which crazy
for Christians who worship God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy SPIRIT.
Jesus said, “God
is Spirit.” (John 4: 24).
The words
that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
We receive
the body and blood of Christ in a way that is LITERALLY SPIRITUAL.
In Communion,
Jesus literally offers us His spiritual body and blood; but He does not, in any
way, give us his physical skin and bodily fluids.
Remember that
Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper as the fulfillment of Passover (Luke 22:
15-20). The point of the original
Passover was not the mutton that the Hebrews ate during the 10th
plague (Exodus 12). The point was that God used a literal angelic spirit to
literally change Israel’s status from slave to free!
In the same
way, the body and blood of the Lamb of God in the sacrament of Communion is
about changing us not changing the chemical composition of the Communion bread.
The elements
of Communion are meant to transform us not for us to transform the elements of
Communion.
Our
participation in the Lord’s Supper is a kind of collective prayer. We remember Jesus’ death and resurrection
until His coming again. We recall His
suffering for the sake of our salvation.
In our liturgical responses, we tell God that we are still and again
wholly committed to His plan.
You don’t
change the bread. The bread changes you.
Or rather,
Jesus changes you.
I am the
bread of life. (John 6: 48)
The physical
elements, though holy via consecration, are not little physical pieces of
Jesus. The elements are not little
Jesus-es to be adored or worshipped or treated as talismans to ward off bad
luck.
Physically
they are still just baked flour and aged grape juice.
Spiritually
though, they are literally something so special that treating the sacrament
lightly was the reason many Corinthians Christians were sick, weak, or dead (1
Corinthians 11: 30).
The brea and
wine are not transubstantiated, but by faith they are transformative.
Not physical
but spiritual.
Not material
but absolutely literal.
Not to be
worshipped but to be taken seriously.
That may be a
hard saying, but it is what Jesus literally said.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson
T. Graves II is pastor of Miles
Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of
the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director
of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human
Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
#Awordtothewise
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CME Church
P O Box 132
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35064
