Thoughts on Communion
What is the context? Why do we eat and drink?
Last week I received a request from a dear friend in Okinawa to write down and share some thoughts on communion.
Writing about communion is no easy task but a task that is filled with great rewards. In my own life of faith communion became an anchor to my doubting soul of God’s love and grace towards me. It is to be sure a subject which churches divide over and even call different names (Communion, Lord’s Supper, Lord’s Table, Eucharist). Yet the different understandings and emphases only testify to us of the breadth of the subject before us. All that being said communion isn’t primarily an intellectual enterprise. Christ has left for us something to do in remembrance of Him, not something simply to remember. His desire is for us to eat and drink in His presence with his people gathered around his table. This is the right place for us to begin our discussion.
This is the first part of a series on communion written for a friend. Look here for part 2 and here for part 3.
Why would Jesus establish a meal for his disciples to observe when they gather together? For many of us we have no context to answer this question. Jesus did it, He commanded it, so we do it. But let’s think about it a bit more. Why are we eating and drinking at church? Why is this part of our worship? Why is it a big deal to withhold communion (excommunication) from someone? Would it matter if we didn’t do communion? Let’s go back to the beginning.
Genesis Two and Three
Take a moment to recall what happens in Gensis two and three. What changes after Adam and Eve are sent out from the Garden? They are cursed to be sure but what are they missing out on? They are no longer able to be in God’s garden and eat of the trees there, especially the tree of life. After the fall mankind is no longer able to eat in God’s presence. Prior to the fall Adam and Eve walked with God and could eat of any tree but one. Right relationship with God could be expressed there as joyfully living and eating in His presence. Already if we return to our previous question, why do we eat and drink at church, we could answer simply, because we are in right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is a joyful sign to believers of what Christ has accomplished and restored.
Exodus and Leviticus
After the Fall there is no meal with God in any worship setting until Mt Sinai. To be sure there are glimpses of it along the way. Abraham made a meal for the Angel of the Lord in Gensis 18 but he himself didn’t eat but stood by as the three men ate.
When God rescued the people of Israel out of Egypt the purpose was so they could worship God on the Mountain (Ex 3:12). When they get to the mountain God’s presence visibly comes down on the third day and Moses ascends (Ex 19). The people are not allowed to touch the mountain lest they die. Moses is given the Law (Ex 20-23) and then is told to bring ‘Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar’ (24:1). Burnt (ascension) offerings1 and Peace offerings are sacrificed in vs5 and then from vs9 we read ‘Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank’ (9-11).
This is the first mention of people in a worship setting eating and drinking in God’s presence since the Garden of Eden. It is a big deal. It is not the open way of the New Covenant. Only Moses could ascend into God’s presence, the elders could ascend partly up the mountain eating and drinking from afar, while the people themselves could not ascend at all. Yet God had opened a real way for his people to come back into his presence through the animal ascending on the worshippers behalf.
Notice the reference to peace offerings in vs5. This is the first reference to peace offerings being sacrificed in the Bible. Leviticus gives us the law of the peace offerings. Peter Leithart has shown that the Burnt (ascension), Sin, and Peace offerings all follow the same five steps. 1, lay the hand, 2, kill the animal, 3, show the blood, 4, burn the animal, 5, eat a meal.2 It is the 5th step which is important for us. In the Sin offering God receives the animal as a pleasing aroma but the priest who offers it also eats it (Lev 6:26). In the Burnt offering the entire animal is received by God as a pleasing aroma. But in the Peace offering God receives the animal as a pleasing aroma (Lev 3:5) but this time the worshipper himself also eats of it (Lev 7:15).
Peace offerings are a gift of the Exodus.3 After the fall from Noah onwards we see Burnt (ascension) offerings. But when God comes down on Mt Sinai and dwells with his people (the purpose of the Tabernacle and Temple) he gives them a way to eat and drink in his presence again through the peace offering. The people could not ascend the mountain or enter the tabernacle. The animal is turned to smoke and ascends on their behalf. Yet through the animal they are able to eat in God’s presence again. A wonderful picture of this is found in 1 Samuel 1. Elkanah would take his family year by year to worship and sacrifice to the Lord at Shiloh. There they would eat with his family and his sons and daughters. It was there after eating and drinking in God’s presence that Hannah received the word by which she would bear a son. Why do we eat and drink at Church? Because Jesus is our peace offering. He ascends into God’s presence on our behalf, through him we are in right relationship with God, through him we are able to eat and drink in God’s presence.
The Flow of the Bible
The Bible begins in a garden and ends in a garden. God dwells with man and woman in the beginning and again God dwells with man and woman at the end. From Genesis until Revelation God’s desire is to dwell with His people. Restoring what was lost in Eden through the sacrifices is a huge step forward. Jesus fulfills the sacrifical system as the lamb of God through whom we may draw near to the Father. Jesus’ parables of the kingdom of God often compared the gospel to an invitation to a feast.4 We are looking forward to the marriage supper of the lamb.5 Until he comes communion is our foretaste.6 When we get to Revelation 21-22 we see the garden has become a city. The tree of life is there bearing fruit and it’s leaves are for the healing of the nations. God dwells with His people. What was lost has been regained. Why do we eat and drink at church? Because we are looking forward to the feast to come when all things have been restored.
So why did Jesus give us a meal to eat and drink in worship? Looking back at Genesis, the Exodus and Leviticus and forward to Revelation we could say Jesus gave us a meal to eat and share as a sign that we are in a joyful and peaceful relationship with God through His sacrificial work while at the same time pointing us always towards the joy of His coming when all things will be restored.
Why is it a big deal to withhold communion (excommunication) from someone? Would it matter if we didn’t do communion? A short answer would be yes. To withhold communion would in effect be saying that a person is not in a right relationship with God and thus will not be taking part in the feast to come.7 A church that didn’t do communion would be keeping away a joyful sign of peace and reconciliation with God even ignoring a blessed fruit and purpose of Christ’s redemption.
‘Ascension offering’ is the translation argued for by Michael Morales in his Biblical theology of Leviticus ‘Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord’, as well as by Peter Leithart in his various lectures on Leviticus. The word translated ‘burnt offering’ is not a translation of the word but of the action in burning the entire animal up on the altar. The word does not mean ‘burnt’ but ‘that which ascends’. The focus is not on the burning of the animal but of it’s entire ascension to God as smoke.
See Theopolitan Liturgy, Chapter 3, Sacrifice. This order moves from dealing with sin, to consecration/ascension, and then peace/fellowship. Whenever we see the sin, burnt, and peace offerings together in a worship setting they are always offered in that order.
Leithart’s lectures on Leviticus available through the Theopolis Institute.
Matthew 22:1-14. See also Isaiah 55:1-3.
Revelation 19:6-9.
1 Corinthians 11:26 and also Isaiah 25:6-9.
Hence it is an appropriate action of church discipline.
Excellently written; " otsukaresama" well done Brother!!