Thoughts on Communion (2)

Participation

In our last post we tried to give a biblical context for communion, that is the act of eating and drinking at church. We looked at Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus to show how this act seen when in right relationship with God was lost and given again through the sacrificial system. From there we spoke about how Jesus fulfills the sacrifical system giving us open access into God’s presence and a meal which we eat and drink together there in worship. It is a foretaste of the marriage supper of the lamb and a glimpse of the New Heavens and Earth to come.

Today we want to slow things down and look at the ‘meaning’ of this act. That is, instead of looking at how communion relates to other meals in the Bible, we want to see what communion specifically communicates to those who take part in it.

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This is the second part of a series on communion written for a friend. Look here for part 1 and here for part 3.

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Reenactment

First what is it? Communion is a reenactment of the meal between Christ and His disciples that took place the night before His death on the cross. The pastor normally represents Christ to the congregation while the congregation is in the place of the disciples. The pastor repeats the words that Christ spoke, giving thanks for the bread and the wine, and distributes them to be received by the body. Everyone together eats and drinks and normally afterwards a hymn is sung.¹

Take note that communion is not another sermon nor is it an intellectual exercise. Rather it is an act of participation. Already in this simple act a profound message is being sent to the church, that is, the congregation is participating in the meal of Christ and His disciples. We are there at the table with them, hearing the words which they heard, eating and drinking in the presence of Christ.

Participation in 1 Corinthians

When Paul explains the meaning of Communion in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 he says “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation 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 idea of participation is at the forefront. Paul continues in vs18-22 “Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”

There are two words here used for participation. The first is ‘koinonia’ - participation, communion, fellowship. The second is ‘metecho’ - to share or participate, by implication to eat or drink, partake, take part, use.

Paul has in mind here a real participation in Christ in the communion meal. If he didn’t his strong warning about participating in demonic worship and provoking the Lord to jealously through eating food offered to idols wouldn’t make sense.

Why is our participation in the body and blood of Christ important here? Vs17 has a very useful point. Because we all participate in the body and blood of Christ by sharing in this meal we are one body. When does a church become a church? The short answer, when a group of believers receive communion together they are made into a local body, a church. We could say, faith unites a man to Christ as a believer, baptism unites a single believer to the universal body of believers, and communion unites many believers into a single body of believers, a local church. To use a somewhat silly sporting illustration, when you love the game (believe in Christ), you get the uniform (baptism), and come out for the local team games (communion).

Bread and Wine

This idea of participation is seen even within the elements of bread and wine. Bread is made of many grains crushed and baked in an oven. Wine is made of many grapes trampled and fermented. They are both products of the many becoming one. They are made one through mutual participation in an act of crushing and fire, trampling and fermented rising.²

Practically speaking the solidarity of a people is strengthened through shared experiences and trials. Marriage comes after the craziness of wedding planning and a family is made after the painful experience of child birth. God made the mixed multitude of Isarelites and Egyptians in the Exodus his people through bringing them out of Egypt by many judgments, passing them all through the Red Sea, and covenanting with them at Sinai. When we get into the book of Joshua there is no longer a mixed multitude but simply the people of Israel. By eating bread and drinking wine with the people around us we could say we are uniting with them to be crushed and trampled together. Look around the next time you received communion. You are uniting yourself as one bread with these people and all that that entails.

But it is the bread of Christ which we are participating in. It is a participation together in His trampling and crushing death so we may participate together in His firey fermented rising on the third day. To quote Paul’s teacher Gamaliel “In every generation, everyone [who partakes of the passover] is duty bound to regard himself as if he personally had passed out of Egypt.”³

What does that mean for us? It means when we participate in the act of communion we are duty bound to regard ourselves as participants in Christ’s Exodus, His death and resurrection. This may sound shocking but it is nothing new. A believer is said to have died and been made alive and raised up in Christ (Eph 2), the act of baptism is described as a dying and rising with Christ (Romans 6), and communion is an act of participation in his exodus, his death and resurrection.

There is a logic to it though. When two people’s souls unite in love they participate in a ceremony of union, marriage. In marriage there is a rite of union (marriage ceremony) and a right of communion (consummation). The later does not come before the first but rather renews the promise made in the first. Baptism is a ceremony of union with Christ’s death and resurrection while Communion is a ceremony of covenant renewal. Just as a wedding only happens once but the act of comsummation continually renews the wedding vows and love of the couple, so baptism need only happen once and communion continually renews our union with Christ. We are participating in Christ, once again giving ourselves to Him in His death, so that He may once again give Himself to us in His life. Let’s think about this the next time we take communion.

1. See Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26. The supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:6-9 also includes a hymn of of praise to God.

2. Bread is also the food of the day while Wine is the drink of rest and celebration. We are strengthened for our work in the world through communion but at the same time are resting and celebrating in God’s presence. As Christians we work from rest, not work to rest. Grace empowers our service, not service to get grace.

3. Matthew Colvin in his book ‘The Lost Supper’ has with great detail shown how Jesus is identifying himself as the Messiah by refering to the bread and wine in the passover meal as his body and blood. He also shows how the idea of participation in the original passover was current at the time. “Paul’s teacher Gamaliel is recorded as having taught that ‘In every generation, everyone’ who partakes of the Passover — even those born in Brooklyn or Kiev — ‘is duty bound to regard himself as if he personally had passed out of Egypt.’” This quote is helpful. It shows us that when Paul uses the language of participation in regard to communion it is not out of the blue but fits within an already existing thinking of participation in the Exodus event through the annual passover meal.