Thoughts on Communion (3)
Presence
Meals bring people together. It is a very simple thing to say but this fact resonates around our world. Whether it is a first date, a birthday party, or a class reunion people come together to eat food. This shouldn’t suprise us but a meal is an invitation to friendship. Those who have argued and fought, apologised and talked things out, yet still find themselves distanced from one another will do good in inviting and eating with the other. A peace offering afterall had as its goal not simply a gift but a meal with God and his people. Meals bring people together.
This is the third part of a series on communion written for a friend. Look here for part 1 and here for part 2.
Koinonia Fellowship
In our last post we focused on the concept of participation in Christ’s Exodus through the Communion meal; a renewal of our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. “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” (1 Cor 10:16-17). Participation (koinonia) can also be translated communion or fellowship.1 It is from this verse where the Lord’s Supper receives the name ‘communion’. Paul tells us that in the Lord’s supper we have a communion and fellowship with the body and blood of Christ.
What kind of fellowship or communion with Christ is this? That is debated though Protestants have historically rejected the view of transubstantiation, that the bread and wine change into the body and blood of Jesus and cease being bread and wine. At the same time a real presence of Jesus Christ in Communion was continually affirmed by the churches of the reformation whether Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Presbytarian, or later Methodist. It is enough to know Jesus is there but just how is left a ‘holy mystery’. The popular author Andrew Murray could write without controversy at the end of the 19th century ‘This deeply inward union with Jesus, even with His body and blood, is the great aim of the Lord’s Supper. All that it teaches and gives us of the forgiveness of sins, of the remembrance of Jesus, of the confirmation of the divine covenant, of union with one another, of the announcement of the Lord’s death till He comes, must lead to this: complete oneness with Jesus through the Spirit.’2
Noticing Christ in the breaking of Bread
We have an interesting story recorded after Jesus’ resurrection in Luke 24. Two disciples were on the road to Emmaus talking together about the death of Jesus and the reports of his resurrection. Jesus himself drew near to them but they didn’t recognise Him (24:16). Jesus asked what they were talking about and they told him. In vs25-27 we read ‘“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.’ No doubt they heard a powerful sermon by the Lord! Their hearts burned as He opened the scriptures to them (vs32). Yet even here they did not recognise Jesus was with them. Finally Jesus sat down with them to eat a meal. He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised Him (vs30-31). They saw him in the meal. In the breaking of bread they finally saw that Jesus was right there with them.
But why would this matter? What benefit would affirming that Christ is there in Communion bring to a believer? Much in every way.
A Personal Presence
For starters Ephesians will say that Jesus fills all things,3 that is, as God He is omnipresent. In this sense Jesus is already with everyone. Yet this is not what we mean when we say Jesus is present in Communion. Matthew will tell us that Jesus is there in our midst wherever two or three are gathered in His name,4 that is, Jesus is with the church (specifically in reference to church discipline). Again at the end of his Gospel Matthew will tell us that Jesus is with His disciples till the end of the age, 5that is, Jesus is with the church on mission. Yet both of these are still not what we mean when we say Jesus is present in Communion. The Christ who is generally with everyone as God, and again is in a special way with the gathered church, is now in a personal way with each believer in Communion. He is not just there for everyone, or for the church, but He is there for you.
A personal Word
In Communion the word comes to us with the bread and the wine. “This is my body, which is given for you… This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:19-20). As each believer takes and eats the bread and the cup Jesus’ words come to them in a personal way. Here there is no room to doubt. Faith rests in the truthfulness of His words, He gives Himself for me.
In my early twenties I went through a struggle of faith and doubt in regards to my conversion. The preacher I was listening to sent me inside looking at my heart and it’s fruit. What I found was good things and bad things, a mess. The struggle was painful and lasted over a year or so. It ended when I was led to look out of myself and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Peace and joy filled my heart. I later read Luther and his sermons were full of that same truth. He quickly became my favourite theologian. Luther pointed to the word given personally in Communion. The ‘for you’ in the Supper. I could not escape this word. Many of us have no trouble believing Jesus gave Himself for others but have great trouble believing Jesus gave Himself for us. Yet this word allows no room for doubt, Christ is addressing us, we are receving that word with the bread. Christ has given Himself for me. All I could do was to say ‘thank you Lord, I believe’. My faith had found an anchor in the word of Christ and my life became more and more stable as a result.
A personal Giving
It may come as a suprise to some to realise that most Bibles today no where say ‘This is my body broken for you’. The word ‘broken’ appears only in the KJV and NKJV version of 1 Cor 11:24. All the other versions simply read ‘this is my body for you’ which emphasises Jesus’ giving of himself to the believer. But even if we keep the KJV version it still agrees with all the others. If you search all references to this word in the NT6 they do not refer to ‘violent death’ but to the ‘distribution’ of bread. In other words, the KJV reading of 1 Cor 11:24 would mean the same as ‘given for you’ recorded in Luke’s Gospel.
There is a change here that needs to be clarified. We often hear Jesus’ words ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me’ to mean ‘remember that I gave myself for you on the cross’. Such remembering is good but it is not what we mean in Communion. The giving of Jesus here is not a giving in the past but in the present. Jesus is giving himself to you again right now in the act of Communion. In other words you have a real communion with Him.
If that is so, why then does Jesus speak of remembrance? Doesn’t remembrance point us back to the cross and away from the present? In the Bible the concept of remembering is just the opposite. Instead of pointing us away from the present back to the past it is concerned with making present the past so that it may be effective in the present.7 Another translation of ‘do this in remembrance of me’ is ‘do this as my memorial’8 or ‘commemoration’9. All of which are actions or events which bring the past to us in the present.
The movement from Tithing to Communion
It is common in a traditional worship service to have a place for tithing after the sermon and before communion. If we think of worship as a way God renews our relationship with Him this order does make sense. In seeking to restore relationship with someone we do not give gifts before apologising and talking things out with the person. Otherwise the gift given is often refused by the one offended. But after apologising and talking things out a gift may be given as a sign of sincerity and acceptance. After confessing our sins and hearing God talking to us through the sermon tithing becomes an act of worship whereby we are able to give ourselves to God again.
Why does this matter when we think about Communion? We have a movement from giving ourselves to God again in worship to a movement where God gives Himself to us anew in worship. A shared mutual giving is the basis of the action of love which unites people together. Does it matter if a husband or wife give themselves to one another? Would the lack of such giving be a problem? Yes of course. The shared mutual giving of oneself to the other is the heart of the relationship. It is where the relationship is renewed and strengthened. A lack of such giving would be to place a coldness or wall between the other and oneself. It may be said ‘I gave myself to my wife on our marriage day why would I need to give myself to her again and again.’ We could answer that any loving relationship needs to be continually cultivated and renewed lest it whither. Our relationship with Christ as well. Christ has given us a way for us to come to Him and give ourselves to Him again. He is not cold. There He joyfully gives Himself to us again. Our union with Him is strengthened and renewed. We are ready to go back out in the world with His blessing.
The Lord’s Day - Glimpse of the Final Day
One last thought to end our discussion today. In English the phrase ‘the day of the Lord’ and ‘the Lord’s day’ normally refer to two different events in our thinking. The first being the Lord’s return to judge and be forever with His bride, the second being a reference to gathering on Sunday, the day of the Lord’s resurrection. What is helpful for us is to realise that both these phrases are translations of the same phrase in Greek. In otherwords it would be completely fine to call the day of Christ’s return ‘the Lord’s day’ and the day we gather on Sunday ‘the day of the Lord’. In this way we can see each Sunday as a foretaste of the last day. It is enjoyable to note how the flow of Revelation 19-22 is experienced in the movement from Communion to the Benediction. In Revelation we have the marriage supper of the Lamb (19) moving to the final judgment (20) after which comes the blessed end (21-22). In worship we participate in the feast of Christ and His disciples where He comes to us for blessing or judgment (1 Cor 11:29). After this comes the benediction where we end the service with God’s blessing. Sunday worship is not just any other day. It is a foretaste of the last day. It is where the church gathers in the presence of Christ to be renewed, strengthened, and encouraged for it’s mission in the world.
— I would like to thank my dear friend for asking me to write on Communion. It has been very enjoyable. I leave this series knowing much more could be said but my hope is that it has been a help for others to enjoy and look forward to Communion each week at church gathered in the presence of Christ with His people.
Louw and Nida’s greek dictionary defines the meaning here as ‘an association involving close mutal relations and involvement’ and chooses to translate it ‘fellowship’ or ‘close association’.
https://ccel.org/ccel/murray/new_life/new_life.XLIII.html
Ephesians 1:20-23
Matthew 18:20
Matthew 28:20
Mat 14:19, 15:36, 26:26, Mar 8:6, 8:19, 14:22, Luk 22:19, 24:30, Act 2:46, 20:7, 20:11, 27:35, 1 Cor 10:16, 11:24.
“The most discussed, and possibly the most important use of the theme of memory, is related to the Last Supper. Both in the account of Luke (22:19) and of Paul (1 Cor 11:24) we read, "Do this in remembrance of me.” The Greek noun is anamnesis. Luke connects the command with the word over the bread and Paul with both the word over the bread and the word over the cup. What is intended by this word? Obviously any explanation must be sensitive to the meaning of zkr in the Old Testament and in Judaism, which points to making present the past, so that it can be effective in the present.” - Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology
See the footnote on the ESV Bible translation for 1 Cor 11:24.
See David Gregg’s Anamnesis in the Eucharist for a full discussion of the meaning of ‘remembrance’ (anamnesis).