"THIS IS MY BLOOD ... "

                In the OT laws about food and drink one of the best known says that blood was absolutely forbidden (Lev 17:10-14). Consequently, a complex system of kosher butchering was designed with its chief aim being that no blood should remain in the animal and so risk being eaten or drunk.

                In light of this prohibition, statements by David and later by Jesus are remarkable. David’s came when he was at war with Philistines who were encamped in his home town of Bethlehem. He was hot and thirsty and was heard to say how much he would like to have water from the well at Bethlehem – which was of course inaccessible due to the Philistines. But that didn’t stop three of his stalwart fighting men. They broke through the Philistine army, got water from the well at Bethlehem and brought it back to David. But David didn’t drink it. His shrewd sense of political judgment was even sharper than his thirst. “God forbid,” he said, “that I should drink the blood of these men, who went at risk of their lives” (2 Sam 23:17). He didn’t want to profit from their readiness to put their lives on the line for him. To drink the water would be equivalent to drinking their blood. He couldn’t, and he wouldn’t do that. He poured the water on the ground (N.T. Wright, John For Everyone, 85).

                Jesus also spoke about drinking blood. Although he did not speak literally anymore than David did, his words were even more shocking and remarkable. In John 6 Jesus says to a skeptical crowd, “I’m telling you the solemn truth. Anyone who believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life…. And the bread which I shall give is my flesh, given for the life of the world…. I’m telling you the solemn truth, if you don’t eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”

                Whereas David refused to profit from the risk of life made by the young men by drinking the water, which would be like drinking their blood, Jesus wants everyone to profit from the sacrifice of his life. “Easily the best explanation for this,” says N.T. Wright, is that John understands Jesus’ language here to refer to the eucharist, the Lord’s supper, the sacrament in which Jesus’ body and blood are, in a mysterious way, offered to believers to be eaten and drunk” (Wright, 86).

                Paul put it in concisely in 1 Cor 10:16: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?” I don’t understand this mystery, but it seems to all come down to faith. As Jesus said, “Anyone who believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”  Do you believe? If so, let us confess our faith and receive his body and blood.

A Communion Meditation

What Do You Have?

Mark 8:1-9

                In the upper room, as Jesus took the loaf of bread, broke it, and gave thanks, it may gave triggered a memory for some of his disciples. They may have remembered the time when Jesus asked them to do something that was clearly impossible. It was one of the many times that Jesus had acted as the host, breaking the bread and giving thanks.  It was the time in Mark 8 when about 4,000 people had followed him into the desert region of Decapolis.  Mark says, “he called his disciples and said to them, ‘I feel compassion for the multitude because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat; and if I send them away hungry to their home, they will faint on the way; and some have come from a distance.” Then he laid the problem at their feet saying, “give them something to eat.”

                Can you imagine the started look on their faces?  You can hear how impossible they thought this was in their question, “How can we feed all of these here in the desert?”  There’s nothing out here, they might have continued. No supermarket, no McDonald’s, nothing. What can we do?  Then he asked, “how many loaves do you have?”  What is available to you? What do you have? What is under your control?

                When the disciples shared their seven loaves and a few small fish Jesus turned that table in the desert into a life-giving communion table. Mark says, he took the seven loaves and then, “He gave thanks and broke them and started giving them to his disciples to serve them.”

                Later, long after the upper room, the disciples must have continued to remember those occasions when Jesus went through the same action and fed the multitudes. When they sat in the assembly at worship, as we are now, and saw the bread upon the table, they must have seen not only the living presence of Jesus, but heard his word once again, “Give them something to eat.” And they could see themselves once again, with rough fishermen’s hands, breaking off the bread, piece after piece after piece, without end, until all were fed. Somehow, miraculously, in their rough hands, that bread was multiplied.

                And so it is today. Every piece of bread upon this table that conveys to us the energy of Christ can be multiplied in our lives today and tomorrow.  Someone in our neighborhood, our city, in Syria, in the Ukraine, or in Kenya can be stronger in body and spirit because we worshipped here today. The bread of life taken by us today can be multiplied across the world by our faith and action. For that reason, the communion, which symbolizes the body and blood of Christ, and the offering, which symbolizes our faith in action, are united to feed not only us but a spiritually and physically starving world.

THE CUP OF SALVATION

Psalm 116

                Have you ever known, or known of, someone who was on a certain road to death and then by one action was delivered from death?  Can you imagine the roller coaster of emotions they experienced?  I have seen a TV story of a man whose heart was about to stop because of irreversible damage and then he received a heart transplant.  The report showed two families meeting for the first time.  I saw the mixture of sorrow and joy on a mother’s face as she listened through a stethoscope to the steady heartbeat of her deceased son inside another person’s chest.  And I watched as the recipient hugged and thanked the family with great, joyful gratitude for the gift of life that he had received.

                Those same emotions are also seen in Psalm 116 where the psalmist, standing before the congregation, testifies emotionally of being encompassed by the “snares of death” and facing the “terrors of the grave.” His language is strong and emotional as he describes how he faced what looked like certain death.  But then he says, “I called upon the Lord saying, ‘save my life, O Lord” (v 4).  And he heard me and “delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling” (v 8).  Then the psalmist asked, “what can I do out of gratitude to Yahweh, in return for all his kindness to me?” (v 12).

                Immediately, he says, “I will take the cup of salvation, and call on Yahweh’s name.  I will give back to Yahweh what I promised, in front of all his people” (Vss 13-14, N.T. Wright translation in Paul for Everyone, 2 Corinthians, 48).

                As redeemed and resurrection people who have been saved from eternal death, how can we express our gratitude?  We too can take the cup of salvation that represents how Jesus Christ has given us the gift of life, and we can give back to the Lord through the stewardship of our talents and treasure what we vowed in our baptism to give him.  So let us take the cup of salvation and fulfill our vows to the Lord.

THE ROYAL WEDDING FEAST

A communion meditation for May 6, 2018

                A big royal wedding is coming. Do you have your invitation and have you figured out what you will wear? No?  Oh, you probably think I am referring to Harry and Meghan who are soon to be married.  No, I refer to a much bigger, more significant wedding. One that you definitly are invited to and for which your wedding attire is already set. We read about it in Rev. 19:6-9. John writes:

Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.  Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”  Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’”

                John uses his imagery freely enough to allow the church to be both the bride and the guests invited to the wedding party.  “Hallelujah!”  Its party time; its exciting, joyful because the bridegroom has come.

                In contrast to this great joy there is a very sad picture in Rev. 3. It’s the picture of a church closed to the presence of the Lord.  John shows us the Lord, the bridegroom, standing alone at the closed door of the church and saying, “Look! I’m standing here, knocking at the door. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into them and eat with them, and they with me.” N.T. Wright says “no early Christian could have heard those words without thinking of the regular meal, the bread-breaking, at which Jesus would come powerfully and personally to give himself to his people. Such meals anticipate the final messianic banquet. They are advance ‘comings’ of the one who will one day come fully and forever” (Revelation for Everyone, 36-40). 

                We are at one of those “advanced comings” now.  Someday the Lord will come again and there will be a great party – a messianic banquet – a royal wedding feast.  And we are all invited.  In the meantime, he comes to us now in the Lord’s Supper, as a foretaste of that great banquet that is to come.  Have we opened the door to him? If we have he has promised to come in and eat with us now.

               

"PROCLAIM THE LORD'"

If Jesus Christ is the hope of the world, we who are Christians face the question, how can we most effectively proclaim Christ crucified in our culture?  One answer to this question is found in Paul’s words to the Corinthian Christians in 1 Cor 11:23-26, in which he reviews the words of institution by the Lord at the last Supper.  He concludes his review by saying, “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” By faithfully observing the Lord’s Supper we proclaim the Lord’s death.

Suppose, however, that we lived in a country that was closed to the gospel and church assemblies were not allowed?  What could we do?  Here is what one church did, as told in a recent issue of Christian Standard (Dick Wamsley, March 2018).

“TCM (Taking Christ to Millions) is an international training institute in Austria, where theological graduate students from countries in eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and central Asia converge for concentrated study to help them reach their people for Christ.  One student at the institute describes how the church he serves in one of those closed countries observes the Lord’s Supper each week.

The adults meet at an appointed time each week at a restaurant for a meal.  They may sit at several different tables, but the predetermined leader situates himself so everyone in the group can see him.

After everyone has finished the meal, the leader picks up a piece of bread and bows his head in silent prayer.  Everyone knows what he’s doing, though nothing is said.  When he lifts his head, he eats the piece of bread.  Others at the various tables follow his lead.  Then he bows again in silent prayer.  Again, he lifts his head and picks up a glass of wine, water, or whatever else he has, and he drinks.  Others follow in like manner.

No words are spoken.  No one acknowledges what they have just done.  But everyone at the tables knows they have just “proclaimed the Lord’s death.”  In fact, it’s the very reason they gather in a public place to observe the Lord’s Supper – to proclaim Jesus’ death even at the risk of being discovered.

The student’s story draws us into the profound sacredness of the Lord’s Supper: that we proclaim our Lord Jesus’ death with other Christians around the world, some of them at risk of their own lives.”

With this in mind, we come to the table, whether in a church sanctuary or a public restaurant, and proclaim the Lord’s death.

FINISHING BY IMITATING

                A man I have known for 70 years, a colleague in ministry, a companion on trips, a competitor on the golf course, and who became my best friend, died recently.  I have thought of him a lot this past week and what I might say at his memorial service.  At the same time, I was thinking about what to say for our memorial service here today at the communion table.  These thoughts brought together several NT texts.

                2 Tim 4:7-8 came to mind as I thought about Orris.  Paul wrote it near the end of his life: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

                The idea of “finishing the course,” reminded me of Jesus. At one point in his ministry, Luke tells us in 9:51, Jesus “set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.”  He was determined to follow that course, and eventually, with a few stops along the way, he made it to Jerusalem.  There, at the end of his journey he found a cross.  As he hung upon that cross, having accomplished all that his Father sent him to do, Jesus said, “It is finished.”

                I wondered, why was Paul able to say what he did at the end of his life?  I think much of the answer can be found in what he said earlier to the Corinthians.  In 1 Cor 11:1 he urged them, “be imitators of me, just as I also imitate Christ.”  Paul tried to imitate Christ.  He wanted to imitate his love, his forgiveness, his servanthood, even his sacrifice.  Therefore, he said in Phil 1:20-21, “It is my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that will full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ but to die is gain.”

                After Paul urged the Corinthians to imitate him as he imitated Christ he went on in the same chapter to express his disappointment in how they were observing the Lord’s Supper.  They were not “discerning the body,” that is the body of Christ.  They were not living out what the Lord’s Supper called for.  They were not imitating the love of Christ, his forgiveness, his servanthood and his sacrifice. 

                The call of the Lord’s Supper has not changed.  In it we can hear the voice of Christ himself saying, imitate me … imitate my love, imitate my forgiveness, imitate my servanthood, imitate my sacrifice. 

                If we do that we will be able to say with Paul at the end of our journey: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”

UNTIL HE COMES

            In Mark 13, the Gospel reading for today, Jesus spoke of a time in the future when the trials and tribulations of mankind will be resolved. In verses 24-27 he said: “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send his angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of the earth.” The time will come, Jesus said, when the Son will come and gather his people together to receive his eternal blessing.

            Jesus went on to say in the same passage that no one, not even the Son, knows when this will happen.  Therefore, he advised, “be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.”

           

            Frances remembered that when she was a teenager in Hoquiam she one day was walking to a dreaded dental appointment, looked up at the foreboding clouds and thought, “this would be a good time for the Lord to return.”  In a sense she was expressing the hope that the church was born with, that the time predicted by the prophets would come, the time when:

·         Wars would cease, and peace prevail;

·         When evil and sin is replaced with love and justice;

·         When pain and tears give way to joy and singing;

·         When this old house of an earthly body will be taken away and we will be given, as Paul said, “a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Cor 5:1).

The church was born with this hope and one of the primary means of reminding ourselves of it is the Lord’s Supper. In 1 Cor 11:26 Paul wrote: “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”  We don’t always think about the last words, “until he comes.”  At this table we often stress his death for us, and all that it means, which we should, but we cannot forget these last words.  In that small phrase, “until he comes,” our hope is summed up. Think about it.  If the Son were not to return, what good did his death do? But Jesus knew he would return and his word to us was: “BE ON GUARD, KEEP AWAKE. FOR YOU DO NOT KNOW WHEN THE TIIME WILL COME.”

But the time will come. He will return. We anticipate his coming. And in the meantime, we proclaim his death until he comes.