Dining with God: (9.) Communion at the Lord’s Table (this post is in process and incomplete at thi time)

Dining with God: (9.) Communion at the Lord’s Table.

“The blessing-cup which we bless, is it not a (“koinonia”) communion of, a sharing in, the blood of Christ? Is not the cup of wine for which we thank God a (“koinonia”) joint-participation in the blood of Messiah? And the loaf of bread which we break, is it not a (“koinonia”) fellowship in the body of Christ? And though we are many, we all (“koinonia”) participate with each other by eating from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body.” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).

“Koinonia” may be the closest Greek word in the ancient world to the modern term “relationship,” and it is biblically described as meaning: fellowship; personal communion; held in common; shared partnership; close companionship; in community; active participation; partakers; deeply united; intimately bonded; dwell or abide within. The word “relationship” is a relatively new word, first used in 1744, that tries to sum up many old ideas. Relationship is very modern word, not even mentioned in the Bible, but the concept is as old as the hills, as ancient as creation, as eternal as the Trinity. So there are a truckload of terms and ideas in Scripture that describe different aspects of relationship, words like fellowship, community, partnership, neighbor, with, union, body, friend, yokefellow. We have biblical titles that describe relationship, like Trinity, Emmanuel and Paraclete. And we can find biblical pictures of relationship in marriage, friendship, companionship, and family. Even the word “knowledge” is a relationship word. There is one Greek term, though, that we’ll discuss later in this series, and it seems to come closest to “relationship,” and that New Testament word is “koinonia.”

Why is the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, called ‘Communion’? Various Study Bible notes and commentaries offer these insights in response to that question about relationship:

1. The eucharistic communion is with Christ and all its participants;
2. By sharing in the Body of Christ, Christians are united to Jesus and one another;
3. The Eucharist makes the unity of the Church a reality;
4. Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all are partakers of the one bread;
5. Because there is one loaf, our many-ness became one-ness;
6. Christ doesn’t become fragmented in us…Rather, we become unified in Him;
7. We don’t reduce Christ to what we are, instead He raises us to what He is;
8. By partaking of one broken loaf, the emblem of our Savior’s broken body who is the only true bread that came down from heaven, we coalesce into one body, we become members of Christ and one another;
9. Those who eat the outward elements make a profession of having this communion, of belonging to God and to one another;
10. Communion signifies the participation and fellowship believers have with Christ and with each other through the shared experience of the meal;
11. Communion brings about a spiritual union as believers participate in the reality of Christ’s presence in the elements.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the Hidden Manna to eat.” (Rev. 2:17, NKJV).

Living Bread. Soon after Jesus’ astounding feeding of the 5,000 and His walking on the turbulent Sea, He was surrounded in the synagogue by a few of the people who had been fed so miraculously earlier. Jesus saw this as a teachable moment for His audience, especially after someone in His audience said to Him, We’ll believe you if you can show us another miracle, another sign. After all, (this person continued), Moses fed our ancestors with manna in the wilderness all those years (Exodus 16). If you’re the long-awaited Prophet to replace Him, what sign can you do for us? Jesus couldn’t wait to dignify this awkward question with a self-revelation that is profound and puzzling. Jesus decided to mix the spiritual and the physical in an interesting way. He told them, Are you looking for bread from heaven? Are you seeking a sign like manna in the desert? Didn’t you just get fed out in the middle of nowhere? Well, think of this, then. I AM the Bread of Life. Think about that manna with Moses. I am like that, only I AM the living bread that came down from heaven to give His life to feed the world. Come to me and you will never be spiritually hungry again. Come to me, take me into your innermost being, into your deepest self, and you will live forever. The living Bread I give you is myself, my own body, which I will offer as a sacrifice so that all may live. My body is real food for the soul, and my blood is real drink. Unless you eat my body and take me into yourself, and drink my blood while you’re at it, you will not have eternal life. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. I am the Bread, the living Manna, that comes from heaven to feed you unto eternal life. Think of me as spiritual manna for your souls. (read John 6:26-58).

I AM. Jesus began this rather mysterious teaching about bread and flesh and blood with what must have looked like an outlandish claim. He said I AM, a hint of the personal Name of Yahweh given to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3). I AM is an abbreviated version of the Great I AM, I AM WHAT I AM, I AM HE WHO EXISTS. Jesus here claimed to be divine, to be co-equal to the God of Israel. This is a bombshell of self-revelation, that He is at one with Yahweh, a Son of the Father in heaven. Jesus smoothly transitions from His I AM claim to that of being the Bread of Life. And He goes from there to asking the people to eat His flesh and drink His blood. It’s no wonder that many in His audience at the synagogue were perplexed, or put off by His words, to the point of walking away from Jesus by the time His teaching was over.

Manna. Jesus talked about bread in the context of manna. He even compared Himself a little to that food provided in the desert. He came down from heaven, just like manna. He is to be eaten, just like manna. And He like manna was a gift from the hand of God. Manna was eaten in order to be sustained physically. Jesus is Bread that is eaten to be sustained spiritually. Manna is a bread of mystery that appeared every morning, the word manna meaning “What is it?” Jesus is another bread of mystery to many who misunderstood and rejected Him. Wilderness manna was openly revealed for all to see every day. Likewise, Jesus was walking and teaching and healing for all to see, out in the open. All who wanted manna had free and easy access. All who sought Jesus could easily find Him. All who ate manna had their hunger satisfied. All who partake of Jesus have their spiritual hunger satisfied, forever. Jesus gives the soul true nourishment, and only those with faith can truly receive it. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Ps. 34:8).

Hidden Manna. When Jesus talked about offering hidden manna in Rev. 2:17, He was no doubt offering Himself as the Bread from heaven, His own body and blood. Unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we don’t have His life in us. In John 6, Jesus seemed to be foreshadowing His Last Supper. He is referring to the Eucharist in both John 6 and Rev. 2:17. The manna comes down from heaven in the sacramental Communion in which Jesus is, in a sense, hiding. Christ is spiritually hidden in the physical bread and wine. His Holy Spirit is intimately interconnected within the bread and wine. The elements are fused with the Spirit. The Hidden Manna is offered to believers as the living Bread to be spiritually consumed and digested in the innermost being. The mystical Presence, the Real Presence, within the Hidden Manna. The Eucharist is spiritual food available to all who believe in the Living Bread. To receive the power of God and the life of Christ, His flesh and blood must be accepted as spiritual nourishment hidden in the physical elements. Jesus Christ, the Hidden Manna, for the life of the world.

 

A Communion Prayer. “Lord, we pray that in your goodness and mercy your Holy Spirit may descend upon us, and upon these gifts of bread and wine, sanctifying them and showing them to be holy gifts for your holy people, the bread of life and the cup of salvation, the Body and Blood of your Son Jesus Christ… And so, Father, we bring you these gifts. Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Anglican BCP, Eucharist, pages 375 and 403).

 

Sacrament: When Grace Transforms Nature. The actual word “Sacrament” is a legal term, “sacramentum,” which in Latin means “sacred vow.” It referred to the solemn vow a man would make when entering the Roman military, as well as the oath of honesty one would declare in the Roman courts. The early Christians adapted the term to designate the vows a person would take when being baptized into the Faith in a faith community. Soon other aspects of this commitment to Jesus would be called sacraments as well, such as foot washing, the Lord’s Supper, a special blessing on someone, and even marriage. The Latin Bible translated the Greek word “mysterion”, or mystery, for the Latin word “sacramentum” in various passages in the epistles. The Church then identified  many special acts of commitment and discipleship as sacred mysteries of the Faith, or sacraments.

Grace. A grace in the Christian faith is the undeserved gift to us of being allowed to participate in the life of God. We have no right to think God owes us anything. We don’t have a leg to stand on if we start thinking we have somehow earned the right to know Him in any way. He is the eternal, almighty God of the universe. God doesn’t owe us anything. But grace is God’s profound gift of accepting us as worthy, granting us the privilege of actually participating in His life. This gift of God’s love for us is beyond imagining. Grace is the eternal fact of Creator God desiring that we approach Him and develop a relationship with Him. Grace is God’s love offering to us which He initiated and to which we simply need to respond. Any gift of God’s grace that enables us to develop this life-saving relationship with Him is a sacred mystery. So sacraments in the Church involve material elements like bread, oil, water and wine to bring God’s presence into our lives. The physical elements of the sacraments are the means that God has provided, through the working of the Holy Spirit, to grow in our faith and become more like Jesus.

Descriptions of Sacrament has been described in literally hundreds of ways. Because there is a mystery involved, there may be no perfect definition to sacrament, but perhaps these descriptions will help us get a handle on what a sacrament is in the life and ministry of the Christian church:

• Outward signs of inner grace;
• Sacred mysteries to convey grace to our souls;
• Material forms of grace for our spiritual benefit;
• Visible symbols of the reality of God;
• Vehicles of God’s grace to enable believers to grow in being sanctified;
• Earthly materials by which divine life is given to us;
• A physical sign of a spiritual reality;
• The material elements that unite us into a spiritual union with Christ;
• God’s gifts of Himself in created matter for our transformation;
• When God’s grace elevates nature into being vehicles of God’s presence;
• When God’s gift of the Holy Spirit transforms matter for our own transformation;
• When God’s Spirit brings divine life to tangible elements for our benefit;
• The physical elements that are inspired by the Spirit to bring God’s influence upon us.
• Material objects that are channels God’s energy and power to believers in the Church;
• Tangible elements that bring sanctifying grace to believers;
• Created elements that usher us into participation in the divine life;
• Signs of grace entrusted to the Christian Church by which spiritual life is strengthened and empowered.

The sacraments being celebrated in the Christian Church depends on the actual church. Many Protestants do not recognize any sacraments at all, and others tend to recognize two sacraments… Baptism and Communion, because Jesus in the Gospels was abundantly clear about instituting those acts of discipleship. The traditional, historical faith communities, though, namely the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, have adopted seven sacraments in its ministry of discipleship… Baptism, by which a person is born into the new life in Christ and brought into the household  of faith, the Body of Christ; Confirmation, by which a baptized person is personally affirming his faith and vowing a life of commitment to Christ;  Eucharist, by which a believer partakes of divine life by digesting the spiritual food of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, and strengthens the unity of those believers who share in this Communion; Confession, by which a believer participates in spiritual reconciliation by confessing one’s wrongdoings to a priest and receiving forgiveness from God; Healing, by which a person who is suffering with sickness of any kind receives prayers for healing and for restoration to full health; Ordination, by which a man receives his holy orders of serving others in the name of Christ; Matrimony, by which a man and a woman reflect the union between believer and God by committing themselves to a communion of life and faith with each other.