In honor of world communion day, which was October 2nd, let’s talk about communion.
Disclaimer: This post does NOT cover the different beliefs about communion such as transubstantiation. I have no intention of discussing the details of this sacrament that have divided the church for far too long.
Instead, I want to zero in on the thing that has been missing from communion.
When we examine communion or the Eucharist, the vast majority of us focus on the objects of the body and the blood or the bread and cup. We think that, together, they comprise 100% of the communion sacrament. I do not believe this is correct. The body and the blood/bread and the cup are perhaps two-thirds of the sacrament.
Take a look at 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. These verses come directly after Paul severely corrects the Corinthian church on how those with means were incorrectly using the time for communion to fill their bellies with supper instead of correctly observing The Lord's Supper. Paul lays out a concise summary of communion:
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Since Paul's account seems to come from the Lord but he wasn't actually present at the Last Supper, we can look at the disciples' accounts who were there. (Luke was not there either, but he is noted for his accurate gathering of eye-witness accounts.) Jesus first gives us instructions on the Eucharist or communion:
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28 NIV)
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. (Mark 14:22-24)
After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. (Luke 22:17-20)
I've bolded the key words I'm focused on for this post. The three words in Greek are:
Bread = ἄρτον = arton
Having Given Thanks = εὐχαριστήσας = eucharistēsas
Cup = ποτήριον = potērion
Here's the 1 Corinthian's passage again, with the Greek words inserted:
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took arton, and when he eucharistēsas, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the potērion, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Does it surprise you to see that the word from which we get "Eucharist" is not found in the exact spot where the body and the blood are? It is found in this ceremony or sacrament, obviously, but it is not the actual body and the blood. It is found when Christ, we are told in our inadequate translations, gives thanks. Christ breaks the bread AND passes the cup AND gives thanks. The order in which he does so isn't so much important as the fact that he does all three. His demonstration of all three clearly instructs us to do all three, so that we might live forever, or as he says previous to this event:
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)
Let me be clear: Eucharist is not just the objects we're to consume, it is a verb.
Eucharistesas is a verb! Christ does it and instructs us to do so as well, as a part of these "communion with Christ" events. I do not think he intended for us to merely consume his body and blood, real or imagined. He meant for us to do the whole thing—bread, cup, and Eucharistesas—because it makes room for the Holy Spirit to do His work.
The purpose of this first communion or The Last Supper was to make known to his disciples that even though his physical body was about to leave them, His body is still present with them. John's account of what happened in that upper room focuses away from the body and blood, skipping the bread and the cup entirely, and instead focusing on the purpose or heart-message of Christ as he comforted his disciples who were likely getting skittish about his recent many mentions of leaving them.
Instead of explaining the cup and bread and, John points to the coming of the Holy Spirit:
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever” (John 14:16). “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:18–19)
Taken together, all four gospels present a singular theme: That even though Christ has come, ascended, and will come again, he is present. He is present through the work of the Holy Spirit who bears witness to Christ through all who belong to Christ. He is present as we are transformed by the Holy Spirit into Christ's Body. By faith and by the Holy Spirit, we feast on Christ. As Christ says, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56). To feast on Christ metaphorically describes our abiding in him, and we do so through faith in him and through the Holy Spirit’s work in us.
This abiding in Christ, outlined by Christ in these passages, is worship.
What did Christ do when he gave thanks? Did he pop off a prayer of thanks and move on to the rest of the program? I think not. Jesus is not a good little Jewish boy muttering a rote, traditional prayer here. Everything Jesus does is intentional.
Even the fact that the words are not the focus is intentional, because that would make it far too easy for us to repeat the words, making the slide from sacred into ordinary inevitable. It's not the words of the prayer but the position of the one praying.
The translation of Eucharistesas into "thanks" is wholly inadequate, particularly when viewed through our Western thank-you-note-required lenses. Wholly inadequate.
To better understand the depth of this word we've translated into "thanks," lets look at another verse that zeroes in on the terrifying things that happen when we don't do it:
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:18-21)
(Yes, it's the same word, just past tense.) You might recognize these verses as the "Unpardonable Sin" verses. Do we think that this verse means God turns us over to futile thinking and dark hearts because we forgot to pop off a prayer of thanks before our meal?
It is obvious when we look at these verses in Romans, and their importance, that we are not dealing with mere unthankfulness! Dark hearts don't happen because we’ve forgotten a rote prayer of thankfulness before we consume our daily life. Dark hearts happen if we have disconnected ourselves from the Sustainer of all Life and therefore rot sets in. Rot is a natural result of disconnection from life-sustenance and the verses go on to detail the rottenness that occurs when we stubbornly refuse to abide in the Vine.
The opposite of rotting on the vine is abiding in the Vine. This is what Christ calls us to do. This is what Christ did while walking the earth. He abided in the Father. Their connection was unbroken from birth to beyond the grave—he was never disconnected at any moment from the Father. When he does only what he sees the Father do and says only what he hears the Father say—this is Christ abiding in the Father as we're to abide in Christ.
Yes, the body and the blood are necessary parts of The Eucharist as a whole because without something tangible to direct our hearts to the presence of the Holy Spirit, we are utterly unable to make the reconnection. But the missing thing is that part where Christ explicitly demonstrates how we are to connect back to him and abide in him, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is our sacred worship.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (John 4:23)
Worship is not a song list. Its not a section of a pre-planned program. It's not even the activity that gets us before the throne room. It's most certainly not the brushing past the presence of God to declare we've been in the Presence of God that we charismatics are prone to do.
I've heard and seen all of these obscurations and the diluted form of Christlikeness they produce. Songs or traditions are easier for us because they focus on what we do, not force us to wait to connect to what God does.
Worship—true worship of both Spirit and Truth—begins with a revelation of the God who is Spirit and Truth. When we encounter a revelation of who God is—through the Word of God or who He is on our moment of need—we are moved to a proper position of repentance and Fear of the Lord. Then, in worship, He is present.
The Table of Eucharist is, after all, the Table of His Presence.
Without The Eucharist, we are unable to worship in spirit and truth. The blood and the body provide the person of Truth, and the Holy Spirit connects back to the Father through the Son. Christ tells us over and over that this was his ministry on earth! This moment during The Last Supper is this summation or culmination of all that he has taught, preached, and demonstrated.
While words in a worship song are useful to move us to a position to receive from God, we can't live without feasting on Christ in worship that receives His life-sustaining glory, then returns it back to Him.
When Christ paused, positioned himself before the Creator of the Universe, the Almighty God, gave thanks or worship, and broke the bread and passed the cup, he demonstrated what he wants us to do as well. So, instead of going through the motions of remembrance like we Protestants do or obscuring it with traditions, let's follow Christ's simple example and do the full communion worship, let’s do Eucharistsas, the verb:
Pause. By faith and through the presence of the Holy Spirit, re-align your position before God in the proper place as creation before the Creator, as a justified human before the God of the Universe. Open your hearts to receive God‘s glorious goodness. While we can’t contain the full weight of God‘s glory—it’s going to spill out around us and that is the intention—those who have been doing this longer can be expanded to perhaps contain more glory as Christ did. Receive the full measure of what God pours out upon you.
Then return it back to him in the form of undiluted worship, where nothing is lost in the transfer. The full measure of God’s glory he pours into you, return back to him in worship. Do this, consuming Christ’s body and his blood which makes this possible, and then you will have fully communed with God.
Grace makes it possible to fully commune with God.