For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and ill, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.
1 Corinthians 11:29-31 NIVUK
Ever since we moved house eight years ago, I'd noticed a line of trees on the edge of our neighbourhood. I wondered what was there. I thought it was nothing but farmland. Nothing too thrilling.
But lockdown caused me to take a second look. I discovered woodland straddling a narrow river in a deep gully. I found a place that during late spring becomes a haven of blue and white beauty as wild bluebells and garlic flower. I entered a place that has become a mental health haven in times of stress and strain, and a place of quiet contemplation in the midst of noise.
But it would have been so easy to miss.
That's exactly how it is with these verses. We see the highlights of Jesus' explanation of the bread and wine and skip quickly past these three short verses.
But that is a huge mistake. They represent one of the greatest challenges of the Lord's Supper, and one that we miss at our peril.
The Lord's Supper should be a united gathering. Yes, it reminds us of what Jesus has done for us. Yes, this should produce a reaction of humility that levels us. But this must cause us to become united.
You see, these verses are massively misunderstood. In certain traditions, a bell is rang during Communion and they believe that the bread and wine 'mystically' transform into the actual body and actual blood of Jesus Christ.
That is nonsensical. It is utterly short-sighted and quite unbiblical.
It doesn't take into account the context of these verses. The Corinthian church was badly divided into opinionated tribes, cliques and factions:
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: one of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptised in the name of Paul?
1 Corinthians 1:10-13 NIVUK
When Paul reaches chapter 11, he is not just setting up a nice ritual for Christians everywhere to participate in. No, he is also using this festal meal to resolve issues of deep disunity in the church. And he proceeds in chapters 12, 13 and 14 to address these further and bring order and discipline to a disordered and undisciplined fellowship.
Perhaps we have missed the point entirely of these Words of Institution. They did not institute the Lord's Supper - Jesus did in the Upper Room. What Paul is doing here is applying the Lord's Supper to a key area of the life of the church; that of Christian unity.
No matter how theologically opinionated we may be, we simply cannot escape these words in Scripture:
‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’
John 13:34-35 NIVUK
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:7-12 NIVUK
So what's the opposite of this? If we are grouchy and cantankerous and opinionated and demanding, will the world realise that we are Jesus' disciples?
I sincerely doubt it.
So why did Paul insist on the Lord's Supper as a means of unifying the Corinthian church?
I believe he intended not just to reintroduce a sense of decorum and respect. I believe he meant to humble the pride of those whose self-importance was damaging the church. I believe he wanted to show those who were wounded by the lack of love being shown by their fellow believers just how much God loved them.
But even more poignantly, Paul was distracting them from their differences and driving them towards the one thing they had in common: Christ. He was reminding them that they are all part of the Body of Christ. That they had no right to look down upon or despise or disrespect a fellow member of the same Body.
Of course the Lord's Supper is all about what happened on the cross. That cannot be ignored. But two absolutely unmissable outflows from this is that we are all equal in the sight of God and must be united. We become united when we lift our eyes off the petty issues that divide us and onto the one thing we have in common - the cross of Jesus Christ.
Wars have been fought over the tiniest differences in doctrine. Ancient denominations have been split. Church members have even gone to court with each other. But Paul has a strong, passionate rebuke for those who do this, which ends with these stirring, challenging words:
The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
1 Corinthians 6:7 NIVUK
It is an inescapable, but uncomfortable fact that Jesus tells us to settle our differences before we go to worship (Matthew 5:23-24). As participation in the Lord's Supper is an act of worship and scorning our fundamental equality before God or participating in division are both unworthy acts, I believe Scripture is clear: we must resolve these before we participate, and if we do not, then we should not.
I like the fact that some churches ensure that they all share the bread and wine at the same moment. It's a nice touch. But if we leave the Lord's Supper and compare ourselves with other people, or bad mouth them, or gossip, or slander them, or exclude them, then the symbolism of simultaneous participation is a complete waste of time. We are either equal before God and united or we are not.
So we have seen that the Lord's Supper speaks of the church's memory, equality and unity. Lastly, it also speaks of THE CHURCH'S ETERNITY.
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