It is significant what someone does to prepare for their death. Some do nothing and deny the inevitable. That makes it hard for their family. Others of us put our affairs in order and make it easier for our survivors.
Jesus prepared a last supper with his disciples in which his dying is the centerpiece of the celebration. His dying is the central fact in the meanings of the meal as experienced by the participants. This celebratory meal is rich in meanings: it is a fellowship meal for the church; it is a sacrificial meal where Christ’s death is remembered – “do this in remembrance of me” – it is a meal anticipating the return of Christ.
Our participation in the meal does something to us: we learn these very things through our participation in a way that we could not were we not to take part over and over again. It becomes ingrained in our psyche as we are drawn back to this seminal act which is paradoxically the last command of Jesus to all his disciples before his death.
The church is the body of Christ. All of us are mysteriously but truly bound together in him, in and through his dying. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). That dying is re-presented and underlies every celebration of this meal.
The sacrament effects Jesus’ death in us, again and again. The Lord’s Supper frames our response to Jesus Christ in a communal fashion. It shapes us into the collective body of Christ, as his family around his table. It is truly the Lord’s Supper. In the meal, Jesus hands his Spirit and his life to us, and we are expected to receive those gifts so that we can hand them over to others. As we receive the bread we are receiving his body broken for our redemption. As we receive the cup we are receiving his blood shed for us as a sacrificial atonement for our sins. As we receive these elements into our body we, by faith, receive his salvation life into our souls. It is in our being sustained by the dying Christ we are able to face our dying, death and resurrection and we are enabled to sustain others in their dying.
As Christians, we believe that this sacred meal is the central, ongoing ritual by means of which we experience God’s presence, blessings, and promises. Whenever we celebrate that meal, we are reminded of our new, Christian story, and our partaking of the meal is a participation in that story. In fact, in eating bread (body) and drinking the cup (blood) we are all joined physically. The meal reminds us of the centrality of Jesus’ dying and our collective covenant with him in his dying. We join the communion of saints in that eternal fellowship around the throne of God.
The immediate and practical goal of spiritual formation that Christians seek in becoming like Jesus – those virtues of love, joy, peace, self-control, hope, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and humility – is not sought for personal display. Each is a quality that only makes sense in relationships. The clearest and most powerful place to understand that and be positively moved by it is at the cross, in our participation in the church’s central meal. “We, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of one loaf” (1 Cor.10:17). By gathering together around the Cross we are bonded together and become a new people in Christ.
LORD, this is your feast, prepared by your longing, spread at your command, attended at your invitation, blessed by your own Word, distributed by your own hand, the undying memorial of your sacrifice on the Cross, the full gift of your everlasting love, and its perpetuation till time shall end.
LORD, this is Bread of heaven, Bread of life, that, whoso eats, never shall hunger more. And this the Cup of pardon, healing, gladness, strength, that who so drinks, thirsts not again.
So may we come, O Lord, to your Table; Lord Jesus, come to us.
(Eric Milner-White)
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