When we stop to think about what is happening at this unique meal, set aside for the people of God, we have to be bowled over and blown away by the splendor of the sacrifice that made the feast possible.
Many words grace the ministry of a person who is a called and ordained servant of God’s Word. Among the most precious that leave our mouths are the words we speak as we place a piece of bread in the hand or on the tongue of someone we know and say, “Take and eat, this is the true body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, given into death for your sins.” We get to follow up with, “Take and drink. This is the true blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, given into death for the remission of your sins.” With “for you” ringing in our ears and theirs, we see people entrusted to our care leaving Christ’s altar with a gift, the gift of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. That is better than the glowing eyes of our children on Christmas Eve. In neither case do we expect or need a word of thanks. In the giving is all the joy we need.
For as we serve up the body and blood of our Lord, we think about the people who have come to receive. The seventy-eight-year-old who is mourning his wife still a year after her death. The thirty-eight-year-old who is still hoping to find the man of her dreams. The fifty-six-year-old who is wondering if the factory will close or stay open, keep all its employes or lay off some. The forty-two-year-old who has not come to worship since the divorce six months ago and still bears facial evidence of the stress and distress. The sixteen-year-old who has not communed in the year and a half since she told you she would not commune any longer because she could not believe His body and blood could really be there.
We rejoice, as well. We celebrate with the smiling teen-ager who is receiving the Lord’s body and blood with joy just a few months after confirmation, the cancer patient whose somber face hides joy at the pronouncement of remission of the tumor as she experiences this enactment of the remission of her sins, the husband and wife who have reconciled, the family who welcome their eldest back from military service, the veteran whose combat memories can be coped with if not set aside, at the table of the Lord.
The full impact of Christ’s saying, “Given for you,” and, “Shed for you,” often eludes those who receive His body and blood as they come to the altar and depart from it. But that impact strikes home in flashes of throwback to the encounter at the altar throughout the days and weeks to come. The encounter at the altar provides fuel for conversation, with family members and friends, and also with their pastor. As we conclude the distribution of our Lord’s body and blood, we may ask ourselves, “Am I prepared for the conversations to come?”
The Lord’s Supper brings us into contact with events two thousand years past and delivers their goods to us.
Some of our people may mention the joy they are given through these words. More likely are conversations in which we get to remind the troubled and the fearing of what the Supper of the Lord means for them. We encounter some who are still doubting forgiveness for their sins. Some are still battling demons of one kind or another. For them, the Supper offers strength as they identify with their Lord as the one who feeds them not only His body and blood for the forgiveness of their sins but also His presence and power to resist temptations of all kinds. We may take communion to a family striving to make the reconciliation you have helped achieve become real for them. We may remind the shut-in who sees few people in a week that the Lord who is present in the bread and wine we give is also present in every corner of her life through other forms of His Word.
Some Sundays we get to share words about the Sacrament with someone wanting to know how best to explain the joy of receiving the promise of everlasting life in the Supper to a relative or friend. Some Mondays we get to rush to the hospital to bring to a member sick unto death the Lord’s pronouncement and assurance of His love given to them, poured out for them. Some Wednesdays we get to share the Lord’s body and blood with fellow servants of the Word after a touchy exchange about doctrinal interpretations or casuistic challenges, recognizing that differences to not divide those who provide leadership to Christ’s people. Some Saturdays we sit and marvel at the blessing of being able the next day to hand out forgiveness, life, and salvation.
The magnificence of some of God’s most precious gifts is sometimes clouded over by our routine use of such gifts. The Lord’s Supper can become so regular a part of our week that we come to the Lord’s Table without thinking much about its magnificence. When we stop to think about what is happening at this unique meal, set aside for the people of God, we have to be bowled over and blown away by the splendor of the sacrifice that made the feast possible. The suffering and death of our Lord takes our breath away. His coming to life after three days in the grave leaves us dumbfound by the wondrous display of God’s lordship over life and death. The Lord’s Supper brings us into contact with events two thousand years past and delivers their goods to us. Life in the days following our receiving His body and blood cannot be the same as it would be had we not received forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation from Him in this special way.
Thus, we who bring the gifts to those who are trusting in the promise Jesus offers are able to radiate a special joy at the altar of the Lord as we say, “Take and eat, this is the true body of our Lord Jesus Christ, given into death for your sins. Take and drink, this is the true blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, shed for you for the remission of sins.” Wow!
