The supper of our Lord

The supper of our Lord

On his last earthly night as a free man Jesus did a gospel-shaped makeover of the Jewish Passover (Matt 26:26-29; Mrk 14:22-25; Lke 22:14-20). The meal that once looked back to the first exodus and forward to the kingdom (Exod 12:1-13) now looks back to the greater and second exodus and forward to its fulfillment in the new creation (eg Matt 26:28-29).

As we eat and drink, we remember Jesus, look forward to the future in him and bind ourselves closer to he who is our host and to our fellow guests. Participation in the Lord’s supper is a spiritual high for those who are in the Lord and who have prepared themselves through word and Spirit. It is a Christ-given provision that holds the gospel out as a visible word. A faint parallel is found in the cutting of the cake and raising of a toast at a wedding or birthday dinner. Our eating and drinking bind us to the host and to one another as fellow honoured guests.

By the time that Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, celebration of the supper of the Lord was marred by sinfulness. For some it was an occasion of factionalism and selfish individualism that left some hungry and humiliated, all such that it was scarcely recognizable as the Lord’s supper (1 Cor 11:19-22). In fact, some seemed to eat and drink without recognising the body of the Lord such that their actions were deemed an “unworthy” act that drew judgment on themselves (1 Cor 11:27-30). There is a debate whether the “body of the Lord” mentioned in the text is the crucified body of Lord or his living churchy body. There may be an intentional ambiguity – we are to see both the crucified Jesus and to see his church in him.

So much for abuse of the supper of the Lord in first century Corinth.

How fares the Lord’s supper today?

In some circles, formal ritualism prevails. The supper may be elevated to a high importance in itself. Christ may be hidden behind ritual. The danger is that faith and focus rests not on the Lord of the supper but on the supper itself. Grace is in the supper, not in its Lord. This is one modern version of participating without discerning the body – here, we miss the body of the crucified Christ.

Another modern danger is of heightened individualism. Participation is an individual act of devotion in which the worshipper seeks communion with Lord in the Spirit and is oblivious to those around them. This is another, and opposite, version of not discerning the body – here, we miss the body of the church of Christ

Sometimes today the Lord’s supper is celebrated in such a low-key casual manner that it’s more like a birthday toast than an act of remembering and binding ourselves to Jesus and his church. Indeed, in some places, it seems to be celebrated as infrequently as a birthday. The remembering of Jesus may happen, but hardly in a way that promotes a solemn recommitment and binding ourselves to him and one another.

At other times the supper is conducted in a largely defensive way. The service leader is careful to guard against ritualistic words and explains how the bread and juice came from the supermarket and remain nothing but daily foodstuffs. Further explanations remind participants that grace does not come through participation but through faith in Christ. These points are true enough, but the message can be so exclusively defensive that we are left wondering why we bother participating and what we are doing in a positive sense.

The Lord’s supper seems always subject to distortion one way or another. This is not a reason to abandon it. Rather is time to return to Scripture and think theologically and liturgically. How we can celebrate the supper in a way that keeps it a gospel ordinance that recognises the body of the Lord and binds us to it?