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letroxell · 6 years

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Your Rememberance

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. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’ Matthew 26:26-29

I am the Living Bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, He will live forever. And the Bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.-John 6:51

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. -1 Corinthians 11:26-32

Your Remembrance

On the day I was brutally murdered I sat with My twelve men and broke bread. They were all relaxed and happy, Naive to what lay ahead. I showed them how to remember me, for in the near future, I would be gone. And I explained again, very clearly, Just why they could not come along. I gave them bread to represent my flesh, I gave them wine that it might be my blood; Teaching them that to break bread in this way Is a celebration of my love. I promised that in the future any time their faith might stray, All they need would be restored to them When they remember me in this way. So never hesitate to take communion, For fear that you might be impure. For, my flesh can restore your health to you, And my blood, your forgiveness procure. ©Linda Troxell, 0511/2016

Next time you are in church when it is time to take communion, look around you and see how many of the congregants are very, very nervous. It seems there is little else in the rituals of Christianity that can strike so much fear in the hearts of so many. That’s because we’ve been warned not to take communion if we have any unresolved sin, lest we bring God’s judgment upon ourselves. We have been taught that taking communion while unworthy or impure is what makes us weak and sick, and might even cause our death.

So, when it is time for communion Christians are, as the saying goes, caught between a rock and a hard place. They can either take communion and risk the judgment of God, or they can pass on communion and risk the judgment of their fellow Christians, all of who will now know they have unresolved sin. However, there really should be no dilemma. For, as far as I know, there has only been one person in the history of the world who had no unresolved sin, the Son of God himself. So if we should not take communion while we have unresolved sin, then we better just do away with communion altogether.

But, luckily for us, the belief that communion is only for the sinless is, in fact, a myth. There is no Biblical basis for that belief and communion just might be the most beneficial and healing ritual that we, as Christians, can participate in. So, if there is no Biblical support for this myth telling us to beware of communion, where does the belief come from? It comes from a simple misunderstanding of 1 Corinthians 11:26-32 wherein Paul says: For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

Well, after reading those verses, it certainly seems that what Paul is saying is that when we take communion when we are in a state of sin we are inviting judgment from the Lord. However, in the Bible, as in all forms of communication, when something is taken out of context it can change its apparent meaning, making it easy to misunderstand. In the case of 1 Corinthians 11:26-32, if we want to understand the true meaning of what Paul was saying in this situation we have to also look at the preceding verses,17-25.

Together, the verses 17-32 of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 make up a section entitled, Correcting an Abuse of the Lord’s Supper. The heading alone gives us an insight we don’t get from looking only at verses 26-32. When looking at those verses in isolation it is easy to come up with the interpretation we have all been taught. But when we take all of the 17 verses in this section together, we come up with a very different interpretation. In the verses 17-25 Paul is telling the Corinthians that their behavior at the Passover meal, a meal which is meant to be a remembrance and celebration of Jesus’s sacrifice for us, was unacceptable. In verses 17-19 Paul tells them he is not pleased with their behavior. He begins, “Now I am not praising you in giving you the following instructions. When you gather, it is not for the better but for the worse...”. And then he follows up in verses 20-22, by scolding them for their bad behavior at the Passover meal saying, “…some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one goes hungry and another becomes drunk.” Then comes the verses that are so vital to an understanding verses 26-32.

In verses, 23-25 Paul chides the congregation reminding them of the deep and sacred meaning of the Last Supper and what Jesus said at that meal; “This (bread) is my body which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” And “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” He counseled that this wine, representing the blood of Jesus, and this bread representing the flesh of Jesus, is symbolic of a covenant, a contract that was made at the cost of the life and blood of the most valuable life that ever walked the earth; our sinless creator. Paul emphasized that this covenant, which restored our connection to God, did not come cheaply and therefore is to be remembered with reverence, respect, and thanksgiving.

Now we can see the continuity between verses 17-25 and 26-32. The first is an explanation of the sacredness of the meal. And then, in verses 26-32, Paul explains that every time we eat this meal we are remembering our Savior's sacrifice. Therefore it is essential to understand the importance of eating the meal with reverence, as well as recognizing the sacredness of the symbols. Only now is it clear that Paul is saying not that our unresolved sin makes us unworthy, but that without proper reverence or a grasp of the importance of the wine and bread as symbols of the flesh and blood of Christ, we are eating and drinking in an unworthy manner. It is then that we are guilty of sinning against the body and blood of our Lord. Further, Paul admonishes the congregants that each of them is responsible to examine and judge for himself his level of respect and reverence before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup so that it is unnecessary for him to be judged by the Lord.

When Paul goes on to say, “That’s why so many of you are weak and sick and considerable number are dying, but if we judged ourselves correctly, we would not be judged.”-1 Corinthians 11:31-32 he is indicating that their behavior toward the sacred ritual of Passover, brings focus to the fact that their relationship with God is not in order. Hence, they are weak, sick and dying, not because they took communion while in a state of sin, but because in taking communion without reverence and thanksgiving for Christ’s sacrifice, they have cut themselves off from the healing power of God. This healing power comes only through remembering, with reverence and thanksgiving, that Christ sacrificed his life for us through the shedding of his blood.

If we fail to honor the blood and the body of Jesus, it is as if we are saying, “ I have not been healed by His wounds, or Jesus was wounded for nothing." When we go through the motions of the ritual without recognizing and respecting it as a celebration of the body and blood of Christ, that is when we are unworthy of taking communion.

If you are still unconvinced that Paul is not telling us that taking communion without first resolving all of our sins is unwise, then let's look at the way Paul closes out the section headed Correcting an Abuse of the Lord's Supper. In verses 33-34, the last two verses of this section, Paul does not tell the congregants to go away and take care of all of their sins before they participate in this ritual again. He does not even tell them to pray more for the forgiveness of their sins before they participate next time. No, in the last two verses Paul tells them next time you all need to eat together; if you are hungry eat something at home to tide you over so you can be more respectful of the sacredness of the occasion and not be judged for lack of respect. "So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.-1Corinthians 11:33-34. That's it.

Now, if these people were in danger of losing their very lives, physically as well as spiritually, for participating in a ritual when in a state of sin, don't you think Paul would have wrapped up by giving them a strong warning to make sure next time that they have no sin before participating in this ritual. Or, at the least to make sure they have asked for forgiveness of their sins before participating. If they were in that much danger do you think his last advice would be simply next time get something to eat before you come?

The truth is if we have been saved if we believe that the gift of the crucifixion and the resurrection established our relationship with God, healed us and gave us eternal life, if we are grateful for the sacrifice Jesus made for us, then we are worthy of communion. We should take communion often, any time we feel the need for healing, be it physical, emotional or spiritual. For the very act of communion, when performed with the awe and respect it deserves, brings healing. If we celebrate communion with the proper reverence and thanksgiving; if we use the symbols as an anointed means of performing the ritual that celebrates the death of Christ as the beginning of the new covenant of grace, then it can bring us closer to God and reaffirm His healing power in our lives.

Communion does not have to be performed by a pastor or a priest. Nor does it have to be celebrated in a church. We can take communion as we feel the need. We can celebrate communion daily with our family in our own homes, we can take communion in a park with others once a week or alone at the beach once a year; We can use bread or crackers or cookies as the body of Christ and kool-aid, water, wine or juice as His blood. Because the power of communion comes not from the symbols we use but from the reverence by which we use them. That reverence combined with our faith and our gratefulness for our Savior who gave His life for us is the power that heals us.

What is important is that we never take communion as a meaningless ritual in which we simply go through the motions. It needs to be a celebration of our faith that Jesus conquered death. Each time we break the bread, let it be our recommitment to the belief that Jesus allowed his body to be broken so that ours could be healed. Each time we sip from the cup, let us thank our Lord and Savior for shedding his blood to wash away all of our sins and to defeat death. Each time we take communion let us use it to tell the enemy that he too was defeated at the cross; for, when our belief in Jesus as our savior was born, our fear of him and his power over us died.

Let’s make every communion a celebration of Jesus’ death because through his death we were given eternal life to glorify our Father in heaven. We must believe that with each communion we are healed. That each time we break the bread and each time we sip of the cup the illusion of being broken and unwell fades a bit more. Because, as we believe, so it will be.

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