The Bible Nerd

A shot glass of juice (or wine if your denomination is old school) and a tasteless, white cracker the size of a Tic Tac??? What happened to the Lord’s Supper? My wife always laughs at me for using the word supper, because in the South, that can be lunch or dinner. Whichever meal it is, I could always count on supper being a lot of food. If you are hungry when you go to church, the Lord’s Supper isn’t going to help you at all. I can’t imagine needing to worry about Paul’s admonition to the Corinthians’ church in 1 Cor. 11 for eating and drinking TOO much.

I grew up in two different churches that handled Communion in different ways. The first had Communion every week and even had super cool cup holders in the back of the pews. The second only had communion once a month, but must have shopped at the same Communion store (silver trays, same tasteless wafer, plastic cups). I could have thought that the debate over Communion was only about how often you partook of it. I knew that it was something that you took seriously, sometimes can’t have unless you are baptized and older, and helped us think about Jesus and His death on the cross. Once I remember seeing the deacons preparing it in the basement of our church, and I felt as if I was spying on some sacred rite which I shouldn’t be seeing.

Then, I did something annoying. I studied the Bible to see what it says about Communion. First of all, the term “communion” comes from 1 Cor. 10:16 where Paul says, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a communion in the body of Christ?” Paul is NOT calling this act communion, because in the very same book, he calls it the Lord’s Supper. His point here is that we can’t have fellowship with Jesus and demons. No syncretism. Church fathers later started to use the word communion to refer to the whole tradition. Eucharist? Nope. Not there either; also added later by church fathers (not that there is anything wrong with church tradition, I am just saying the apostolic church didn’t use these terms. Don’t waste your time looking for the word sacrament either). In Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, and Luke 22:14-23, we find Jesus sharing the Last Supper with His disciples. During this Passover meal, He uses the bread and the wine to symbolize His body and His blood, pointing to His sacrifice on the Cross that was soon coming. Specifically in Luke 22:19, He says, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Clearly, the early church took this to mean that they should continue this symbolic act to remind the church of the sacrifice of Christ as evidenced in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. This is the only NT passage that refers to this act as “the Lord’s Supper” (11:20). From the references in the Gospels to the passage here in Corinthians, what is clear is that the Lord’s Supper was ACTUALLY a supper. This symbolic tradition was part of a whole meal that was shared by the church. Later in church history, the act of the Lord’s Supper got separated from the meal (sometimes called an agape feast). I won’t go into all the reasons for that, but I do want to highlight two key things that were lost when this happened.

The Lord’s Supper was supposed to be a time of fellowship. In all cultures, fellowship happens easily and often when it is surrounded by food. We can argue about how often the early church did this, but once a week or once a month would have provided rich times for people in the church to build relationship and get to know one another. Paul is angry in 1 Cor. because some in the church are not waiting for everyone to arrive to eat and they are gorging themselves and getting drunk while others go hungry. The Lord’s Supper to Paul was therefore a time for the unity of the church. Rich believers could share their food and drink with the poor believers. What an amazing picture of the kingdom of God to see Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, Greeks and Romans, men, women, and children all sharing a meal in happiness and joy!

Much of this is completely lost when it is separated from the meal. Communion today is more of an individualistic experience. I go up by myself and receive it, or it comes to us one at a time. Yes, in some churches, we drink and eat at the same time, but there should be no talking. It would be considered rude to start chatting with your neighbor during Communion. Where is the fellowship? Since the church provides the juice and wafer, how does it display the generosity and sharing in the body of Christ?

The Lord’s Supper was supposed to be a time of both heartfelt remembrance AND celebration. Of course, the Lord’s Supper is to remind us of God’s great love for us that He gave His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 warn us of the danger of drinking and eating in an unworthy manner. Perhaps this has led many to view the Lord’s Supper as a somber, serious time of reflection only. I would agree that taking the bread and wine should bring a humble remembrance of the cross and introspection of our lives, but it should be FOLLOWED by something else: a celebration! The message of the cross is good news (that is why it is called the Gospel), and should be something that brings freedom and joy.

By separating it from the meal, we rob the Lord’s Supper of the celebration of what Jesus has done for us. Recall that we are the Bride of Christ as the church, and that Revelation 19 pictures our wedding feast in heaven when the Lamb comes to take us “home”. The Lord’s Supper is a preview or down payment on the marriage supper of the Lamb. This is not the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16! That day was a day of fasting and mourning for the sins of the nation of Israel. It was the only “holy-day” of the Old Testament festivals that was somber. I fear that we have made the Lord’s Supper into our own Day of Atonement. Jesus came to fulfill the Day of Atonement, and now that it is accomplished, we can celebrate that “Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18).

Look, I know that people take the issue of the Lord’s Supper (Communion/Eucharist) very seriously, and so do I. I realize I could be in for some serious feedback from posting this. However, our doctrine or traditions should always be founded on Scripture, and at the very least, not contradict it. Orthodoxy can be a word which traps us in church traditions which have strayed from the simplicity of Scripture. I know the companies that make the tasteless wafers, small plastic cups, and silver trays may not like this, but I like the thought of sharing a meal with my Christian brothers and sisters where we remember the sacrifice of Jesus and how it has set us free.