Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: April 1, 2021

Bulletin Maundy Thursday

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Do you remember how excited you were when you first got your driver’s license?  You couldn’t wait to drive!  You volunteered to run every errand mom or dad had if it meant you got to take the car.  How do you feel about driving now?   We humans eventually grow tired and bored of everything.  It starts early.  As children we promise our parents, “If you let me get that, I will NEVER ask for anything again!”  Until we get bored of that thing.   It happens with cars and cell phones and any new “toys” we get.  And sadly, it can happen to Christians and the holy things of God.

This was happening with the Christians in the city of Corinth.   They had the Word and Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  But there were so many other fun things in the big city!  Things that had been a big part of their lives before they were Christians.  They were beginning to think little of God’s holy things, including the Lord’s Supper.  So Paul reminds them what a special thing the Lord’s Supper is.  On this night when we commemorate the Lord Jesus instituting this Supper, Paul’s reminder to the Corinthians will also remind us that the Lord’s Supper is A Very Different, and Very Special Supper.

In the verses surrounding our text, Paul is addressing the issue of idolatry.  Corinth was up to its eyeballs in idol worship.  There were temples to false gods all over.  There were pagan festivals and feasts to these false gods.  And some of the Corinthian Christians were participating in these things.  It seems their attitude was, “C’mon!  Sunday we’ll do the bread and wine in our church and then tomorrow there’s the feast at the temple one block over, and then Thursday we got the big sacrificial thing at the temple on the corner of 4th and Pegasus Street!”  As if there was moral equivalency between the eating and drinking Christians do when they gather and the eating and drinking at idol temples!

In our verses, Paul gently puts his hand on their shoulder, as it were, and says, “Come, walk with me to the Lord’s Table.  What do we have here?”  He says, The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?   Paul gets to his point by way of questions.  He wants them to engage, to think.  “The cup of blessing” – it’s a term from the Passover meal which Jesus was eating when he instituted his supper.  It is a reference to the wine.  He says it is a “communion” of the blood of Christ.  Paul speaks about the bread that we break.  In early New Testament days Communion was celebrated with one loaf of bread which would be broken up into smaller pieces.  Paul says this bread is a communion of the body of Christ.

What does Paul mean?  He wants the Corinthians to realize just what a different and special meal the Lord’s Supper is!  With these words the Holy Spirit expounds on Jesus’ words of institution.  Jesus had said, This is my body and this is my blood (Mark 14:22, 24)  Here the Holy Spirit explains that the bread and wine are a communion, that is co-union, with Jesus’ body and blood.  Another well-known translation of our text says that the cup and bread are a participation in Christ’s body and blood.

Now, every attempt at explaining this or illustrating this will fall short, for we are here dealing with a divine mystery.  But let me try to offer an illustration that may in some way aid in understanding.  In order for there to be a “participation” between two things, both things must be present.  For example, if I am to participate in a football game, there must be a football game and I must be present at it.  If I send a picture of myself to a real football game, if they carry my picture out to the huddle, I haven’t really participated in the game.  Conversely, if I look at a picture of a football game, I can’t say I participated in it.  I must be really present at a real football game to participate in it.

If the wine and bread are a “participation” in the body and blood of Christ, then all of those things must really be present!  The bread and wine must be present.  The body and blood must really be present.  And that is precisely Paul’s point.  We in the Lutheran church call this truth the “doctrine of the real presence.”  Jesus’ body and blood are really present in the Lord’s Supper!  Do you see what a special, and different meal this is?

But why?  Why would Jesus really give us his body and blood in this mysterious and sacramental way?  For that we go again to Jesus’ words.  This is my body given for you (Luke 22:19).  In Communion, Jesus wants you to know you are receiving his given-body.  Jesus’ words walk us again to the cross to see his body given up in death as payment for your sin.  And Jesus says, This is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out. (Matthew 26:28)  In Communion, Jesus wants you to think about his blood, not as it pulses nicely through his veins.  But he wants you to think of his poured-out blood, pouring out of veins that were punctured by thorns, torn and lacerated by the scourge, punctured by nails.  And this, not so you wince and say, “Aww, poor Jesus!”  But so that you might say, “Oh, how blessed am I!  Jesus poured out his blood for me!  I am forgiven!”  Do you see what a special and different thing we have in Communion?

Isn’t it something how God has involved our senses in forgiveness?  What does forgiveness feel like?  It feels like water on my head!   What does it sound like?  It sounds like spoken words.  What does forgiveness look like?  It looks like that cross on the wall!  What does forgiveness taste like?  It tastes like bread without yeast and grape wine!

Those who eat and drink this very different, very special meal, are a very different, very special people.  Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.  When you dine out at a restaurant, do feel a deep sense of oneness and fellowship with the others in the restaurant?  Do you even notice them?  How different it is with the Lord’s Supper!  We eat bread together, yes.  But even more than that, we become sharers of Christ!  We receive his one body given for our sins, and so we are members of the one body of Christ.  And as one body, in Communion, we proclaim Christ’s death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:26). 

There is a “sanctifying” that happens in this.  “Sanctify” in the pure sense of the word is “a setting apart.”  This very different, very special meal sets us apart.  That was Paul’s point to the Corinthians.  How could they participate in idol worship when they have a meal where the cup and bread participate in the body and blood of Christ?  How could they, the members of the body of Christ, join in the worship of idols?  This meal “separates” us from that stuff.  The same is true for us.  This very different, very special meal “separates” us from the idol-culture around us.  It calls on us not to participate in the sin all around us in our culture.

Many religions have feasts and ritual meals, but not one has anything like the Lord’s Supper!  None can boast of a meal in which their God gives himself, and forgiveness!  God preserve us from ever thinking little or lightly of this great gift!  On the contrary, may we always treasure, and often partake of, this very different, and very special Supper!

Amen.

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