Our Lord Jesus Christ, the same
night in which He was betrayed, took bread and when He had given
thanks, He brake it and gave it to His disciples saying, Take eat this
is My body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.
After the same manner, He took
the cup when He had supped and when He had given thanks, He gave it to
them saying, Drink ye all of it; this cup is the New Testament in My
blood, which was shed for you for the remission of sins. This do, as
oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me.
THE
PROMISE OF FORGIVENESS IN CHRIST
Because Christ
instituted His Supper as a way of assuring every believer that His body
and blood were “given” and “shed” for them, the words that He spoke are
the most important part of the ceremony. So important, that if the
words “Take eat this is My body which is given for you” and “Drink ye
all of it; this cup is the New Testament in My blood, which was shed
for you for the remission of sins,” are not spoken, then the Lord’s
Supper has not been celebrated.
Every time we
partake of the Lord’s Supper, those words give us God’s own promise of
forgiveness in Christ. And, as the Apostle Paul carefully explained in
the third chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians, God’s grace only
comes to us through faith in that promise (Galatians 3:6-22). In other
words, even though salvation and forgiveness is ours through faith in
Christ, without God’s promise we would have no reason to believe that
Christ died for our sins, or that we have forgiveness through His
death. Therefore, God’s promise is the rock to which our faith holds.
And, God uses the Lord's Supper (just as He uses preaching) to give us
that promise. Concerning that promise, Martin Luther said:
Now
this treasure is conveyed and communicated to us in no other way than
through the words “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
In these [words] you receive the double assurance that it is Christ's
body and blood, and that it is yours as your treasure and gift… And
inasmuch as He offers and promises forgiveness of sins, there is no
other way of receiving it than by faith… that which is given in and
with the sacrament cannot be grasped nor appropriated by our body. This
is done by faith in the heart, which discerns this treasure and desires
it. (Large Catechism)
At the same time,
those who cast doubt on what Christ said, by saying “it isn’t really
His body,” hinder the work of the gospel by casting doubt on God’s
promise, and risk making that particular promise “of none effect” (Mark
7:13). [Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, 1Corinthians 11:25,
29-31.]
THIS DO
Christ’s words
“This do in remembrance of Me,” make it clear that He wants us to do
what He did when He distributed the bread and wine, and we are only
doing what He did if we repeat what He said. Therefore, the two
statements at the beginning of this essay should be read each time the
Lord’s Supper is celebrated.
Since it is always
best to stick closely to what the Bible says, without trying to add
man-made embellishments (such as bowing, lifting up the cup, etc.), the
minister might read the first statement before distributing the bread,
and repeat Christ’s promise as he distributes the bread, saying, “Take
eat this is Christ’s body which is given for you. This do in
remembrance of Him.”
He would then read
the second statement before distributing the cup, and repeat Christ’s
promise as he distributes the cup, saying, “Take drink, this cup
is the New Testament in Christ’s blood, which was shed for you for the
remission of sins. This do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of
Him.”
This way of
celebrating the Lord’s Supper should be viewed as a continuation of
what Christ did, not an imitation of it. In other words, when we
celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we should think of it as part of the
original Last Supper, as if all believers throughout history have been
present at that Supper, and the bread and wine that Christ started
passing out then is finally getting to us.
THE
NEW TESTAMENT IN CHRIST’S BLOOD
By referring to the
cup as the “new testament in My blood,” Christ made it clear that the
new covenant consists of His sacrifice (His shed blood) not a new set
of rules. His words tell us that he is giving us the blood that was
shed for us, and faith in Christ consists of believing that His blood
was shed for us. Therefore, faith goes hand in hand with what Christ
said. The ceremony assures us that Christ’s blood was shed for us, and
we receive that blood as the atonement for our sin through personal
faith in Him (Galatians 3:6, 22).
The
Lord does not merely say “This is My body,” but He adds: “which is
given for you”; He does not merely say: “This is My blood,” but He
adds: “Which is shed for you, for the remission of sins.” It is plain
that He means to say: “The point of chief importance is that you
believe that this body was given for you and that this blood was shed
for the remission of your sins. That is what you must believe if you
wish to derive the real blessing from this heavenly feast.” By the
additional remarks: “Do this in remembrance of Me,” Christ means to
say: “Do it in faith” [i.e. do it remembering that His body was given,
and His blood shed, for your sins]. (C. F. W. Walther, “Law and
Gospel”, page 353)
THE
ELEMENTS
Since Christ
instituted His supper during Passover, the bread would have been the
same unleavened bread used at Passover and the cup would have contained
Passover wine. The words, “fruit of the vine” are a Hebrew idiom for
wine, and those words clearly exclude any non-grape product from being
used.
When it comes to
spiritual matters, Christ expects us to act like responsible adults.
Christ was not playing games when He instituted His Supper, and He
wants us to take it just as seriously as He did. Therefore, those who
cast doubt on the validity of His promise, and the ceremony itself, by
using something other than bread and the “fruit of the vine,” are
trivializing the ceremony, and acting like irresponsible play babies.
WHO IS
ELIGIBLE
When it comes to
the question of who should be admitted to the Lord’s Supper, we need to
follow Christ’s example. And, He never offered His Supper to the public
at large, to children, to those who were not baptized, or those who had
not been instructed in His Word. In addition, the Bible makes it clear
that those who partake should be able to examine themselves before
partaking (1Corinthians 11:29-31).
That being
understood, every member of the congregation who is not under church
discipline — having been baptized, instructed in the faith, and having
sufficient age and understanding to examine himself — is eligible to
partake. At the same time, it needs to be made clear that only those
who, look to Christ for mercy, believing that His body and blood were
“given” and “shed” for them, are worthy to receive Christ’s body and
blood (Romans 10:4).
Furthermore, since
I have seen the abuse that comes with simply passing the bread and the
cup around. (Such as children deciding to take the grape juice, but not
the bread), I prefer to have the ushers bring groups who are ready to
partake to the front, so that the bread and cup can be distributed to
each group in succession
CONCLUSION
Through the Lord’s
Supper, Christ presents His own body and blood to us as the atonement
for our sin. And, we receive His body and blood as the atonement for
our sin through believing that His body was “given,” and His blood
“shed,” for us for the remission of our sins (Galatians 3:22).