The Lord's Supper:
Liquid, Edible Gospel

Luke 22

By Rev. Kevin Chiarot

This morning we continue looking at the institution of the Lord's Supper in Luke's gospel. Last week we saw that the supper is the feast of the coming, the future, eschatological kingdom of God. Five times, we saw, Jesus mentions the kingdom and the coming judgment. Thus, at its heart, this is a sacrament which partakes of the end, and borrows its glory from the coming wedding Supper of the Lamb.

The Supper then, rightly approached, creates eschatological people, heavenly people, people who belong to the future, people who live out of the age to come, people who have been displaced from this age, and who are oriented toward, and yearning for, the coming kingdom feast. In the Supper we partake of the coning kingdom now. So its not simply a feast, nor is it simply about communion with Jesus. Neither is it merely about communion with Jesus, and communion with our brothers and sisters here. It is about reclining with Jesus, face to face, and with patriarchs and the prophets and all the saints in the kingdom of God. The main message of Jesus' preaching ministry is "repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." And at the heart of this table, which Jesus left us to remember him by, is eating and drinking at the feast of the kingdom.

Today, in verses 19 and 20, we will look at the actual words of institution. That is, the words Jesus said, and the words ministers, acting in his name, repeat, over the bread and the wine. We will make three points. Eucharist, Bread and Wine, and Gospel.

I. Eucharist

First, then, eucharist. Verse 19: He took bread, and when he had given thanks. Note that the word for "giving thanks" is the Greek word from which we get the word Eucharist. Thus, sometimes we speak of this table as the eucharist. Eucharist simply means thanksgiving.

In all three gospels, where we have the institution of the Supper, we have Jesus blessing and giving thanks. When Paul cites the words of institution in 1 Cor. 11 he records that Jesus gave thanks. In the shadow of the terror of the cross, he gives thanks, because that cross is the way the kingdom will come. And expressing our gratitude to God, for what he has done for us in Jesus Christ, is the very soul, the lifeblood of this feast. As Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 10: the cup of blessing which WE bless. In imitation of Jesus, we now bless the name of God, we give thanks. As our confession of faith puts it, the supper is a "spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God" for Christ's once for all offering up of himself.

Now, the famous 16th c. Heidelberg Catechism, has three parts which have traditionally been spoken of as Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude. The catechism probes the sin and misery of man, his guilt. Then it moves to the grace of God in Christ, and finally to the Christian life, the life of gratitude we are to live in response to the gospel. And at the heart of the Supper's value for our spiritual growth, is the fact that we are reminded, visibly, of our guilt here. And, much more so, of the grace of God which bore our guilt. And, thus, of the gratitude, the eucharistic spirit, that should pervade our lives, because of who and what is set forth at the table. The Supper brings us to the very heart of Christian existence, to gratitude at the foot of the cross, gratitude for the mercy of our God, and the atoning agony of his Son, our Savior. This is why, in our liturgy, a prayer of thanksgiving immediately precedes the celebration of the Supper. Gratitude is to be the atmosphere of the meal.

So, how is your speech? What is the fruit of your lips? What is moral state of our soul revealed by your mouth? If it's too much grumbling, complaining, and criticizing, if its too earthly and horizontal, if its consumed with matters of this passing life, here is the remedy. The eucharist is given to create eucharistic people. People whose speech is first and foremost vertical. Directed above. Blessing the name of God and giving thanks to him for his indescribable gift. That is eucharist.

II. Bread and Wine

Our second point is bread and wine. So Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them, saying: This is my body. Jesus is taking elements of the Passover meal, and, by his word, giving them new meaning. It is important to get this. The sacraments are, for us, subordinate to, addendums to, the Word.

And, even at the table, it is the Word, the speech of Jesus, which makes the bread and the wine to be what they are. There is no intrinsic connection between the bread and Jesus' body. Just as there is no intrinsic, natural, obvious relation between the wine and Jesus' shed blood. It is the Word, which, by its sovereign power, gives the signs their meaning, and causes the sacrament to be a sacrament. I mean, after all, Jesus might have taken a piece of the Passover Lamb and said: this is my body, and that might have seemed more apt, more fitting to us. But, for whatever reason, he didn't do that, he took bread. And, by his Word, declares it to be his body.

Now, as you know, there are a number of opinions as to what, if anything, happens to the bread (and the wine as well) in the Supper. I do not want to rehearse this at length, but we absolutely must say a few things, briefly, here. Because this is an important matter and there is much at stake.

On the one hand, is the Roman Catholic view that the bread becomes the actual body of Christ (as the wine becomes his actual blood). This is known transubstantiation. The (hidden from sight) substance of the bread, becomes the substance of Christ's body, and the outer appearance of the bread (what is known as its accidents) remains the same. At the other end of the spectrum, are what we might call, purely symbolic views. Nothing happens to the elements; they are just symbols to aid our memory of Jesus' death.

The reformed reject both of these views, and I think, rightly so. The sacraments are neither magic, nor are they mere symbols or aids to memory. There are three convictions in play here.

First, is the distinctively reformational conviction that the sacraments are signs AND seals of the covenant God has made with us. I hope, Lord willing, to unpack this more next week. But for now notice, the sacraments DO signify, but they do not merely signify. They are signs AND seals, meaning they confirm, they strengthen and reaffirm, the realities of God's covenant with us, which we hear proclaimed in the Word. A paper on official city hall letterhead is good, a paper with the official seal affixed is even more certain, more authentic. It's confirmed. So think of the sacraments as little confirmation rites/rituals to reassure us, to seal upon our souls, the realities of the covenant. Something is really given to us, sealed to us, in the sacraments. Namely Christ and his benefits.

The second conviction then, is the fact that, in a sacrament, the sign points to the thing. There is a real relation, a spiritual relation, sometimes called a sacramental union, but a real relationship between sign – in this case the bread – and the thing – the body of Christ. Jesus is not playing with us, or pretending in the sacrament, he is giving us his body under the sign of bread. And what this means, is that the name of the thing is applied to the sign. That is, the bread is called Christ's body, and the wine is called his blood. The name of the thing is applied to the sign. This is just covenantal language. It doesn't mean the bread turns into Christ body.

For example, in the Old Testament, circumcision, which is the sign of the covenant with Abraham, is simply called the covenant. The name of the thing is given to the sign. Here's Genesis 17: This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. Notice circumcision, the sign, is called the covenant, the thing. The sign is given the name of the thing that it points to.

So, to recap. Sacraments signify and seal the covenant, and the name of the thing is given to the sign. And this means we are really given the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament-- WITHOUT the bread and wine turning into Christ's body and blood. The question is, of course, how do we affirm this? We affirm that this is accomplished by the mysterious power of the Holy Spirit. We are lifted up into heaven. This is why we have the Sursum Corda (where we say: lift up your hearts, we lift them up to the Lord) in our liturgy, just prior to the prayer of thanksgiving. We are lifted up, by the Spirit, into heaven. Now that is an astonishing claim, but it is basic to the Christian conception of reality. Colossians 3 says we've been raised WITH Christ, and our life and affections are above.

Ephesians 2 says we are raised up and seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Hebrews 12 says we've already come to the heavenly Zion. So, by the Spirit, we are lifted up to heaven, where Christ's actual body and blood remain. This is crucial because if Christ's body and blood are physically present everywhere the Supper is celebrated, then Christ's humanity is no longer anything like our human nature. And you've then confused the two natures of Christ. And destroyed the integrity of his human nature.

So, we are lifted up, by the Spirt, into heaven, where Christ's body remains. And, through faith, we feed on him, meaning we eat and drink the virtue and power and life that flow to us, from his humanity. As surely as our eyes see, and our bodies are nourished by the bread and the wine, so our souls, through faith… in a spiritual manner, not carnally (not chewing on Jesus' body), but through the Spirit, we feed upon the benefits communicated to us through Christ's self-giving sacrifice, his body given, and his blood poured out.

That, in brief, is the Reformed (and biblical) view of the body and blood. Of what transpires in the right reception of the sacrament. We do indeed get the real presence, the body and blood of Christ in the Supper. I wish we could make it simpler, but that's as simple as it gets. And hammering it out was part of the crucial battles of the reformation era in the 16th c.

III. Gospel

Finally, the gospel. I do not want us to lose the forest for the trees here. So let's step back and note something crucial. We partake of resurrection life, flowing from Christ's humanity, under these forms of brokenness and weakness, broken bread and poured out wine.

Notice, on the bread, Jesus says: this is my body, which is GIVEN FOR you. The whole glory of the gospel is in those three words. Given for you. Given, as sheer gift, out of the inexhaustible love of God. And not just given; but given for you. The gospel is preached to you, and it speaks of Christ being given for you, but in the Supper, you, personally, are fed, you take and eat, you take and drink. The fact that Christ died FOR YOU is intimately, physically, eaten and drunk, assimilated into, your soul by faith. The Supper seals the gospel as being the gospel FOR YOU. And the cross is the center of the gospel. The body is given, given up into the hands of his enemies, yet freely given up for our sake.

And note, the blood is also, we are told, "poured out" for you. As with the body, here you make the blood offering personally applicable to yourself and your sins. And we should not lose sight of the fact that "poured out" is a way of reminding us that this was a violent death. That he was crucified in weakness, that he was unjustly executed. Blood was separated from the flesh, thus there are two actions here not one. There is no sign of resurrection on this table. Nor did Jesus leave us a throne or symbols of earthly power. Or a victory march. He left us this. Broken bread and poured out wine. His body given and his blood spilled. Resurrection life in this age, takes this cruciform shape.

The Supper places us, week after week, at the epicenter, at the place we continually drift from, at the place we rebel against, at the place where we are repulsed, at the place where we are stripped and exposed… at the place of darkness and dread and trembling, and thus at the place of wonder and gladness and light. It places us at the foot of the cross. That is one of its many immense benefits. Every week, the heart of the gospel, the still point of the turning world, the cross, assumes center stage, and we are placed before it. What else would the feast of the eschatological kingdom do if not place the gospel of the kingdom before our eyes?

This is then, a visible word. It is the gospel in another form, visual, touchable, taste-able. It is the Word given a kind of flesh so that Christ may correct, cleanse and comfort you. This is why Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 11, that, as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim, that is, we preach the Lord's death until he comes. This is a proclamation of the Lord's death. This is the liquid and edible gospel.

So we give thanks, eucharist, for the body and blood of Christ, for this is the drama of the gospel, set before our eyes, placed into our hands and mouths, by the crucified, and now risen, Host and originator of the meal, Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. Amen.