The Sacrament of Unity - I Corinthians 11:23-32
Vicar Darren Harbaugh
We see from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians that there was a problem in that church involving the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The people there were treating it like it was a cocktail party. The wealthiest members of the church sat inside in the VIP lounge, gorging themselves and getting drunk, while the poor people sat outside, sometimes left with nothing at all to eat.
Needless to say, this created divisions in the church. Paul needed to remind the Corinthians that the Lord’s Supper is not a private meal, or an all-you-can-eat buffet with an open bar, but it is the LORD’S supper. It doesn’t hurt for us to remember what the Lord’s Supper is about either. After all, it is Maundy Thursday. We remember the evening that Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples. Our celebration tonight may seem the polar opposite of that gluttonous, exclusionary Corinthian debacle, but Paul’s words are still relevant for our own local community today as we approach our Lord in his Supper.
The first part of our epistle reading is familiar – the Words of institution - but listen again to the second part: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. “
We believe the words of the Apostle Paul. We’ve even got the cards to proof it. This passage is the reason you’ve got one of these cards in front of you in the pew. We take Paul’s words seriously. We desire that all who come to the Lord’s Supper eat in a worthy manner, and that everyone examines himself.
Let’s look at these two statements about “examining yourself” and “eating in an unworthy manner.”
What does it mean to examine yourself? Well, you must believe that you are really eating the true body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Those are the two big things we want kids to learn about the Lord’s Supper as they go through Catechism. #1: True body and blood of Christ. #2 for the forgiveness of sins.
So, you want to examine yourself, that you actually believe what the Lord’s supper is and what it does. People in the Corinthian church actually got sick and died because they did not discern the body in the Lord’s Supper.
But there is another aspect involved here. Our card here welcomes all confessional Lutherans who are in agreement with these statements. We want all at our altar to be in agreement with each other. This comes from the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 10, when he says: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”
I repeat: “we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”
There is one bread, there is one body. We desire that all who come to the altar be united in confession and belief, united with one another.
Remember the Corinthian congregation? Instead of partaking in the Lord’s meal, each person acted like it was their own meal.
That leads to the next phrase, “eating in an unworthy manner.” How do you eat the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner? When you act like it is your own personal meal. It’s not. It is the LORD’S Supper. It is Communion - communion with Christ, and also communion with one another. You are but one of many guests who is invited to the Lord’s feast. It’s is not just God’s vertical relationship with us, but also the horizontal relationship we have with one another.
When Jesus said “Take and eat, this is my body given for you.” The “You” is not singular. It is plural. If Jesus was from Texas, perhaps He would have said, “this is my body given for all ya’ll.
The Lord’s Supper is not a private matter or the property of an individual Christian but it is a celebration of the whole body of Christ. We will share eternity together.
But, maybe there are times when you don’t know the name of a person kneeling at the altar, participating in this amazing celebration with you. I dare you to introduce yourself to that person after the service. Don’t worry; they probably don’t know your name either. I’ll even give an good introduction: “Well, the vicar said we had to do this, so, ‘Hello, my name is…fill-in-the blank.”
Being shy or not knowing names is one thing, but remember, that Corinthian congregation that was divided disunity? They not only treated the Lord’s supper like their own personal meal, but there was an even more grave matter: they had no respect for one another.
How do you eat the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner? If you come to the Lord’s Table and there is unresolved disunity between you and another person in this church, then you are eating the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. You are guilty concerning the body and blood of Christ.
It’s as great a crime as the crime of those who butchered the body of Christ and shed his blood. It’s as great a crime as Judas’ betrayal, Pilate’s condemnation and the bloodlust of the crowds in Jerusalem.
You have no right to come to this altar if you are treating another member of this church with disrespect, if you hold a grudge, spread gossip, or harbor bitterness.
We sin against God and we sin against others and must be willing to do what is needed to remove any division that is between us and someone else. Christ calls on us to repent and set aside disunity. A good time to do this is when we share the peace.
This is why it is so important to trust that the Lord’s Supper is for the forgiveness of our sins. Because we sin. A lot. We gossip and bicker. We talk behind people’s backs. We don’t think the best of others, rather, we often we assume the worst of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We put our own ideas and opinions above others. We want our voice to be heard. We don’t care about disunity.
But, Christ strengthens us to do as he did, to serve one anther. To love one another, so that others will know that we are His disciples.
Our gospel reading describes the first Lord's feast where Jesus gave his disciples the example of serving one another by washing their feet. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. He humbled himself not only to the point of washing two dozen dirty, smelly feet, but he humbled himself to the point of a degrading death on a cross.
Christ still serves us in the Lord’s Supper. There he forgives you from all your sins. In the supper, we are united to Christ whom we have dishonored and sinned against and we are united to our fellow Christians whom we have also disrespected and sinned against. In the Lord’s Supper we are also given the promise of a fabulous feast to come.
Remember that the Lord’s Supper is a feast! It’s not a microwave dinner that you eat all by yourself. It’s not a power bar that fits in nutrition among all the other things in life. It’s not a buffet that is all about you and what you want. It is not even a home cooked meal that you put a lot of your own effort into.
It is a feast! And, remember, it is the LORD’s feast. He is the host. He sends the invitations. He sets rules. You don’t go into a great feast and start demanding things of the host. He serves what is on his menu, and we show him honor and respect.
What is remarkable about this feast is that Jesus is not just the host, but he is also the honored guest, the waiter, and the meal.
This meal of his body and blood, to this day, still enlivens the senses. When you come up to the altar for the Lord’s Supper, You smell the wine. It is the sweetest scent you could ever smell. It is the smell of the Lord’s death, of the forgiveness of sins, of communion with Christ and one another.
It's the same when we actually taste the wine and the bread. That is the taste of Christ’s revelation, of fellowship with God and with others. It is the taste of our Lord’s own body and blood, the same body that was crucified, raised from the dead, glorified and raised into heaven.
At the Lord’s Supper, we look back not just at the crucifixion, but we look forward to the Lord’s final coming when we all will be raised to heaven. Past, present and future are united in this meal. It is something that happened in the past, but happens a fresh right here and transforms our lives today. The Lord’s Supper is also a foretaste of that great feast to come at the end of time.
Do you want to be in attendance at that great feast on the Last Day? Good news we’re all on the guest list. But if there is anything in your life that is an obstacle to unity - Repent. Whatever it is, set it aside. Come together with your brothers and sisters in Christ in mutual love, forgiveness and repentance.
The Lord, who forgives you and loves you, invites you to His supper of unity. Taste and see that the Lord is good. We are privileged to participate in the new covenant in Christ’s blood. It is a covenant that he has made, not privately with an individual, but with all his people together as one body. Come to the altar as we proclaim Christ’s death to one another by eating and drinking his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins until he comes again to take us all to that heavenly feast that has no end. Amen
