church unity
Can you please explain the meaning of the Lord's Supper?
I participate in it month after month but am not sure of its significance.
By ROLAND CHIA
MOST theologians would agree
that the institution of the Lord's Supper goes back to Jesus Christ
Himself.
In all three Synoptic Gospels we have the explicit words of Jesus
recorded by the evangelists which inaugurated the practice (Matt
26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20). There is strong evidence
to suggest that the last meal that Jesus shared with His disciples
was a Passover meal of Jewish tradition, although some scholars
have disputed this conclusion.
The oldest document regarding the practice of the Lord's Supper
is found in Paul's first letter to Corinthians (chapter 11), where
he included the narrative that was passed to him through oral
tradition. In that passage, Paul also gave some specific instructions
as to how the Supper should be conducted, and the proper attitude
needed to participate in it. This shows that the practice of the
Lord's Supper in the Christian committee has already been in existence
before the writing of the first Gospel, which was probably the
Gospel by Mark.
Although churches across the denominational divide celebrate the
Lord's Supper, there are some significant disagreements between
the different traditions regarding the significance and meaning
of the practice. For instance, there is a dispute about the way
in which Christ is present in the elements of bread and wine used
in the Lord's Supper. Some claim that at their consecration the
bread and the wine are transformed into the body and blood of
Christ. Others maintain that the bread and the wine only represent
the body and blood of Christ.
The body of literature that has been produced by the different
traditions on the theology of the Lord's Supper or the Eucharist
is daunting. It is impossible to even begin to discuss some of
the finer points of the ongoing theological debate on this subject
in the limited space allotted for this essay. What I propose to
do is to present, in the sketchiest outline, the meaning of the
practice. It is hoped that this will help readers to grasp the
significance of the Lord's Supper in the life of the Church and
the individual Christian.
The Lord's Supper is firstly a remembrance
of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our salvation. The
last meal that Jesus had with His disciples before His arrest
and execution marks an important point in the history of the world.
It marks the point in which God will make His salvation available
to His creatures through the sacrificial death and victorious
resurrection of His incarnate Son.
The bread symbolises the body of Christ that was broken, and the
wine symbolises the blood of Christ that was shed for the sins
of humanity. The Last Supper therefore anticipates the sacrifice
of Christ on the cross. The Lord's Supper serves as a reminder
of the deliverance from sin and death that God has brought about
through the death of Jesus. In this way, the Supper's relation
with the Jewish Passover Meal is clear. Both have to do with the
deliverance of the people of God.
Precisely because the Lord's Supper celebrates the salvation that
is wrought by Christ, it is not just about remembering the past.
In celebrating the Lord's Supper, we are also celebrating the
future. Through His death and resurrection, Christ has opened
up a future for us - a future with God. Thus in 1 Corinthians
11:26 Paul says that "whenever you eat this bread and drink
this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes".
The Lord's Supper urges us to look back at the cross so that our
vision of the future will be clear. Most rituals of the Supper
include this threefold declaration: "Christ has died, Christ
is risen, Christ will come again." The Lord's Supper unites
past, present and future. The certainty of the past gives us hope
for the future in the present.
The celebration of the Lord's Supper is not just a memorial;
it is also a proclamation. Every time we participate in the Lord's
Supper, we are telling anew the story of God's gift of salvation
in Christ. Every time we celebrate the Supper we tell His story,
the story of the One who became man for us and for our salvation.
But by doing so, by telling His story, we are also telling our
story, the story of the community of faith. Furthermore, by putting
our faith in Jesus, Christians are caught up in His story. Our
stories are now profoundly wrapped up in His. This means that
His resurrection has become our resurrection, His life our life!
Finally, the Lord's Supper also has to do with communion. That
is why it is sometimes called Holy Communion. In the Lord's Supper
a two-fold communion takes place: communion with Christ and communion
with the Church. Put differently, the celebration of the Lord's
Supper unites Christians together in Christ. Because in eating
the bread and drinking the wine, Christians participate in Christ,
Paul could therefore write, "Is not the cup of thanksgiving
for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?
Is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of
Christ?" (1 Cor 15:16).
But in participating in the Lord's Supper, Christians also participate
in the fellowship that is made possible by Christ. Thus the Lord's
Supper is the expression of the intrinsic unity of the members
of the Body of Christ, the Church. As Paul has again put it so
succinctly, "Because there is one loaf, we, who are many,
are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf." (1 Cor
15:17).
Dr Roland Chia is Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Lecturer in Historical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Theological College. He worships at the Fairfield Preaching Point in Woodlands with his wife.