Adam Wujtewicz | August 6, 2023
The modern evangelical church doesn’t appreciate the beauty of ritual. We don’t believe we can have a continued appreciation for something if we do it regularly. I’ve made this argument about our need for spontaneity rather than preparation and discipline. We talk all the time about how love in marriage is a choice not just nice feelings. It’s work, but we expect people to wake up day after day with the same person and find blessed contentment. We don’t apply this same mindset to church or our relationship with God. For fear that things will become stale and mechanical we just don’t do them as often hoping that it will seem like more of an event rather than making the choice to love it every single time and putting in the work to do so. Absence makes the heart grow fonder is not a biblical principle. Ritual isn’t bad. We only have 2 real rituals within the protestant church gathering. Baptism and Communion. Baptism though it should happen regularly within a church, we each only participate once so it’s new every time. Communion is the same bread and wine with the same people over and over again. It’s our job to remember the immensity of the events it represents. It’s our job to bask in the glory of the beautiful metaphor and never let it go stale, never look at it as just another meaningless ritual.
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“17Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 18He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” 19And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. 26Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ 27And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, 28for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’” – Matthew 26:17-19 & 26-29
Our communion stems from Christ’s final celebration of Passover. Passover originates from Exodus 12:1-28 right before the plague of the death of the first born. The Israelites were to put blood of an unblemished lamb on their doorways so that the angel of death would not kill anyone inside the house. This is a sign of things to come. If you’ve been part of my Hebrew study, you’ve seen the Old Testament point to what Christ will perfect in His birth, life, death, and resurrection. This Passover is no different. The ritual of the Passover meal is codified in Leviticus 23:4-8.
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Origins of Passover:
Exodus 12:1-28
Leviticus 23:4-8
Jesus then elevates Passover from the celebration of the salvation of the Jews from their bondage in Egypt to the celebration of the New Covenant and the forgiveness of sin. Covenants are traditionally ratified by the blood of animals but in this case, it is ratified by Christ’s blood which makes it everlasting and perfect. This is not a novelty though. This covenant was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 31.
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“31Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” – Jeremiah 31:31-34
Israel and Judah would include all the tribes of Israel and they are the ones who receive the covenant. All of Christ’s original disciples were Jews of many different stripes and they receive the covenant from Christ and proceed to proclaim this covenant to the world.
Christ is telling them that by His blood He is ushering in this new covenant that Jeremiah spoke of. This covenant sworn by God includes 3 unbreakable promises for those who enter in. The first 2 promises are a change from the law as a harsh teacher to a posture of gratitude and love in our own hearts and the second is a knowledge of God that brings us to a personal relationship with Him. From the similar language in Ezekiel 36:22-38 and from Christ in John 16:6-15these two promises are fulfilled by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God. The final promise from Jeremiah is the one that Christ highlights at the last supper which is forgiveness of our sins.
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The Holy Spirit’s Activity in the New Covenant:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Ezekiel 36:22-38
John 16:6-15
When we celebrate communion, these are the promises of God that we hold on to. These are what we give thanks for. We take hold of the grace and the sacrifice that accomplishes these things for us. The old sacrificial system, including the Passover, required blood because the perfect sacrifice was yet to be made. In communion we only make representations because doing more would diminish the perfection of Christ’s sacrifice
Jesus shows that He is what the Passover always represented which is freedom from death for those who have faith in Him and how God’s wrath passes over those who are covered in the blood of the spotless lamb who is Christ Jesus. This language Jesus uses is not new. He begins this new ritual of communion with language from one of His most difficult and controversial teachings. Turn to the gospel of John chapter 6 and we’ll walk through what He’s referencing and how Jesus elevates Old Testament shadows to it’s perfection in Him. Jesus delivers a barrage of contentious statements in this discussion that His Hebrew listeners would be blown away by. This is a long section so I’m going to skip around.
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“35Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
This is one of the famous “I Am” statements from John’s gospel. Jesus takes a concept that the Jewish people would understand and explains He is the perfect fulfillment of it. The statements reveal Jesus as Son of God, so they were inflammatory to the Hebrew listener. This one plays into the idea of the bread being the body of Christ. He adds the metaphor of the wine with the mention of thirst without making it plane.
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38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
This is Christs second contentious statement. Saying He descended from heaven is not something that is going to go over well in a lot of crowds.
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49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
Christ explains how He is the perfect fulfillment of what was experienced by their forefathers in the wilderness. They were given miraculous, lifesaving, bread by God’s grace in the wilderness but it was not perfect. It only sustained them bodily and while they ate it.
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50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’
Contentious statement number three. If you eat of the bread of life, which is His body, you will live forever. This is metaphor of course but Jesus doubles down in a few verses. Contentious statement number four is that He is the salvation of the world and not just the Jews. The Greek word here is “Kosmos” which is where we get our word “Cosmos”, it’s the entirety of creation. They would have seen the Messiah as savior of the Jews, not the whole world, despite the Old Testament continually pointing to that fact.)
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52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’
They don’t understand the metaphor. All scripture is true, and God breathed but not all scripture is literal. There are poetic portions of scripture, the parables were stories, not actual events, portraying godly principles. Imagery is used in prophetic and wisdom literature that is hyperbolic in nature. Jesus is not promoting miraculous cannibalism.
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53So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.’”
Jesus doesn’t dumb it down to bring people into the fold; He repeats His statement in greater, more difficult detail. This is the “why” for the communion ritual from our text in Matthew. This chapter explains all the details for the statements He makes about the bread being His body and the wine being His blood. The Catholic church makes the same error the Jews make in taking this literally but with different results. While the Jews left in disbelief, the Catholic church professes that their priests do miracles every Sunday, transforming the bread and wine into Christ’s literal body and blood. They take what is meant to be a symbol and a remembrance and turn it into mystical cannibalism. We are meant to internalize Christ. His life following God’s Law perfectly, His blood spilled for us on Calvary. We take these things into our heart, mind, and soul. The difference Jesus explains is unlike earthly food, nothing more will ever be required after we have come to faith in who He is and what He’s done. Jesus nourishes us forever. He fuels us to good works and gospel proclamation as food fuels our earthly bodies. The eternal nature of the new covenant is clearer here when Christ says those who partake will live forever but because they would have heard this discussion the mention of them celebrating together in the Father’s coming kingdom would be understood as post-resurrection in the eternal state.
How do we know that this is meant to be repeated and not just a special message and celebration for those closest to Christ on the eve of His death? Glad you asked. The risen Christ told the Apostle Paul, who was not present at the last supper about it and gave him instructions to have believers replicate it when they gather. He reiterated these instructions in His first letter to the Corinthian church who were profaning the Lord’s table with gluttony and drunkenness.
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23For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27Whoever, 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. 28Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.31But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” – 1 Corinthians 11:23-32
In communion we proclaim Lord Jesus’ death. We remember His sacrifice that was necessary to cleanse us of our sins. We remember the covenant that God made with His people to draw near to them and give us a new heart. A heart that is grateful for His ways. In communion we humble ourselves before the cross in full view of the God’s grace to do all this to save us. To subject His only Son to His full wrath, so that we wouldn’t have to face it. Though we were once sinners and enemies of God, Christ died that we would be forgiven and have peace with our creator into eternity.
That’s why Paul says to be discerning and to judge ourselves properly before entering in. Take communion in a worthy manner. In Corinth people came to the Lord’s table drunk or were eating so much of the bread that not everyone was able to partake. These sins are obvious and egregious, but they allowed Paul to write this letter and instruct us in a deeper way. He says that those who come to communion in an unworthy manner; having unconfessed sin, with bitterness, hatred and unforgiveness stored up in their hearts, without true faith, if you come to communion that way you profane Christ’s sacrifice. All that sin you hold onto when you remember His death it says that He is powerless against it. If you’re holding on to sin, in guilt and shame or just because you love that sin and you come to communion you deny Christ’s ability to atone for it and you eat and drink judgment on yourself. Paul says their physical ailments and some deaths are due to this.
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Clean Hearts before coming to Communion:
Matthew 5:21-26
Acts 5
Sin has consequences, lying to the Holy Spirit can kill you. Look what happened to Ananias and Sapphira in. They gave to the Church but professed to have given everything they had, and God struck them dead. The Corinthians were coming to the table with sin in their hearts or sinning at the table and God was striking them sick or dead. They ate and drank judgment on themselves because they didn’t want to confess their sin and they wanted everyone around them to look at them like they were doing just fine. No one knows the sin in my life and if I just go ahead and take communion like everyone else no one will suspect anything’s wrong. Don’t do that. Don’t drink judgment upon yourself. Jesus said if you’re brother has something against you, meaning if you have sinned against him, and you find yourself at the alter to make your offering, first go make it right, then make your offering. The same principle applies here but communion is Christ’s offering and not yours, so Paul says you sully Christ’s offering if you take communion when your brother has something against you.
Paul warns the Corinthians but never condemns them. We’ve been talking about assurance of salvation in Christ a lot in my Hebrews class and I bring up the Corinthians a lot. They were a messed up and wild bunch who were out of step with God’s grace in a lot of ways, but Paul never says they’ve lost their salvation. He never questions their faith. He doesn’t do that here either. His big point is that Christ’s sacrifice is enough. Don’t bother holding on to any of this guilt, shame, and sin. Christ’s sacrifice has wiped that clean, so confess it and celebrate with a clean heart. Judge yourself, let the conviction set in, confess the sin and praise God that you’re forgiven. Don’t bring the sin to the table and let God judge you, because He will. Repent and believe the gospel and come to the table with rejoicing. If your faith is true, there will be correction in your life by a loving Father. You may catch a swat to point you in the right direction. But you’ll never go hungry. He’ll never deny your bread and wine because you already have it through faith in Christ. Jesus said,
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Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
God in His grace has given that to us, so we celebrate it with clean heart being pure and blameless before Him who lifts our heads and offers us a seat at His table.