The very idea of receiving Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper has been a stumbling block for many – even as early as the first years of the Christian Church. One of the many reasons why Romans hated Christians was that they didn’t understand all this mumbo-jumbo about body and blood. They heard lurid stories about Christians eating the body of their God and drinking His blood – and this sounded like nothing more than cannibalism. Ancient Romans were guilty of a lot of sins, but they weren’t cannibals. They did sometimes drink the blood of animals, but never the blood of a human being. That was disgusting. Combine this with more lurid stories about Christians drowning their followers in something called Baptism, and you have some really strong reasons for hating … for persecuting … for murdering Christians.
Today the idea of receiving Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper remains a stumbling block for many – but in this case, it is a stumbling block not for heathen idol worshippers, but for fellow Christians. Today too many church leaders – people who are thoroughly well meaning in their intentions – think that our Lutheran and totally Scriptural understanding of the Lord’s Supper is a “turn off” to people. Even though most people don’t seem to mind watching endless close-ups of bodies and blood on television and in our movies, they’re convinced that we need a thoroughly sanitized version of the Gospel when we go to Church. So don’t preach about our sins – preach about God’s love and leave it at that. It makes us uncomfortable to hear preaching about how Christ suffered and died a terrible human death on the cross because of those sins, but we’ll feel a whole lot better about ourselves if you limit yourself to preaching about praising His heavenly glory. Don’t preach that Christ invites us to receive forgiveness of sins when we receive his true body and blood in, with and under the bread and the wine. Instead, tell us that Communion is just symbolic – something that we do for Jesus because He wants us to remember what He did. Don’t tell us that Jesus’ body is present with the bread and His blood is present with the wine – after all, Jesus can’t be here if He’s really in Heaven! Don’t tell us that we have to practice closed communion – that we have to receive the bread and the wine only with people who share our confessional unity – because you Lutherans really need to be more open-minded and not so judgmental. And please don’t make us sing those gloomy old-fashioned Lenten hymns – give us something upbeat to sing. Then we can all go home after church and feel real good about ourselves.
My friends in Christ, the joy, the wonder, the miracle of the Lord’s Supper is that none of its blessings depend on our emotions. With the exception of physically walking from those pews to this altar rail, none of its blessings depend on what we do – and even then, our steps are guided by the faith instilled in us by the Holy Spirit. Everything – everything! – depends on Jesus.
Everything depends on the fact that 2000 years ago a baby was born in Bethlehem of Judea. The baby’s mother named him Jesus, a name that means “the Lord saves.” He grew up in a small town in Galilee, and at the age of 30 He left home to begin His ministry. He spent approximately three years traveling from town to town with His 12 disciples, preaching and doing miracles to fulfill Scripture and show that He was truly the Savior promised of old. When His time had come, He led the disciples to Jerusalem where he willingly suffered and died on the cross and rose from the dead.
Everything depends on the fact that on the night before His death, Jesus gathered the disciples in an upper room to eat the Passover meal. Within hours Jesus would willingly endure a torturous bloodbath worse than anything we can imagine. But first, he gave us His Testament, His body and blood. The Passover meal remembering something that happened once was replaced with the meal of the Lord’s Supper, a meal that refreshes our bodies and strengthens our blood with the forgiveness of sins over and over and over again – and will continue to do so until that day when Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.
In a few short minutes, our Confirmands – Allison, Anna and Mackenzie – will approach this Altar rail with their families and receive the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for the first time. As they and we gather at this altar tonight to share the meal that our Lord Himself gave us and continues to give to us, the bread that you eat will be a thin, virtually tasteless wafer. The wine that you drink will taste just like any wine you might taste.
However, something marvelous, something miraculous, will have taken place. As we studied in Catechism class, we define a Sacrament as a sacred act 1) instituted by God; 2) in which God Himself has joined His Word of promise to a visible element, and 3) by which He offers, gives and seals the forgiveness of sins earned by Christ. We still have bread and wine, but now the bread is joined by Christ’s body and the wine is joined by Christ’s blood. Not symbols of His body and blood or a remembrance of His body and blood – but His actual, true body and blood. And when we receive that holy body and precious blood, we receive His promise of forgiveness. We receive atonement. Our heavenly Father no longer sees our sins because they have been covered by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ the Lamb of God. We receive the gift – and let’s never lose sight of the fact that it is a most undeserved gift, free and pure – of eternal life. And how do we know this? Because Christ Himself has told us so.
Allison, Anna and Mackenzie, Jesus invites you to join Him at this altar, to join Him and these members of our Christian family for this joyous family meal. We do so as an expression of our common Christian faith that Jesus is truly present in this simple bread and wine. “Come,” Jesus says. “Eat. Drink. This is my body and this is my blood. Given for you. For the forgiveness of sins.” Allison, Anna and Mackenzie -- welcome to the table of the Lord!
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