Non-Corinthian Communion

How many times have we heard the words of 1 Corinthians 11:23-26? For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

We hear these words every week and they are good for us. They were words that Paul gave to the Corinthians so that they would remember the reason for their Communion feast. It is good that we also remember the reason for the Communion feast that we eat every week and so it is good that we know these words and hear them often.

However, it is unfortunate that we don’t hear these words in context. There is a reason that Paul gives this summary of the Last Supper. To understand this, we need to read the whole section. 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

The first thing we notice is that it is possible to go to church and for it to be worse than not going at all. Imagine that! How many people think that they are going to heaven because they went to church every week? How many people think that they are pleasing God simply because they are going to church? But the Bible tells us that just going to church doesn’t get us into heaven and in fact, going to church for the wrong reason actually can make things worse for us than better!

Here we see another important point that is true throughout the entire Bible. When we see the word church, in our world today we immediately think of the building. However, the word used here for church in the Greek is ekklesia. (BTW – this is not pronounced ek-LEE-si-a, it is pronounced ek-lay-SEE-a). There has been much written about this word, specifically that it means “called out ones”. Though this is true, we should recognize that the actual meaning of ekklesia is “assembly” or more precisely, “a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly”. So when we see the word “church” in the Bible, we should realize that it is not talking about a place or a building but of a people. So in verse 18, Paul is saying that there is division occurring when the people gather together. This gathering is obviously for the purpose of worship and part of this worship is the sharing of the Communion meal.

We should also recognize that the meal here is very different than the Communion meal we take together today. In those days, the Communion meal was part of the Love Feast that was the center of the assembly. So the rebuke to the Corinthian church is that they were eating the Love Feast as if it was made for them to come and stuff themselves – like one of our Thanksgiving meals. Paul tries to teach them that there is a limited amount of food and wine and that there are those who will not be able to participate if the early comers don’t wait for the entire church to come, mound their plates with all the meats and take two plates so that they don’t have to get up later for seconds. The Bible is saying that this kind of selfish behavior is unacceptable and will not be condoned.

Verse 23 gets into the actual Communion aspect of the Love Feast. Here Paul reminds the church of why we are doing Communion in the first place. He says that Jesus commands that we do it. It isn’t a request. He doesn’t say “if you can…” or “whenever possible…” He says, “Do this.” Jesus also tells us why we should do it. He says that whenever we do it, we should remember him. In other words, Jesus was setting up a memorial. He gave us a way to remember what he did for us.

When we eat the bread, he says “this is my body”. He doesn’t say, “this becomes my body”. Obviously, he was standing there holding the bread in his hands. There was no way that the bread could actually be his body, since he was in his body. Nor when he broke the bread, did anything special happen – otherwise we would have been told about it, just as we are told about the many other miracles he performed. Simply, Jesus was showing us that the bread was symbolic of his body. Similarly, the wine was symbolic of his blood. His body was given to us as a sacrifice upon the cross. His blood was given to us for the forgiveness of sins. (Leviticus 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.) The Communion meal is a reminder of Jesus’ work on the cross. The bread and the cup are not for the forgiveness of sins – the work on the cross was. Jesus wants us to remember that and that is why he wants us to do this every time we gather together – so that we always remember what he did – he died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice so that we could be forgiven.

It is important to remember that Jesus’ last supper was a Passover meal. When Jesus gives these commands to us, he didn’t do it out of the blue. He did it as part of that Passover meal.

Part of the Passover meal is a bag containing three loaves of bread in three separate compartments. Of course, the loaves of bread are unleavened. We know them as Matzah. So there are three Matzah in a bag. During the Passover, the middle Matzah is taken out and broken in half. One half is put back into the bag and the other half is wrapped in a napkin and hidden, to be found later. This hidden half is called the afikoman (pronounced af-ee-KO-men). After the meal, it is brought back, blessed, broken and shared. The Jewish people think of it as a symbol of future salvation. This afikoman is the bread that Jesus blessed, broke and shared with his disciples. When he said, “this is my body”, he was saying that he is the salvation that the people were waiting for. He was showing how the afikoman was a symbol of his body, the second person of the Trinity, that would be broken, buried, and brought back and that we should remember the crucifixion and resurrection of his body for our salvation.

Additionally, in the Passover, there are four cups of wine that are taken at four different times in the celebration. The first is the cup of Kadesh or Thanksgiving. The second is the cup of Haggadah or Plagues, which is used in the telling of the history of the plagues. The last is the cup of Hallel or Praise, which is the singing of the Psalms, Psalm 113 through 118.

The third cup is the cup of blessing that Paul mentions a chapter earlier in 1 Corinthians 10:16 “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?” It is this cup that Jesus calls the New Covenant in His blood. This third cup, the cup of blessing, is also known as the cup of Redemption. This is the cup that Jesus was holding when he said “This is my blood”. He was saying that this cup was a symbol of the redemption we would receive when he gave his blood as a sacrifice for our forgiveness.

In the centuries that followed, this Passover meal, called so because death “Passed Over” them, would be celebrated every year to remind them of what God had done for them. In the same way, Jesus was giving us the Communion meal as a celebration every time we gather to remind us of what he had done for us. When we eat the bread, the afikoman, it is a symbol of his body which was broken for us. When we drink the wine, the cup of blessing or Redemption, it is a symbol of his blood which was shed for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever we eat this bread and drink this cup, we remember his death until he comes again.

Following on from this, we see that the Bible tells us in verse 27 that there is a right and a wrong way to take the Communion meal, just as there is a right and wrong way to take the Passover meal. We are told that if we take the meal in an unworthy manner, that we are guilty of sinning against the body and blood of Jesus. We certainly do not want to be guilty of that! But what is a worthy way of taking the meal?

Verse 28 tells us that we need to examine ourselves before we eat and drink. This speaks directly to our need to look at ourselves. How is our walk with God? Have we loved the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength? Have we placed any god before Him, such as our love of money, our desire for fame and importance, our hobbies, jobs or even our families? Is God our Number One priority?

How is our holiness? Are we walking in Jesus, loving our neighbors, sacrificing our desires and needs for those of others? Have we allowed our own comforts – physical or emotional – to determine what we do, when we do it? Have we sinned against anyone (recognizing that the Bible teaches that ALL our sins are against God)?

We need to look at ourselves – examine ourselves – and determine where we have fallen short and missed the mark. The beauty of our faith is that unlike every other faith in the world, if we fall short, we have a way to avoid punishment and a way that allows us into eternal life regardless of the balance of our sins against our good works. That is the blood that Jesus shed for us. It is though his blood that we have the atonement for our lives (see above – Lev 17:11). If we confess our sins, God is faithful and will forgive us (1 John 1:9). So the first part of taking the meal in a worthy manner is to examine ourselves and then confess our sins to Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us (Hebrews 7:24-26) (and if Jesus is already interceding for me, I sure don’t need any other dead person to intercede for me)!

Verse 29 tells us that we need to be thinking of the church. Remember, the church is the assembly of God’s people and that Paul has just rebuked those who were selfishly eating and drinking themselves without thinking of the rest of the assembly. If we are thinking selfishly of ourselves as we praise God for his work on the cross, then we miss the picture. Jesus did die for you. But he didn’t die for ONLY you – he died for ALL. If you are not thinking about those who haven’t come to know Jesus, then you are selfishly taking the meal without recognizing that there are others who are not partaking.

Also, is there something that someone in your assembly, your church, is in need of? Is there something you should be doing for a church member that you haven’t – regardless of the rationalizations you have conceived? In the Corinthian church, they weren’t taking care of those who didn’t have food to eat at home. Instead, they had food at home but were feasting (and hogging!) all the food at the Love Feast. They put themselves above those in their church. Is there someone in the church who needs something that you can provide?

By knowing your church, you will be better able to determine the needs of those within it. One of the beauties of small churches is that everyone knows each other. Large churches need to make sure there are ways to bring people into relationship with each other. If you are not involved with your church brothers and sisters, there is a good chance that you are not thinking of them and whether you can help them. If you don’t do this, you are unworthy of taking Communion.

So as you take Communion from now on, take it in a worthy manner. Do not take it selfishly but remember those you know that need Jesus’ salvation and redemption but have not taken advantage of this free gift that God has given them. Pray for them. Remember your church family and make sure you are on the look out for what you can do for them – after all, when any part of the body hurts, the entire body suffers (1 Corinthians 12:24-26). Remember your own sins and short-comings and confess them to God for strength, renewal and improvement. Finally, remember what he has done for you – the giving up of his body and the shedding of his blood. Remember that it is this work on the cross that we are recalling as we take the Communion. “Whenever you do this, do this in remembrance of me.”

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Last modified: Jan 24, 2009