In our sermon series on the Communion liturgy,
we’ve talked about our need to give thanks to God. We’ve talked about the
holiness of God. We’ve talked about the
new covenant that God has made with us, that God will give us salvation and
eternal life if we simply accept Jesus as the Savior. We talked about
what an incredible gift from God that new covenant is.
Today, we’re going to explore that gift a little further.
We’re going to take another look at the part of the Communion liturgy
that we read last week. It starts at the top of page fourteen of the
hymnal, and it’s on the screen. It says:
On the night in which he gave himself up for us
he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples,
and said, “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in
remembrance of me.”
When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave
thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Drink from this, all
of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many
for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in
remembrance of me.”
We read that every month when we
take communion. Some of us have been doing that all of our lives. We’ve become familiar with it. In fact,
we’re so familiar with it that often we don’t really think about it any more.
Try to imagine yourself as one
of Jesus’ disciples when Jesus actually said these things and did these things.
This took place at what we now call the Last Supper. We’re told that this meal was actually a
Passover meal, which means they ate a whole lot more than just bread.
We’re talking about a full meal.
And not just any meal. There were
specific foods you were supposed to use, and each of them had great symbolic
meaning. After all, this was a tradition
that commemorated the people of Israel being rescued from slavery in Egypt.
It commemorated God striking down the firstborn of the people of Egypt,
but passing over the people of Israel.
That’s why it’s called “Passover”, of course.
So all the disciples are eating
this traditional meal. And they’re thinking about all the things that
this meal represents. And of course, they have other things on their
minds, too. This is, after all, the
night that Jesus is going to be arrested. The disciples did not know
that, of course. But they knew tensions
were high. In fact, Jesus has told them
that one of them is going to betray him.
Again, imagine you’re one of
the disciples. You’re eating the Passover meal. You’ve got all this stuff running through
your mind. The sacred nature of the Passover meal combined with worry
about the future. And then Jesus takes
some bread. He breaks the bread, which is kind of an odd phrase in and of
itself. “Breaking the bread”. We slice the bread. We might tear off a
piece of bread. But “break” the
bread? Sound kind of strange, when you
think about it.
But Jesus takes the bread, he
gives thanks, he breaks it, and he gives it to you and the other disciples.
And he says, “Take it; this is my body.”
If you’re one of the disciples,
do you have any idea what that means? I don’t know if you do. I mean, you know it has to mean
something. Jesus is always making these
vague statements that have symbolic meaning. Sometimes you understand
them, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes,
later on, Jesus explains them. Sometimes
he doesn’t. You hope this will be one of
the times he does. Again, you know “this is my body” has to mean
something. You just don’t know what.
Then Jesus takes the cup of
wine. He passes it around, and everyone drinks from it. Then Jesus
says, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”
You probably don’t know what
that means, either. Think of what this would be like. You’re sitting there, and Jesus is making
these vague statements. You can tell, just by the way Jesus is saying
things, that this is important. You can
tell that something is about to happen, even if you don’t know exactly what.
I suspect that you have the
feeling that this could be the last time you and the disciples can sit down
with Jesus and eat a meal in relative peace. Even if not, you know
somehow that this is a really special time.
You know that Jesus has arranged all this just for you. This is, somehow, a gift from Jesus, this
special time together. And so you’re trying to take it all in. You’re trying to remember everything. What the room looks like. The smell of the Passover meal. The taste of the bread Jesus gave you. The look on Jesus’ face. And, of
course, every word that Jesus says, even if you don’t understand them.
It’s kind of odd, when you
think about it. Here the disciples were, at this incredibly historic
occasion. Something so historic that we still remember it nearly two
thousand years later. Not only do we still remember it, it’s the
foundation for one of our sacraments.
And yet, at the time it happened, no one really understood what was
happening.
But then, how much do we really
understand it now? We talked last week about how Communion is one of
God’s means of grace. We talked about how it’s one of the ways in which
God’s Holy Spirit comes into our hearts. We know that it is a gift from
God to us. But do we really understand
how that works? No, not really.
I can still remember the first
time as a pastor I gave Communion. I was in my first year of
seminary. I was also the interim pastor
of the Wessington Springs United Church of Christ and also the Templeton
Church, which was out in the country. I was always a United Methodist,
but they were looking for a pastor, and I was looking for experience, so it
worked. I went to a weekend seminar in
Yankton so I could be licensed by the U. C. C. to give communion. It was
not this exact Communion liturgy, but it was close enough.
I stood at the front of the
church. I said the words. The people
responded. I handed out the bread and the juice. The people took it.
And I felt like a total fraud.
Who did I think I was? What did I
think I was doing? I act like something’s going to happen, just because
I’m saying these words? I felt completely unworthy to be up there doing
that.
And the fact is that I was
unworthy. I still am. I mean, I
have a certificate now, saying I’m a real live pastor. I get to use the
title Reverend and everything. But I’m
not worthy to give Communion to you. I’m really not even worthy of taking
Communion. And, to be honest, neither
are you.
But that’s part of the beauty
of Holy Communion. We don’t have to be worthy of it. In fact, we really cannot be worthy of it.
The original disciples were not worthy of it. In fact, think about this--one of the
disciples who was there for the Last Supper was Judas. Judas, who was
going to betray Jesus. Judas, who Jesus
knew was going to betray him. If there
was ever someone who was not worthy, it would be Judas. And yet, Jesus
handed Judas the bread. Jesus handed
Judas the cup. Jesus offered the gift of
Holy Communion to Judas. Jesus offered
God’s love and God’s mercy to Judas, the man who was going to betray him.
None of us is worthy to receive
Holy Communion. That’s why, in the United Methodist church, we don’t have
any restrictions on who we’ll give Holy Communion to. We are all
sinners. That’s why we need God’s love
and God’s mercy so much. That’s why we
need to feel God’s Holy Spirit with us.
That’s why Holy Communion is
such a special and incredible gift to us. It’s a way of receiving God’s
love and God’s mercy. It’s a way of
allowing God’s Holy Spirit to come into us. That’s not something we can
earn, and it’s not something we could ever deserve. In fact, the less we deserve it, the more we
need it. That’s why Jesus offered it to Judas--because he knew how much
Judas needed it. And that’s why it’s
offered to us, to you and to me--because of how much we need it.
God does not love us because we
deserve it. In fact, the idea that love is something we deserve goes
against everything Jesus said. Jesus said that we should love our
enemies. Jesus said we should pray for
people who persecute us. Love is not something that is deserved. Love is something that is given, as a gift.
God does not love us because we
deserve it. God loves us because that’s what God does. God loves us because that’s who God is.
God does not ask us to be worthy of God’s love or God’s mercy. God does not ask us to be worthy of taking
Holy Communion. It’s all just a gift from God. It’s a wonderful, incredible, special,
awesome gift. May we all accept that
gift. May we all accept the love and
mercy that God offers us. Not because we deserve it. But because we need it.
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