The Lord’s Supper is a gift of God in Christ given to the church. In it Jesus memorializes his death for the sake of people. We touch, taste, and imbibe Christ himself in body and blood broken and poured out for our sins. In the meal the benefits of the once-for-all death of Christ are applied to us as often as we share this meal. At times the reality of the grace of Christ overwhelms us. We consider what great sinners we are and we wonder how he could love us that way that he does. A deep sense of unworthiness begins to overtake us.
As we feel that sense of unworthiness, the words of Paul to the Corinthians resonate in our minds: “Whoever, 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” (1Cor 11:27). Our feelings of unworthiness must mean that we are not ready to share in this Table. We’re sure that there are hidden, unresolved sins somewhere. We may be unconscious of them, but they must be there. Then there was that dispute with my wife this week. There was that tension with my children. The anger that I displayed at the office wasn’t right. We have some real problems. Surely we’re not worthy to come to this Table. If we participate in this condition, then the fate of the Corinthians might be our own: sickness or even death.
With all of this swirling through our heads and our emotions making palpable our desperate condition, we decide that it is best for us, at least this Sunday, to stay away from the Table. We don’t want to eat in an unworthy manner, and, at this time, we are feeling really unworthy.
This line of reasoning is fatally flawed at a number of points. Let’s deal first with Paul’s words in 1Corinthians 11. His words have a context. That context has nothing–I repeat, nothing–with how you are feeling when you gather on the Lord’s Day to share the Supper. The Corinthian Christians were, in fact, feeling quite worthy. It was the manner in which they were eating that caused their eating to be unworthy. Briefly, the Lord’s Supper is a meal in which the greatest–our Lord himself–gives himself for those who are weak and helpless. He does not look first to himself but to his people. The Corinthians were mocking the meaning of this Supper because the rich folk were separating themselves from the poor folk, eating all the good food before the poor arrived. They were looking to sate their own appetites instead. In doing so they were dividing the body of Christ.
This is a meal to be eaten together as a community in which people are to reflect the sacrifice of Christ in relationship with one another. When that doesn’t happen, no matter how you feel, you are eating in an unworthy manner. The conclusion of Paul’s exhortations and admonitions tell us that this is what he is talking about: “So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another…” (1Cor 11:33). Eating in an unworthy manner is about how we are acting toward one another, not about how we are feeling about our sin.
The other fatal flaw with this reasoning of feeling unworthy to partake and absenting yourself from the Table is that it is direct disobedience to the Lord. When Jesus instituted the Supper, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to the Twelve saying, “Take, eat.” After this, he took the cup, gave thanks, gave it to the Twelve saying, “Drink of it, all of you.” Those are two commands without caveat. Jesus did not make a proviso, “If any of you is feeling particularly unworthy, then you are free not to eat and drink.” These commands are given in the same way that Jesus commanded people to repent, demons to flee, and sickness to healed. They are commands he expects to be obeyed by his people when they are around his Table.
These commands are gracious. The commands to eat and drink confront us with the realities of our sin so that we are forced to deal with it. Sin is that from which Christ came to save us. This is one of the means by which he does so. The meal confronts us with how kingdom life is lived: in repentance and faith, giving ourselves to others. When we are commanded to eat and drink, we are confronted with the realities of where we are not doing that and encouraged to correct it. All the while we are reminded in the meal that it is for these very sins that Christ gave himself for us so that we can be forgiven. But we must deal with what seeks to kill us. So, knowing that we must obey Christ at the Table, we should deal with our sinful actions toward others before we come to the Table. This encourages us to deal with sins in timely fashion since we have the Lord’s Supper every Lord’s Day.
The commands are also gracious for those who have tender consciences. There are those for whom the promise of forgiveness is difficult to receive. Some people have such a deep sense of their sin that they carry around guilt all the time. This guilt and shame may arise from many factors in their lives, but the root is unbelief, a lack of faith that God has truly forgiven their sins in Christ. We must grow in our faith, learning that God has fully, freely, and gladly forgiven us in Christ. In hearing the promise of absolution and coming to the Table to obey Christ’s commands, we are reminded by Christ himself that we are forgiven and fully accepted in him. The commands to eat and drink are Jesus’ healing words that we belong to him. Forgiveness and acceptance are not rooted in our feelings of worth but in the Person of Christ himself.
So, Christian brother and sister, Take, eat; Take, drink. These are Jesus’ gracious commands to you.
