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The Holiest Meal
Brian Mashburn
January 17, 2016
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Mind Your Manner
The Lord's Supper - what we sometimes call communion - is meant to be an extraordinary meal.
Now this may come as a surprise when you look at it on its surface. After all, we have you pinch a miniscule piece of almost-tasteless cracker and we give you half-a-thimble-full of grape juice to wash it down.
The only thing that might be extra-ordinary about it is that we would dare call it a "meal" or a "supper" when it doesn't even add up to being a meaningful snack.
So, what is it that justifies it as something meaningful?
It is the manner in which we take it.
When we take the bread and the cup in the manner that Jesus intended, we are not eating a piece of cracker, but consuming the body of Christ. We are not taking a swig of juice, but drinking the blood of Jesus. We are remembering him and all that his life, death, and resurrection mean to us. We are ingesting him, his message, and his promise. We are digesting him, literally praying that the old adage of "you are what you eat" would be true. We are renewing our vows to him that we first made upon our baptism, which was our own personal reenactment of what we are remembering.
I have never seen anyone tear up and cry when they partake of a good hamburger, but I have seen this and other reactions to the Lord's Supper. It is because of the manner in which we take it.
Paul said that "whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord." (1 Cor 11:27)
Let us come to the table today, examining our manner.