The Bread of Life and the blood of God.

"It is taught among us that the true body and blood of Christ are really present in the Supper of our Lord under the form of bread and wine and are there distributed and received."  Augsburg Confession, Article X The Holy Supper.

"Now what is the Sacrament of the Altar?  Answer: It is the true body and blood of the Lord Christ in and under the bread and wine which we are commanded by Christ's word to eat and drink.  As we said of Baptism that it is not mere water, so we say here that the sacrament is bread and wine, but not mere bread and wine such as is served at the table.  It is bread and wine comprehended in God's Word and connected with it."  Large Catechism, Martin Luther, Part V.

As Lutherans we believe that the bread and the wine become for us the body and blood of Christ.  And since Jesus Christ is God, then it can be said that the bread and wine become for us the body and blood of God.  We are currently working our way through John 6 in the Lectionary.  I will be preaching on the end of John 6 this Sunday.  Jesus tells the people in Capernaum that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood to have eternal life.  To a Jew this was even more offensive than it sounds to us.  Jews were not allowed to touch a dead body.  To do so made them ritually unclean.  Eat human flesh!  And to be Kosher, of course, means to drain the meat of all blood (because the blood is life).  To drink blood!  The Greek word used by Jesus to describe the reaction of even His own followers is "scandal!" 

In a way we cannot fully describe or define - thus the mystery - the bread and wine become for us the true body and true blood of God in Christ . . . because He said so. 

As Lutherans we do not believe that the bread and wine merely represent or symbolize His body and blood, because if Jesus meant that, He would have said it.  He said "IS."  As Lutherans we also do not believe that the bread and wine change physically into flesh and blood.  Here's the reference:

"In addition to the words of Christ and of St. Paul (the bread in the Lord's Supper 'is true body of Christ' or 'a participation in the body of Christ'), we at times also use the formulas 'under the bread, with the bread, in the bread.'  We do this to reject the papistic (Roman Catholic) transubstantiation and to indicate the sacramental union between the untransformed substance of the bread and the body of Christ."  Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article VII, The Lord's Supper.

The Lutheran understanding has been termed "consubstantiation" which I take to mean that the bread and wine do not change physically, but they become in a spiritual but not merely metaphorical way, the body and blood of God.

It is this mysterious truth that makes communion so powerful and meaningful for Lutherans.  It IS the body and blood of God which we take inside us.  Luther called it, essentially, tasting forgiveness.  We refer to it as "the foretaste of the Feast to come."  It really is a taste of heaven.

There are some ramifications to such a high understanding of the body and blood of God.  One is "the ban."  There has been some discussion and controversy regarding whether NOT serving someone is ever appropriate.  While Luther said more about this elsewhere, the Confessions are not without references.

"So everyone who wishes to be a Christian and go to the sacrament should be familiar with them.  For we do not intend to admit to the sacrament and administer it to those who do not know what they seek or why they come....

"For this reason we must make a distinction among men.  Those who are shameless and unruly must be told to stay away, for they are not fit to receive the forgiveness of sins since they do not desire it and do not want to be good....

"The only exception is the person who desires no grace and absolution and has no intention to amend his life."
Large Catechism, Martin Luther, Part V, The Lord's Supper.

The most amazing (to me) example of this is Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who exercized "the ban" against The Emperor!  He was admitted to The Lord's Supper when he had confessed and repented before Ambrose!

There are ramifications that are a bit more mundane but are very telling. Unconsumed wine is never poured back.  It is also never dumped down the sink (unless it is a special sink that goes straight into the ground).  It's not just wine anymore.  And bread that has been consecrated is never thrown away.  It's not just bread anymore.

Sure it's a mystery.  But sometimes the beginning of understanding what something is, is to understand what it is not. 

A week from Sunday (we do not have communion every Sunday) we will gather with the saints throughout time and space and receive the gift of grace present in the body and blood God.
Amen.

The Bread of Life

It has been awhile since my last post.  I realized when I started this blog that topics would come pouring out at the beginning and tend to trickle as I moved along.  These past weeks we have been working our way through John 6 "The Bread of Life."  I decided that a blog on what The Confessions teach about communion, The Lord's Supper, Eucharist, would be timely.  So I am working on it and hope to have it up soon.  This coming post will be "very Lutheran" as the Lutheran perspective on communion is somewhat unique.