In the name of the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
We are continuing to think about Christ as the Bread of Life, and while the previous two weeks focussed upon aspect of things that happen because of our understanding, this week, we come into a place where we consider the actual elements and how they have an impact on our faith and whole life.
When we think about the bread and wine, the body and blood, The church calls this a Sacrament, and throughout it there are two which are universally recognised, there are also five others which are recognised by some, but not all, although it is also argued that there is no limit to the number of them, and other things could be deemed a sacrament, which is essentially a Latin translation of the word mystery, and it is through these mysteries that we encounter the presence of God.
The two Universally recognised ones are Baptism, our entry into the household of faith, and the second, The Eucharist, which is the one that we are going to consider today.
But what is a Sacrament? St Augustine first described them as an outward sign of an invisible grace upon our lives, so for example in Baptism, the sacrament of New Life, the outward sign would be the blessed water being poured over the head, whilst the inward grace would be the person receiving forgiveness and new life in Christ.
By the same token, the Eucharist, the sacrament of Unity, the outward sign is the bread and wine, whilst the inward grace that we receive is Life and Strength through the Risen Christ, words which resonate deeply with the words of our Gospel this morning.
Within this passage Christ is giving us a foretaste of the way in which He is going to bring salvation through his brokenness. This is reflected when He says ‘Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.’
Through this invitation we become partakers of this spiritual food so that we can enter into the new covenant with Him. Christ then continues ‘Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them’, within this statement Christ is instructing the disciples in the way in which this salvation will be given.
In these few short passages of scripture there is much for us to consider, and perhaps the best place to begin is by asking what we understand as happening at the altar during the prayer. For each of us, it will be different, for Roman Catholics, it would be something called Transubstantiation where the elements are literally transformed into the body and blood, and at the other side of the spectrum are the memorialists, who believe that the eucharist is a simple remembrance of the events and no change takes place.
Theologians would say that a memorialist point of view would be more of an ordinance, rather than a sacrament, but where there is a belief that something, however small is happening during the prayer, then it would demonstrate that the grace of God is at work in this great prayer of the church.
Through taking part within the eucharist, we literally embody the meaning of this scripture, because the prayer recalls the past, how Christ died on the cross for us all, as the atoning act to bring us back into right relationship with God.
The present, what is happening right here and now, how we join together in this feast as we offer thanksgiving and praise as a sacrifice to God for the gift which we cannot earn, but in humility receive. We remember Christ's presence within the elements through whichever theology is appropriate to us, and how His body was broken and His blood spilled.
So, as we become partakers in the meal we receive God’s forgiveness anew for our lives, and this causes us to look to the future, of Christ’s return when we will join Him and the saints when Heaven and Earth become one in the new Kingdom.
What underpins all of this is the grace that we receive through partaking in the eucharist. We have already considered the Gospel from this morning, but we also need to consider the point where these words were put into action at the Last supper. In Matthew’s Gospel we see many similarities, and we need to bear in mind that this was actually a Pesach or Passover meal.
In it we see Jesus teaching His disciples about the new covenant, whilst also observing the traditional Jewish custom. He removes the old sacrifice of the slain lamb, and makes Himself the sacrifice, thus bringing an end to the old custom of slaughtering a lamb to honour the Jews covenant with God, then through this new sacrifice He brings redemption for the whole Human Race.
The theologian McGrath reinforced this understanding in three ways. He reminds us that the eucharist affirms the promises of grace and forgiveness, it identifies who the promises are made to, and it declares the death of the one who made those promises.
But Christ teaching about this the family meal of the church didn’t end there, and the final piece of this teaching is found post resurrection, at Emmaus. He had already opened the scriptures to his fellow travellers, then as we hear from Luke ‘When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.’
This realisation paved the way for the disciples to understand more deeply Christ’s mission on Earth, and whilst we may not hear the word grace used in these passages, these scriptures give us a glimpse of how Christ laid the foundation for God’s grace to be revealed to us.
All of this brings us back to help us understand how this sacrament remain so deeply important for us as Christians. Food has always been at the heart of significant events in our lives, and by placing the eucharist in the centre of our Christian lives, the act of receiving bread and wine, body and blood together, unites us not only to Christ, but to one another.
Just moments before we receive we share this acclamation,
We break this bread to share in the body of Christ. Though we are many, we are one body, because we all share in one bread.
This reminds us that we are bound to Christ, to one another, as well as the whole body of the church as we share in this public act of commitment and expression of loyalty to Christ our Lord.
‘Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them’ we may not be able to explain where grace resides in this act, but if we could, we would no doubt lose an important part of the journey of exploration which we call faith.
The sustenance that we receive through the eucharist together with the word, equips us to leave this place and go out into the world fortified and strengthened through our connection not only with Christ, but with the family of God, to be the people that He wants us to be, and whilst we will never fully understand the holy mysteries of communion, to receive it is to allow the grace of God to fully encompass our lives.
I would like to finish by quoting the words of John Calvin as he speaks so eloquently of the importance of the eucharist.
‘Now if anyone should ask me how this takes place, I shall not be ashamed to confess that it is a secret too lofty for either my mind to comprehend or my words to declare. And to speak more plainly, I rather experience than understand it…. In his sacred supper [Christ] bid me take, eat, and drink his body and blood under the symbols of bread and wine. I do not doubt that he himself truly presents them, and that I receive them.’
Amen.
