Monday, July 12, 2010
10:49 PM
Why did Jesus Christ institute the Eucharist ("Thanksgiving")/Holy Communion? The purpose was not necessarily to fulfill the Old Testament prefigurements since it was their duty only to prefigure the things God had planned, from the beginning, to institute.
Recognizing, then, that God is Love, the Eucharist is a manifestation of God's love. The Eucharist, Holy Communion, is called a sacrament because it is a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality. From "Theology of the Body - the Resurrection" (by Nicolaus Anderson, 12 July 2010):
"Notice that the actions in the physical universe are, in fact, meaningless were it not for the meaning given to them by the spiritual realities. Thus, all of the sacraments have meaning, but not in meaning merely in relation to human free will. What is meant by 'in relation to human free will' is this: That the spiritual meaning of something is a direct consequence of human choice. The Mosaic Law is of this sort. (In Romans 7:4-25) Paul emphasizes how sin gained power through the Law. Before the Law, how could man be accountable for unrighteousness save because of the Law written on his own heart? If man did not have the Law written on his heart, nor had he received the Law in writing, man would not be accountable for his physical actions as to the breaking of the Law. It is not the physical actions that matter, but it is the heart...
"Nevertheless, God has chosen to give the physical meaning through the spiritual. He does this in a variety of ways: through the Mosaic Law, through the human body, and through the sacraments."
It is logical that God, who gives spiritual meaning to the physical, would be willing to continue to apply meaning to it. There are several reasons why it is good that God does this. All that God does concerning the application of spiritual meaning to the physical is for people. This medium (that is, the physical) is used by people in order to communicate their love or hatred of God and to receive or reject the love that God gives to them freely. The physical is a medium that is perfect in every way for allowing communication between people and God. Communication can occur via a variety of physical actions. Such actions include prayer, which indicates trust in God, and sin, which indicates rejection of God in various degrees (i.e. rejecting the presence of God, distrust in God, hatred of the commands of God, or forgetfulness of God).
Most of the physical actions of communication are done with the movement of body in forms other than speech. In fact, much more can be communicated through the body than through speech. By identifying the posture or stance of a person's body, it is possible to identify if a person is in a state of reclusiveness versus gentle surrender, undisclosed anger versus composure, and so forth. God instilled in human beings such nature to reveal themselves in this way so that they might better communicate with each other and Him. When God came down as Jesus, He used a great deal of body language that is only described to a certain extent by the writers of the Gospels. The writers did not have to record such body language in great detail because Jesus either told them what He had on His mind or He revealed it in His actions, such as His acts of love. (For example, the Gospel writers say that Jesus felt compassion for people, a compassion He revealed in His many miracles of healing, not necessarily verbally.)
The Eucharist, Holy Communion, is a device of the continuation of the communication of God, as well as a device of surrender. It is a device because it is a tool used by God in the same way that the hand is a tool to a human. On the night He was betrayed, "Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, 'Take it; this is my body.' Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,' He said to them." (Mark 14:22-24)
In each sacrament, there is something being surrendered: In baptism, it is surrender of the right to seek one's own way in life. In marriage, it is the right to one's personal control of their own body and soul. In the Eucharist, it is God's surrender of His own Body and Blood.
God, in order that we might be more in Him and He in us, offers Himself to us out of love. The Eucharist is a direct consequence of God's love for us. It is, in itself, not a demand to humans, as baptism is. On the contrary, the Eucharist is an offering of God to generate a Holy Communion between His people and Himself. He, as a lover, is surrendering Himself to His people, just as any spouse does. The Eucharist, as the words of Jesus declare, is Jesus Himself in physical form, body in blood. The flesh and blood are not as we ordinarily think of as flesh and blood, but that begs the question, "What is flesh and blood?"
To demonstrate this point, consider your hand. Your hand is part of you. The most important criteria for something to be your body are these: it must be attached to you or your body, it must be interacting with the rest of your body in the functions of life to produce life, and it must be alive. Slugs are alive, but whether or not they are attached to your body is irrelevant since they do not interact with your body in the functions of life. Perhaps that which is closest to interacting with the functions of life in your body, and yet is not part of your body, is a pathogen. It, too, is alive, but it is not attached your body nor is it producing life. Finally, dirt may be attached to your body, and though it may be ingested into your digestive system, it nevertheless will find its way back out, and it is not alive. To be part of your body, something must be attached to you or your body, interacting with your body to generate life, and must be alive. Skin fulfills these criteria easily.
Thus, God, who is all powerful and all wise, is capable of making grape juice and crackers part of His Body (making them the Eucharist) every Sunday. Yet the question remains: Why?
Consider the attributes of bread and grape juice. Both are edible. Yet God did not pick carrots and dip. The color of the bread and wine seem more like human flesh and blood, but God could have picked a variety of foods if that was the case. Perhaps because these are symbolic in ways other foods are not, God decided that these were the perfect consumables. However, that does not explain His intention of having food in the first place, and perhaps examining God's purposes for it will reveal exactly why these specific foods were chosen.
By offering Himself as food, allows for the greatest and most widespread communication between Himself and people. Through the Eucharist, God can be given to everyone wherever they are at. No longer do people have to seek the man body of Jesus in order to see and communicate with Jesus physically. People, each in his own time, can meet with Jesus and worship Him in the body and blood, or they can desecrate His Body in the most horrid ways. Bread and wine allow for certain methods of physical manipulation that allow humans to show a great (though not total) extent of their love or hatred for him in ways that would otherwise be impossible if Jesus came down only as a human being.
The most important way that humans communicate their love for God via the Eucharist is by eating it. By eating the Body of Christ and drinking His blood, they allow God to offer Himself to them physically, in a world they understand. They accept God's surrendering of His Body at the same time they offer the Eucharist back to God as a holy and living sacrifice in themselves and for themselves (as for payment for their sins). In the Eucharist, then, God's people can truly say "Thank you" to God for His offering of Himself to them. Because this is an offering of love by God to His people, it would be considered an insult to God to not accept Him into one's body, as if God's physical body was not good enough or one is not willing to surrender one's uniqueness apart from Christ (to become more intimate with him). By accepting the Eucharist into one's own body, the person has taken God into their physical body and they become every bit more a part of the Body of Christ.
"...my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one load, we, who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf." (1 Cor 10:14-17)
The Eucharist is the ultimate offering of God's love to His children: He offers His body to them and for them. They may do with it as they wish, just as they may do with the free gift of salvation as they wish since the two are directly related. The Eucharist, being the ultimate offering of God's love to His people, is a manifestation of the crucifixion of Christ. Indeed, it is the crucified body of the risen Lord, since the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord transcends time and space, extended throughout all time and cleansing the world of all sins in the past, present, and future. The Son of God, present in the Eucharist, is the ultimate offering of God to His people to offer back to Himself for the payment of sins. As such, God is both the Just Judge and the Ever Provider for His people.
Now because the Eucharist is the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, consequences can arise from taking it in an unworthy manner. If a person is aware of their sin and seeks no forgiveness and yet tries to eat the Eucharist, they disrespect God by not cleansing their self for, as a member of the Church, they are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
"For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Therefore, 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. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself." (1 Cor 11:26-29)
Yet it must be asked, what is necessary? For if a man dies without taking the Eucharist, can he still be saved? - Of course! Remember always that God looks at the heart of the man and not at his physical accomplishments. It is reasonable to assume that a man seeking God would be willing to partake of the Eucharist if he had known of the necessity of doing so as well as the meaning behind it. Furthermore, it is not necessary that both species (that is, the Body and Blood) be taken, since both are equally part of God. Of course, what if a person finds their self in the bizarre scenario where they are allergic to both wheat and grapes? In such a case, it may be quite likely that God will not require them to eat the Eucharist. Why should He put their health in danger in order to be accepted by them? If He did, He might be a very selfish god.
In conclusion, the Eucharist is a wonderful gift of love from God to His church. By accepting it, we accept more of God into our lives. Our eating of it communicates to God our acceptance of Him in a physical way, even better than if we had confessed to God with sincere hearts that we love Him more than anything else in the world. And that is what He wants: our love in return for His.
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