The Three Unions in Holy Communion.

 

Sermon for Maundy Thursday, April 14, 2022

To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God His Father—to Him be the glory and the power forever.  Amen.

1 Corinthians 10:15-17  ¹⁵I speak to you as to sensible people.  Judge for yourselves what I am saying.  ¹⁶The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?  ¹⁷Because there is one bread, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. (EHV)

The Three Unions in Holy Communion.

Dear brothers and sisters in the blood of the Lamb,

            It is not hyperbole to say that tonight we participate in the most important meal ever served in the history of the world.  In this precious food of bread and wine, Christ Jesus Himself comes to us and shares with us a union and communion that gives us life and fellowship with all who believe.  Thus, tonight, we speak of The Three Unions in Holy Communion.

To the average person on the street, I’m sure there is nothing strongly appealing in the Lord’s Supper.  Unleavened bread won’t win any rave reviews or prizes at the county fair baking contest, and the wine we serve will never win any awards in culinary circles.  Yet, what you see isn’t always all you get.  Those who assume that this supper only offers bread and wine miss out on some of the most important blessings anyone will ever consume.

Jesus’ words concerning this supper are recorded in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and St. Paul also confirms what Jesus is giving us.  This evening, we take Jesus’ words as recorded in your bulletin, “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you.  This do in remembrance of Me.”  In the same way also He took the cup after supper, gave thanks, and gave it to them saying: “Drink of it all of you; this cup is the New Testament in My blood.”  Jesus’ words tell us without a doubt that the first union of the three is the union of His body and blood with the bread and wine.

Now, other faiths have taken these words to mean something different than the words themselves say.  One side says that the officiant performing the rite transforms the bread and wine into body and blood, with no bread and wine remaining.  Another side claims that Jesus meant that the bread and wine merely represent His body and blood.  To the human mind, either side can seem reasonable.  Yet, there is a problem for both.  Both sides make this meal something ordinary people do.  One side says the priest makes the sacrament important.  The other side says the people coming to partake make it important just by doing the deed.  Both sides are worshipping an idol of their own imagination, because it is God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who is doing everything important in this meal.

Consequently, the Christian faith takes Jesus’ words just as He said them.  This unleavened bread Jesus gives us to eat IS His body, and this wine He gives us to drink IS the New Testament, or covenant, in His blood.  Confessing faith in Christ Jesus, we must take Jesus at His word.  In this holy meal, Christ has made a union between bread and His body, wine and His blood.  How that can be doesn’t matter, because human reason won’t be able to comprehend everything about God and His power this side of heaven. 

If Jesus had wanted symbolism, He certainly could have found the words to use, but in this Sacrament, Jesus is giving us His true body and blood for our everlasting good.  Thus, to deny that the body and blood of our Savior are truly present in the eating of the Lord’s Supper is to make Jesus a liar, and to deny that the bread and wine remain present after consecration also denies the clear words the Holy Spirit has given us through St. Paul who wrote, “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the Lord’s body and blood.” (1 Corinthians 11:27)

Our Savior spoke clearly and with no subterfuge: “This is My body, which is given for you.  [And] “This cup is the New Testament in My blood.”  A most important union in holy communion.

The second of The Three Unions in Holy Communion is the centerpiece of our salvation.  Ever since sin entered the world, there has been a separation between God and the human race.  That separation made us afraid to be in God’s presence, and rightly so, for we no longer had the holiness needed to dwell safely in the presence of His glory.  That doesn’t make God the bad guy, however, for He has lovingly continued to provide for all mankind whether we listen to Him or not.

The history of mankind, including you and me, is the story of people rebelling against God.  To some extent, we couldn’t help ourselves.  Born in sin, the devil had us controlled as if he was jerking us along on a chain by a ring in our noses.  And, if it wasn’t Satan, it was our own flesh that betrayed us.  St. Paul reminds us, “At one time, you were alienated from God and hostile in your thinking as expressed through your evil deeds.” (Colossians 1:21)

How troubling it is then, that even as believers in Christ, we find ourselves doing those things we hate instead of the things we now want to do.  Concerning this life-long struggle Paul wrote, “I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is present with me.  I certainly delight in God’s law according to my inner self, but I see a different law at work in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me captive to the law of sin, which is present in my members.  What a miserable wretch I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:21-25)

This is why the second union is so important.  Jesus invites us to “Take and eat” and “Take and drink,” not as food to sustain the body, but to sustain and nourish our souls that have been united with Him through faith.  By His body and blood given and shed for you and me, Jesus is bringing God together with us.  By the body and blood He sacrificed on the cross for the sins of all mankind, you and me included, Jesus has brought reconciliation between God and us.  That reconciliation and forgiveness is renewed in us each time we partake of this holy meal. 

Who among us doesn’t sin daily?  Who among us doesn’t need God’s forgiveness and peace continually?  Recognizing our sin should only make us want the Lord’s Supper all the more.

Recognizing the despair that is ours because we sin, the Holy Spirit assures us through Paul’s letter to the Colossians, “But now Christ reconciled you in his body of flesh through death, in order to present you holy, blameless, and faultless before him.” (Colossians 1:22)  In the God-made-flesh, Jesus Christ, there is a union between God and Man.  In Him there is no sin, no fault, no separation.  By feeding us with His holy precious body and blood, Jesus establishes His commitment to the union.  In fact, Jesus establishes us in this vertical union as He connects us in communion with God.

That Lamb who was slain on our behalf tells us, “Take, eat, this is my body.”^…“Drink from it all of you, for this is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28)  By these words, Jesus confirms that God now wants us in His presence, not as sinners but as forgiven souls won for Him by Christ Jesus.  Tonight, we again partake of the Lord’s Supper.  It is His holy meal, not something we prepare.  However, He invites us to be His special guests at His table, in His house, in communion with our Creator forevermore.  This second union is without a doubt the dearest of all, for in it we are refreshed with life and peace everlasting.

The third Union in Holy Communion brings together all the pieces of the puzzle.  If you looked around the table the night Jesus established His holy communion, it would look like a rather motley crew.  There with the Lord were fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, one who would become known as a doubter, some timid, others more ambitious and impetuous.  What brought them together is Jesus. 

As we look at faithful Christianity, we see a wide variety of backgrounds, various skin colors, speaking a multitude of languages, men and women from all around the world brought together as one body in Christ.  In this world, we may not seem to have much in common.  We might have differing political views and social status, different opinions on how to dress, where to live, and a host of other variables.  Yet, one thing is certain, we are all sinners who need reconciliation with God, and in this Supper, Jesus gives us the blessed forgiveness we need. 

St. Paul wrote, “Judge for yourselves what I am saying.  The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?  Because there is one bread, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”  Through the sacrifice He made, and through the body and blood He gives us in this holy meal, Jesus makes us one, uniting us with Himself and with all the faithful throughout time and place.

Now, some want to turn this around.  They say that inviting anyone to the table unites them in some sort of fellowship, but they mistake who is doing the uniting.  Jesus said, “If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples.  You will also know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)  It is only by trusting in what Jesus teaches that we have unity.  To expect union without agreement in doctrine is no union at all.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote, “Watch out for those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the teaching that you learned, and keep away from them.  For such people are not serving Christ our Lord but their own appetites.  By smooth talk and flattery, they seduce the hearts of the unsuspecting.” (Romans 16:17-18)  Therefore, we take the full counsel of God into our churches and into our hearts.  It is by God’s invitation that we are made believers in Jesus.  It is by God’s election that we are part of the body of Christ, and it is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we have unity in faith and teaching.

Therefore, as we gather at Jesus’ invitation in agreement with all He gives us in the Word of the Bible, we are brought together in peace.  This horizontal communion is a foretaste of heaven where there will be no divisions, no animosity, no sin, and no false teaching of any kind.  By the sacrifice of His body and blood for the sins of the world and thus for the sins of all those who come to this table with you, you are assured by Christ’s body and blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine, that peace with God is yours.  The earthly differences are wiped away in union with Jesus our Savior.

It is true that how we worship also expresses our unity of faith.  When we sing the hymns of what God has done for us in Jesus, we are certainly expressing and relishing the brotherhood of our faith.  Yet, nothing unites us with Jesus more than the body and blood He Himself places on our tongues in the bread and wine of His Supper.  Our Savior feeds us with the body and blood of His sacrifice as a sign and seal of the union He has established, a community of God’s children united in the forgiveness and peace Jesus has won through His sacrifice in our place. 

Dear friends, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated first that night Jesus was betrayed.  It has been celebrated time and time again for the nearly two thousand years since that night, because even though Jesus died, He didn’t stay dead.  Having been raised to life again, He continues to feed us with this life-giving food.  Through His victory feast, Jesus unites us eternally with our God.  In Christ, we are now one in His body, one in faith, one in life, and one with God.  Tonight, we rejoice again to be blessed by The Three Unions in Holy Communion.  Amen.

Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.