Words of Wisdom

Originally Posted 7/18/06

In our Sunday morning Bible class we have been studying I Corinthians and this past week we looked at chapter 11 in which Paul discusses the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. The majority class opinion seemed to go along with classic Church of Christ doctrine: The bread and wine stand for the body and blood of Jesus and we are supposed to take this time to reflect on the sacrifice that He gave for us.

Now, I’ve never been very satisfied with this explanation – namely the “body” part of it. If you look at Matt 26: 26-29-

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. 29“But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.

You’ll notice here and in other places that there seems to be very little mention of Christ’s physical body, especially when compared to the many references to His blood. We all know that Jesus suffered tremendous bodily torture leading up to His death, but is that really what Communion is about?

So, what is the body of Christ? In class, I brought up the idea that we, as Christians, are the body and perhaps the bread of the Lord’s Supper is simply a metaphor for Christians love and interaction. The wine (aka Welch’s grape juice) is then our communion with God, through the blood of Jesus. Therefore, the emblems themselves really don’t carry much meaning, the true meaning is in our relationships with each other and with God.

Earlier this evening, as I was getting ready to write this, another idea hit me and I’d like to run this one by you guys too. Perhaps the two emblems, the bread and wine, are meant to stand for the two covenants given to us. The bread stems from the Feast of Unleavened bread and, even today, maybe it is meant to be a remembrance of times past. The Jews were “the body” before Christianity was even in existence. The wine then represents the new covenant of forgiveness as stated above.

I’ll try to get back to this topic and write more later as time permits. Let me know if you have any ideas or if I’m just rambling incoherently….