While this Sacrament doesn’t play a huge role in Scripture,
we know that it did in the earliest church.
Christians cherished this Sacrament and included it in every Sunday worship.
Let’s carefully look at the relevant Scriptures here…
Matthew 26:26-29, “While they were still eating, Jesus took
bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying,
‘Take and eat, this is my body.’
Then He took the cup, (wine) gave thanks and offered it to them
saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This
is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out for many of you for
the forgiveness of sins. I tell, I
will not drink of this fruit of the vine (wine) again until I drink it
anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-29, “Jesus took bread, and when
He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is my body which is for
you, do this in remembrance of me. In
the same way, He took the cup saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in
my blood, do this, as often as you drink it, remembering me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and
drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or
drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner is guilty of profaning
the body and blood of the Lord.
Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of
the cup. For anyone who eats and
drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment upon
himself.”
Real Presence!
Historically, this has been one of the most stressed and
treasured teachings of Christianity. As
we look at the Scriptures, a literal reading embraces that the meaning of “is”
is “is.” Jesus says “This IS my Body… this
IS my Blood.” “Is” has to do with reality, existing, being. We believe that Christ
is present in the Eucharist, “for real” - and this is the essence of the doctrine of Real
Presence. We accept this “at His word”
and as a mystery. We do not even
attempt to get into the science or physics of all this (in fact, we avoid that!) – we don’t believe we are being cannibals (an early charge against
Christians!) and we realize that it doesn’t look or taste like anything other
than bread and wine, but we take Jesus at His word – and leave it at that. It’s
no more complex than that. We don’t get into the “when, where, how” of
it, the physics or philosophy of it, and we CERTAINLY don’t want to deny any of
it. “IS” = is (being, present, exists,
real). “Body” = body. “Blood” = blood. The ancient doctrine of Real Presence.
While that is the Doctrine of Real Presence, we also do not deny that
bread and wine are present, too. As we
look at the Scriptures, we see that after
the Consecration, we find the realities referred to as bread, wine, body and
blood – all FOUR, without any distinction or differentiation, and thus we just
accept that all 4 are “real” and “there.”
The focus, of course, is entirely
on the Body and Blood (so we speak of it as such), the bread and wine are
pretty insignificant – maybe even
irrelevant (you can have bread and wine any day!) but we accept that
bread and wine are equally “really there,” too. It is only the bread and wine
that our senses perceive, but our faith perceives much more! The Eucharist is not just bread and wine, it is also Jesus! This is Real Presence.
Newer Catholic and Protestant Views….
Real Presence was the view from the earliest Christians,
and is still the doctrine among Lutheran, Orthodox and many Anglican and some
Methodist Christians. But the Catholic
Church changed it with a concept called “Transubstantiation.” Technically, the
unique Catholic dogma of Transubstantiation (1551) does not replace Real
Presence (since, again, Real Presence is simply the literal affirmation that
Christ is literally, present) but adds to it, second and additional dogma unique to that one
denomination.
The Catholic Dogma of Transubstantiation rejects 2 of the 4 realities
spoken of in the biblical texts after the
blessing – the bread and the wine.
The new Catholic dogma states the bread and wine were converted into the body and blood (in a
specific sense) and thus cease to exist in any real or full way (Catholicism
says they exist only as an “Aristotelian Accidents” - from the pagan
philosopher Aristotle’s theory of accidents); the Catholic Church now speaks
only of the “appearance” of bread and wine “remaining” but insists that the
bread and wine are not really “there.” The bread and wine were “transubstantiated” (from
the concept of alchemy) into the Body
and Blood of Jesus. We should note that the definitive word in the text
is not “change” or “into” but “is.”
Transubstantiation was not a dogma in Luther’s day, but
Luther and the Luther fathers did not embrace it. They found this theory (coming out of
medieval Catholic Scholasticism) to be textually baseless, without Tradition
and simply irrelevant. It does nothing
to affirm Real Presence and focuses instead on the bread and wine – which just
don’t
matter. There’s nothing achieved by
embracing two abiblical pagan, secular,
long ago abandoned theories – from alchemy and Aristotle
– to try to deny the bread and wine, especially since we all agree the bread
and wine are not the point anyway.
Lutherans simply don’t get into “scientific” theories here (much less
make them dogma!), we rather leave the issue exactly where God does, and
consider the issue as Mystery. If
someone wants to embrace some pious opinion about HOW all this happens, that’s
fine, but that doesn’t make it Dogma.
Transubstantiation requires a “split interpretation” of the
texts whereas 2 realities are taken literally and 2 are taken figuratively
(essentially explained away) in spite of no textual indication for such a
distinction. The 16th Century
reformer Zwingli eventually did the same thing, only embracing the bread and
wine as “real” and the body and blood as not “real,” requiring the same “split
interpretation” of the texts, the same need to explain do away 2 of the 4 things the
Bible speaks of after the Consecration.
Many Protestants (especially “Evangelicals”) eventually embraced Zwingli’s view and this view is now
typically Protestant in the USA. It affirms the
bread and wine are “real” but the Body and Blood are not; they are “present”
only in some spiritual or representative or symbolic “sense.”
While Lutherans find the new Catholic essential denial of the
bread and wine as pretty irrelevant
(they don’t really matter), we find the typical “Evangelical” denial of the Body and
Blood much more troubling – Jesus does matter!
But in both cases, the Mystery is being subjected to medieval “science”
concepts, the issue seems to be what “can’t” be instead of what Scripture says. Lutherans believe we should simply leave it
as the glorious Mystery the Bible presents.
It doesn’t matter if our brains can explain things scientifically, if we
can’t explain “how can that be?” What
matters is that our faith embraces the Mystery of Christ’s presence. Lutherans stick with the ancient, biblical
affirmation of Real Presence – adding or subtracting nothing from it.
Real Blessings!
Besides the obvious blessing of Christ’s presence, we also
receive the assurance of His love, presence and forgiveness!
Participating in the Sacrament
Participation is not the “wide open door” as it is with
Baptism. The texts reveal that is it not
appropriate for all to participate. It
states, “Let a man examine himself.”
Historically, the following are considered to be appropriate guidelines:
·
Faith in Christ. The Sacrament is for Christians (Acts 2:42, 1 Corinthians 10:21, etc.)
·
Examined for faith and
repentance (1 Corinthians
11:28)
·
Acknowledge Christ’s
literal body and blood (1
Corinthians 11:29)
·
Desire forgiveness and
strength, forgiving toward others (Matthew 26:28)
Note that there is no expressed age requirement, although
“examining oneself” would seem to exclude the very young and suggests some
formal training and education regarding the faith and the Sacrament. Historically, the “appropriate minimal age”
has varied a lot – and still does; Scripture is silent on this and so are
Lutherans. The common current practice
among American Lutherans is either “First Communion” in the third to fifth
grade (generally 8-10 years old) or after Confirmation (usually in the 7th
or 8th grade). Customs vary
among congregations, so it’s always good to check with the pastor regarding the
custom there.
Historically, there has also been the practice of “close
communion.” There is some Scriptural
support for the idea that participants should be “one” in the Apostle’s
teachings – but how “wide” or “narrow” to draw that circle is a VERY difficult
issue, variously “applied!” Some practice what is often known as “closed
communion” which simply means that only official members of that specific
parish or congregation “in good standing” may participate. Others “open communion” which often means
ANYONE (Muslim, 2 year old for example) can participate.
Most desire to avoid both extremes – but that leave a lot of middle
ground! This is CHRIST’S Sacrament (He
invites) but we need to be “faithful stewards” of such and give good
counsel. Lutherans commonly understand
that the following be embraced: Baptized. We understand that this Sacrament is for
Baptized Christians. Believers. This is for those who affirm Jesus as the
Savior! That it is in the life, death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ (as the Incarnate Second Person) that we have
forgiveness, salvation and life everlasting – a solid affirmation of John
3:16). Repentance. The participant comes repentant for his/her
sins – seeking mercy, grace, forgiveness, strength. Real Presence The affirmation that Christ is “really”
present (again, we don’t require a certain
“philosophy” there – this is mystery). It is not typically necessary to be a member
of the congregation or even necessarily Lutheran; we don’t have to agree in EVERYTHING (clearly all
the participants don’t!
I don’t even agree with ME in everything!),
but we do need to agree in Christ and in this Sacrament, His gift. It is always wise to discuss participation
with the pastor beforehand.
Our Lutheran Confessions state that Lutherans include
the Sacrament in every Sunday service.
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