1 Corinthians 11:23-26
April 21, 2011
Sermon preached on Maundy Thursday at the Chinese Congregational Church, San Francisco.
During this recession, one thing people do to save money is to cut back on eating out. Restaurants have noticed so they have lowered prices, increased advertisement, and offered more coupons. But one meal we should eat out whenever possible is the Lord’s Supper. We need to get out to church and share communion with the people of God.
When we share the Lord’s Supper, it’s a different kind of nourishment than a restaurant meal. This meal is communal in nature.
Communal Meal
In the passage, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul tells in a brief summary about Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper. But reading that passage in isolation from the larger context can give us an idea that Jesus instituted communion strictly because he knew his followers were going to need some sort of material ritual to keep the memory of his sacrifice alive.
It, of course, has that effect. At both of our churches, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of each month. But to get only that out of this passage is to miss the point that Jesus needed the fellowship of communion himself that night of all nights because of the horror he was to face within just a few hours.
In that sense, sharing the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday is a little different from the other times we have it together throughout the year. Most of the time, we rightly think of it in terms of what we receive from it, but on the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, we can also think of it in terms of what Jesus received from the meal with his disciples and what we receive from the meal with others who believe.
Communion Meal Behaviors
If we were to read the entire section of Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians, we’ll get a more complete picture that some of the people were engaging in unholy behaviors.
When the Lord’s Supper was celebrated in the first-century church, it was done somewhat differently from how we usually do it today. In the early church, the Lord’s Supper was observed as part of an actual meal that believers ate together. They ate to satisfy normal hunger, but at some point in the meal, they shared some bread and wine, probably along with prayer, to make the symbolic connection to Jesus’ last meal. In fact, it was something like a potluck dinner, with each family bringing some food.
We learn from the context reading that some Christians there in Corinth were better off financially than others, and thus they had the resources to bring better food to the meal. Less-well-off people brought what they could, but it was more common fare. This led to a problem because instead of everybody sharing what they had brought, those who brought the better food wanted to eat that food themselves without sharing it. Paul points out the problem: “For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk” (v. 21).
In other words, Corinthian Christians were missing the whole point of the Lord’s Supper. It isn’t to promote a “look out for yourself” attitude but to unite you to become the body of Christ. You have your own homes for your private meals, but when you come together don’t dive in to get the best cuts for yourself. Instead, share with one another and be a community of Christ.
The Christian experience was never meant to be a solitary one, with each person content to work on just his or her own spiritual relationship apart from others. The writer of Hebrews said, “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and do good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as it is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (10:24-25).
Fellowship of Followers
There’s a story about a Christian traveling in India visiting a Christian community where people were suffering from a debilitating disease. When it came time for lunch, he headed for the central dining room. On the way, he heard the sound of laughter behind him. Turning around, he saw two young men, one riding on the other’s back. Pretending to be horse and rider, they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Then the visitor noticed that the man who was carrying his friend was blind, and the man he was carrying was lame. The man without eyes used his feet; the man without feet used his eyes. Together they fetched their food and shared it.
In a real sense, I am pleased to have our church co-host this service with our sisters and brothers at the Congregational Church. This is the idea of the church! The church isn’t solitary Christians in our own little buildings in Chinatown; it’s a fellowship of followers of Jesus Christ.
Communion, the common meal of the church, reminds us of how important it is to our own spiritual life when we come to “eat out” together. We get spiritual nourishment in the company of others.
During this recession, we may need to eat at home more often. But when it comes to the life of faith, we also need to dine out, in the company with other Christians, for what we received gathered together cannot be duplicated when we are eating by ourselves at home.
On this Maundy Thursday, we seek to put ourselves into a somber mood of Jesus’ last meal. He, like us, needed the fellowship of his disciples to strengthen him for what he was going to have to face alone. We, like him, need both what the Heavenly Father gives us at the communion table and what our fellow believers give us by sharing the meal.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, let us always remember to give your thanks and praise every time we come together and share in the bread and cup. Let us always remember the depth of your commitment to us. Let us never take for granted the price you paid so we might receive the fullness of the grace present in this meal. Inasmuch as you came to be with us out of love, help us to come together as sisters and brothers joined by your love to be the Body of Christ in Chinatown and in the world. In your name we pray. Amen.
Benediction
As you, O God, have blessed our coming in so that we may be your gathered disciples to hear the suffering you endured for our sake, now bless our going forth; and grant that when we leave your house that in the breaking of bread and the drinking of the cup that we may not leave your presence, but be ever near us and keep us near to you. Go in love, and may the grace, mercy, and peace of God abide in you. Amen.
Maundy Thursday
The Latin mandatum novum means the “new commandment” Jesus gave in John 13:34.