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The Lord’s Supper – Two Realities in One
The Lord’s Supper: Two Realities in One
The Lord’s supper is not a mystery meal wherein bread and wine turn into the actual body and blood of Christ. While not a divine mystery, our Savior’s supper is a paradox – simultaneously simple, yet complex. Notice these five collaborative realities:
1. Physical – There is tangible unleavened bread and fruit of the vine. Jesus took the bread and cup as do we. The physical enblems represents other corporeal realities, Jesus’s body and blood (1 Cor.11:23-25). Two physical realities in one.
2. Historical – Our remembering a historical event creates an anticipation of the end of history event – “until he comes” (1 Cor.11:26). If one is true, so is the other. Two historical realities in one.
3. Communal – “When you come together” (1 Cor.11:22) is a communal activity. We are reenacting Jesus’s assembling with His apostles (1 Cor.11:23-26). Two communal realities in one.
4. Sacrificial – The sacrifice of Jesus is spiritual and physical, atonement and death. While Jesus’s body was dripping blood, our souls are cleansed in His blood. Our sharing these emblems is a reminder of our contributing to one another’s needs. That way we don’t shame any one through our blatant plenty and their obvious lack (1 Cor.11:21-22,33). Two sacrificial realities in one.
5. Temporal – When is, “as often as you do this” (1 Cor.11:26) is unspecified here. But there are inferences. 1 Corinthians speaks more on two topics than any other epistle: 1) the Lord’s supper; 2) the resurrection. This connection is collaborated in Acts 20 wherein a scene involving the breaking of bread thematically contains a resurrection. We gather on Sunday which is the Son’s day of resurrection, talking the Lord’s supper on the Lord’s day. Two temporal realities in one.
The Lord’s supper can be easily abused as seen in 1 Corinthians 11, but only if we focus on half of the above realities. Even Satan can fake half a meaning resulting in Satan’s supper declaring a half truth.
When we see the paralleling “two realities in one” breakdown, this simple physical act becomes highly spiritual, symbolic, practical, meaningful, and only accessible to those constantly living in two realities – in the world, but not of the world. This is our paradox. This is our Lord’s supper.
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