Sunday 08/15/21 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Bread and Wine Vs. Body and Blood”
(“Feeding the Body and the Soul” - Series: Part 3 of 5)
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 111
New Testament Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-20
Gospel Lesson: John 6:51-58
For two Sundays now, I have been preaching
a sermon series called “Feeding the Body and the Soul.” The point of this five-week
sermon series, is to compare and to connect our earthly realities with our heavenly
realities. As Christians we are supposed to share the good news of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. We should be excited and wanting people to be transformed in and
through Jesus Christ. We should be excited to see people repent of there shame
and guilt, come to Christ, and be filled with the power of Holy Spirit.
We should also be concerned with
people’s earthly realities, as well. This means that we can feed, clothe, offer
water, etc., to those who need it. We can at the same time share the good news
of Jesus Christ with these folks, as well. For all of these reasons, I said on
the first Sunday of this sermon series that we are called by Christ to “Feed People
and Feed People.”
Last Sunday, I challenged us to think
about and to consider how much of our own time is spent focused on earthly
things, versus heaving things. Are we more focused on the things of this earth,
or are we more focused on God? I compared this reality to a seesaw, and I think
that all of us strive to be fully focused on God, but some days our focus on
the world just wins out.
Since we have an entire month this month of these
great gospel of John scriptures that compare the earthly with the divine, we
will have three more weeks of such comparisons. While in the last two weeks of
our gospel of John readings Jesus has said that he is bread of life, this Sunday
he gets more specific. I mean after all, the Psalm tells us this morning of God
in 111:5-7:
5 He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant. 6 He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. 7 The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy (Ps. 111:5-7, NRSV).
When
Jesus Christ, who was God in the flesh on earth had the Last Supper with his
disciples, he was telling his disciples and us that his broken flesh and his poured-out
blood would happen on the cross the next day on Good Friday, to free us from sin,
shame, and guilt. We can be forgiven, renewed, and become new creations in
Jesus Christ. To display this reality, Jesus gave his disciples in that Upper
Room, the first ever Holy Communion.
In fact,
in the gospel of Matthew 26:26-28 Jesus says to his disciples at the Last
Supper as he is instituting Holy Communion of the Lords Supper this:
26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Mt. 26:26-28, NRSV).
What started in that Upper Room on that first Holy or
Maundy Thursday, the night before Jesus was crucified on Good Friday almost two-thousand
years ago, has become what we call Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper. The
sharing of the bread and the cup is done, in part, because we are recommitting
ourselves to Jesus. In receiving Holy Communion, we are reuniting with Christ,
and affirming that his broken body, or the bread, and his blood, or the wine or
the juice, is for us.
In many Christian traditions, Holy Communion is significant
in the life the church. It grieved me during the height of the pandemic when we
received Holy Communion with small pre-sealed cups with the wafer and the juice.
There is just something much more family oriented and holy about coming up to receive
communion together as a church family.
Make no mistake as well that Holy Communion as my sermon series
is called, is something that “Feeds the Body and the Soul.” There are also a
couple Christian denominations, such as the Salvation Army and the Quakers who do
not receive Holy Communion from the bread and the cup, but instead interpret what
being in communion means differently. The vast majority of the Christian world
however, and for centuries, has received Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper.
How does Holy Communion connect with my sermon series title
called “Feeding the Body and the Soul” though? It connects because virtually any
church that I have even been in worship at, has generally had communion. In
this communion, the church always has wafers, a loaf of bread, pita bread, matza
bread, or something like this. The church would always have wine or juice, or both,
as well. Some churches use juice like the United Methodist Church, because of alcoholism.
It is very true to say that Jesus and his disciples had wine at the Last
Supper, but some people struggle with alcoholism, or are recovering alcoholics.
The grape juice we have is unfermented, therefore. Some churches also offer
wine and or grape juice. The truth is, is that Jesus had a glass or a chalice
at the Last Supper with the fruit of the grape vine. It was purple like blood,
and while it is more scriptural to have actual wine, grape juice is pretty much
the same thing.
So, Jesus told us to eat this bread and drink this cup, but
how does connect to the idea of “Feeding the Body and the Soul”? Well depending
on the Christian denomination or the church that you have attended and received
communion in, there was likely some great spiritually significance placed upon
Holy Communion.
In some Christian traditions, the church teaches that the
bread and grape juice are symbols and a memorial of Christ’s death on the cross
for us. These Christian denominations and churches teach that the bread and
grape juice are mere symbols that should cause us to turn to God, repent our
sins, and draw closer to Jesus. Therefore, the bread and the grape juice after
consecration have no spiritual power in and off themselves.
While a couple of Christian denominations do not have the
bread and the cup at all then, some that say the bread and the cup themselves have
no power, other than the power of the Holy Spirit to make us more holy and
righteous.
Let us look once again though at what the gospel of John
6:51-58 says this morning. Starting in verse 6:51 it says once again:
51 I am the living bread
that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and
the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The
Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his
flesh to eat?” (Jn.
6:51-52, NRSV).
Jesus then says this in response:
53 So Jesus said to them,
“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my
flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the
last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is
true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood
abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father
sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because
of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven,
not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats
this bread will live forever.” (Jn. 6:53-58, NRSV).
After
reading words from Jesus like this, the obvious question that has been asked by
Christians for centuries is, “So what is Holy Communion”? What is the bread and
the wine? What is the bread and the grape juice? Should we have Holy Communion merely
because Jesus asked his disciples and us to do this to remember him, or is
there something significant about the bread and cup?
The highest percentage of the
Christian world historically would say that when we receive Holy Communion or
the Lord’s Supper, we are not just receiving bread and wine or grape juice, but
that the bread and the cup itself also has power. Such power in fact, that we
call Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper a sacrament in the United Methodist
Church. A sacrament is a special impartation of God’s grace that occurs uniquely
and specially with the bounds of the sacrament in question.
So, if the majority of the Christian
world, well over 60% says the bread and the cup have power, then what does this
mean. Do we believe that we are actually eating the literal flesh of Christ
when we have communion? Do we believe that we actually drinking the real blood
of Christ when we have communion? In our United Methodist Great Thanksgiving liturgy,
we say the words body and blood. So, what does this mean?
In the Roman Catholic Church and
Eastern Orthodox Churches, they believe that they are receiving the body and
the blood of Christ. They would argue that wafer or the bread, and the wine
changes during the communion prayer. The bread and wine become the body of Christ.
They still look, smell, and taste like bread and wine, but as part of the great
mystery of our Christian faith, they are the actual body and blood of Christ.
Since Jesus has ascended to heaven however, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox
Christians are not eating the body of Jesus like cannibals. This body and blood
are physical, but the literally the flesh of Christ. It is called “Transubstantiation,”
and it is the body and blood of Christ, but not his crucified flesh. It is
complicated, but also considered part of the great mystery of faith.
Many high church Lutherans believe that
the bread and wine when prayed over are “Consubstantiated.” Well, what does
this mean? This means when the bread and the wine are consecrated, that the
bread become a mixture of Christ’s body and bread, and the cup become a mixture
of Christ’s blood and wine.
So, what do United Methodists believe about
Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper then? We do believe that the bread and grape
juice are symbols, and that they stay bread and grape juice, but we believe
that Christ is spiritually present in them. Christ is spiritually present in
the bread, the cup, and in us. We call this “The Real Presence of Christ” in
Holy Communion. When I pray over the bread and cup, we believe that God shows
up, that Jesus is present in the bread, in the cup, and in us.
In some Christian denominations and churches,
you have to be a member to receive communion. In the United Methodist Church,
we see the sacrament of Holy Communion as a means of God’s abundant grace.
Through receiving Holy Communion, we encounter God, are filled with Christ, and
the power of the Holy Spirit. So powerful is Holy Communion or the Lord’s
Supper, our table is open to anyone, so as long as they have a desire to know
Christ more.
Some Christian denominations or
churches also hold that communion is only offered to baptized Christians. As
United Methodists we would say that we would love all people to receive the sacrament
or the special means of God’s grace through Holy Baptism, but that Holy
Communion is powerful. People’s faith and love for Christ grow through
partaking in Holy Communion.
For all these reasons, as United
Methodists our communion table is open to all people who want to know Christ
more, connect to God, and to continue to be transformed through the power of
the Holy Spirit.
In taking Jesus’ words from the gospel
of John this morning, the sacrament of Holy Communion is how we symbolically
and spiritually sharing in the bread and the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just like how people need to be feed physically and spiritually, and like how
need to focus more on God and less on the stresses of earth, there is also an earthly
and a heavenly part to Holy Communion. When we partake of Holy Communion, we are
drinking real grape juice and eating real bread, but in the great mystery of
our two-thousand-year Christian faith, Christ is present. Christ is spiritually
in the bread, in the cup, and in us. Holy Communion bridges earth and heaven.
Through Holy Communion we are “Feeing the Body and the Soul,” and this is the
connection between “Bread and Wine Vs. Body and Blood.” Amen.
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