Day 3

“…this is My body…this is My blood…”

Mark 14:22-24

The way we think about communion has to change. 

The seriousness of communion is expressed in 1 Corinthians 11:27 and 29 which states that whoever partakes of communion in “an unworthy manner” will be “guilty of the body and blood of the Lord”. 

The word “unworthy” here, expresses a difference in the value that our Father has placed on something and the value that we have placed on it. The Greek word is “anaxiós” and it comes from the almost identical word “anaxios” which is used in 1 Corinthians 6:2 to express the same idea: not holding something to the same estimation as the Lord does. In this case, degrading our value from where God has placed us, saying we are unworthy to judge earthly matters. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul is saying that if we partake of communion without applying the same value to it that God does, we aren’t understanding what it means… i.e. we aren’t discerning the Lord’s body (1 Cor 11:29), and therefore, are not walking in the fullness of what He’s done for us and who we are in Him. We are weak and sick (v.30). 

How does God see communion? Is it something that He desires us to do because it’s the 4th Sunday of the month? Is it something on our service checklist that we try to fit in so we can cross it out? 

To value communion the way God does, we must look a bit more closely at the historical context of covenant. Communion is fundamentally a step of the covenant ritual. 

Covenant, though foreign to us in our society of weak agreements and easily broken promises, was an essential part of life in Bible times. We see covenant being “cut” often in the Old Testament between friends, family, even rivals. Most importantly, in the Old Testament we are introduced to God as a covenant partner, first of Abraham, then later of others. 

A covenant is a process by which a promise is guaranteed between 2 parties. It is completely unbreakable… sealed in the sight of God. Marriage is a covenant designed by God, where “the two become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31) and that’s essentially what cutting covenant does. In biblical times, across all different cultures, the process of making covenant varied only slightly. Each step signified two people exchanging identities and becoming one, guaranteeing themselves to the other person forever. 

Cutting covenant was a multi-step, illustrative ritual that two individuals would slowly and thoughtfully work through - sometimes representing themselves, sometimes representing their people or nations. It makes for an incredible study and I highly recommend taking the time to look into it. There is a lot to be drawn from the process and each step applies to our relationship with Christ and our being one with Him. For now I want to attend to just one of these steps, and that is the covenant meal. 

An important part of the process of cutting covenant was sharing in a covenant meal. This was a simple meal of bread and wine, and the two parties would take turns giving each other of these elements. If you and I were entering into covenant together, I would take some bread from a loaf and give it to you. The bread would represent my body - my physical and mental strength, my health and wellbeing, my effort, all pledged in service to the promise we’ve made to each other.  Then you would do the same. I would then give you to drink of the wine, a symbol of my blood. Across all cultures, from the garden of eden on, blood has represented life. Blood carries the life essence through the body. I’m sure taking some time you can find how even today in our culture, we draw from this way of thinking. In giving you to drink of the wine, I’m giving you my life - not only my physical strength and effort, but the very essence of who I am. We are drinking from the same cup, the same source of life and therefore, there is no difference between my life and yours. What’s mine is yours and yours is mine. My lot in life is now yours, and vice versa. We are no longer two but one. 

Covenant is serious business. You do not take covenant lightly and you wouldn’t enter into covenant with just anyone. You either really need the protection and covering of the other person, or you really love them. 

I believe that when Jesus was in the upper room with His disciples, they would have recognized immediately what was taking place as He passed around the bread and the cup saying “this is my body… this is my blood”. I imagine they would have been awestruck at the fact that the one they knew to be Lord and Savior was entering into covenant with them. The Son of God desired to be their covenant partner. They didn’t fully realize at that moment, what sort of promises they were being made partakers of. 

The Lord’s Supper table was the start of something incredible and unprecedented. God Himself was entering into covenant with man… and not just with one person, or with one nation, but with all who would choose to partake of what He’s offering “to anyone who wills…” (Revelation 22:17). 

The Lord has given us communion as a reminder of the covenant that He has entered into with us. It’s a reminder of the unbreakable promise for which He’s given Himself as a guarantee. Remember, the new covenant is in Christ - we are in Christ. He was our representative, entering into covenant with the Father on our behalf. The repercussions are devastating for breaking covenant. To ensure our covenant with God Almighty would not be broken by fallible man - Jesus came, qualified to be our representative by being fully man and lived infallibly, securing our place forever in covenant. We are safe in Him. 

“Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

Colossians 1:12