During the Last Supper, Jesus performed a monumental act of prophetic symbolism. Using the simple elements of grain, olive oil, and grape, the essential and common exports of the region, Christ presupposed his crucifixion on the cross. As Christ initiated this sacramental act, he both accepted and interpreted his imminent death. His crucifixion was a willing self-offering to God that created a new relationship between God and his people. It was this sacrificial act that was being foreshadowed during the Last Supper. By allowing his disciples to share in the bread and the cup, Christ was giving them an opportunity to share in all that his death would achieve. It is in this meal that the Christian Eucharist is rooted. For every follower of Christ is called to partake in this sacrament in order to remember the redeeming sacrifice of Christ and much more.[1]
The very act of the Eucharist is a communal act where individuals come together at one table and partake of the shared elements as an act of worship. While this act is very much about the acts of Christ in the past and the future acts of Christ to come, the Eucharist is also the opportunity to take part in community both with Christ himself and all Christ followers throughout the ages. As one comes to the table, Christ meets them there in love and in fellowship. The very act of the Eucharist is where the church becomes one. It is the full expression of the unity of the Body of Christ.[2]
It is at the table where the fellowship of God’s children assembles and worships. The Eucharistic table is where the individual bonds with Christ and with the community of believers, expressing the true form of koinonia. For in the “eating and drinking at the [Eucharistic table], individuals are linked to the community in which is visible in these acts.”[3] The Eucharist is the sign of the life of the Church because it is the sign of the one who is the life, Jesus Christ. This is why throughout Church history; the Eucharist has been used as a public sign of one’s profession of faith. It is this act of worship that points to Christ, the great Redeemer and Savior of the world.[4]
The bread and wine within the Eucharist is not just a source of nourishment, but is the disclosure of the whole story of God, where one can see creation, incarnation, and recreation. This resides within the elements as the body of Christ consumes them.As the church participates in this symbolic act, a reality is present.
[The present reality is] the divine action of God redeeming his world through Jesus Christ; the call for us to see that our union with God, and indeed the union of all heaven and earth is accomplished by God alone in Jesus Christ. In eating and drinking we experience a foretaste of the supper of the Lamb in the kingdom of Christ’s rule over heaven and earth (Revelation 19). We become what we eat – living witnesses to Christ who lives in us.[5]
As the church partakes the body of Christ, the church becomes the body of Christ moving into the world, surpassing ritual and moving into action. The Eucharist is the very point where the gospel enters reality. Theory and theology become experiential reality where Christ is experienced and lives are transformed.[6]
[1]Hugh Wybrew, The Orthodox Liturgy: The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite(Crestwood: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1989), 13.
[2]James F. White, The Sacraments in Protestant Practice and Faith (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1999), 107-110.
[3]Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology, trans. Margaret Kohl (London: SCM Press Ltd., 1977), 243.
[4]Ibid.
[5]Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008), 146.
[6]Dr. Robert J. Stamps of Asbury Theological Seminary, interview by author, 12 April 2011, Wilmore, personal interview, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore.
kaury edwards 