1. Corinthians 10,16-17. Maundy Thursday

✠ Take, this is My body and My blood of the new testament ✠

1. Corinthians 10,16-17  1918

Gründonnerstag  030 

Eustace, Abbot of Luxeuil, France. Apostle to the Bavarians, ✠ 629  

29. März 2018 

1. О Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, be with us during this night as we meditate upon the new testament You have given us in the Supper of You body and blood, so that remembering Your suffering we may draw comfort, strength and peace in abundant measure (Starck 81).  Amen.  

2. »The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.«  

3. The Apostle Paul teaches that the cup of the Lord’s Supper is a participation in the blood of Christ. Paul points out the intention of Jesus with the Sacrament, for Jesus says: »This cup is the new testament in My blood« (1. Corinthians 11,25) The Lord told Moses on Sinai: »The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life« (Leviticus 17,11). To drink the cup of the Lord’s Supper is to participate in the blood of Christ which has been shed on the cross to make atonement for us. 

4. Saint Paul then teaches that the bread of the Lord’s Supper is a participation in the body of Christ. Four centuries later, Saint Augustine would write: »These and similar tokens of friendship, which spring spontaneously from the hearts of those who love and are loved in return – in countenance, language, eyes and a 1000 ingratiating gestures – were all so much fuel to melt our lives together, and out of the many made us one“ [his atquehuios modi signis a corde amantium et readmantium procendentibus per os, per linguam, per oculos et mille motus gratissimos quasi fomitibus conflare animos et ex pluribus unum facere.] (Augustine IV,8). The greatest token of friendship is Christ dying on the cross. Yes, God the Father sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be the sacrifice for mankind’s sin. Christ is the love of God manifested in the flesh. The Apostle Paul tells us that just as there is one loaf of bread in the communion in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, so too is there one body of Christ, the Church. We who are many become one in Christ. Each Christian is a part of the greater whole which is the Church. The Latin phrase e pluribus unum – out of many, one – is true of the Church; we who are many, individual Christians, gather together to worship Christ the Lord as one Church. And so it is when we partake of the Lord’s Supper. We who are many gather together at the altar and we become one in Christ for the Lord’s Supper is a fellowship; it is a confession that affirms we as individuals have the same faith: we believe in Christ Jesus our crucified Lord who instituted this Holy Sacrament for our forgiveness; we gather together at this altar and we kneel to receive from the Lord that gift and blessing of forgiveness and salvation. 

5. In proclaiming that there is only one bread and only one body, the Apostle Paul is confessing that there is only one Savior from sin, Death and Hades: that Savior is Christ Jesus. There is only one people of God: that people is the Church. Just as there is one Christ and one Church, so there is only one gospel: that gospel is Christ crucified, and there is only one bearer of that precious gospel: that bearer is the Church. 

  6. To the Church alone has Christ instituted His Holy Sacrament. Only the Church administers the gospel of forgiveness through her pastors and bishops. In doing so, Jesus has intimately united His Church, yes, each one of you, to His salvific crucifixion. You are united to Christ’s death, and since you are united to His death then you are united to His life everlasting. The gospel proclaims your forgiveness: »For the death Jesus died He died to sin, once for all, but the life Jesus lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus« (Romans 6,10-11). This is what it means to be united to Christ and to participate with Him in the Lord’s Supper.  

7. So that you may more confidently believe this and be strengthened in the faith and in holy living, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread, broke it and gave it to His disciples and said: »Take, eat; this is My Body, which is given for you.« It is as if He said: „I became man, and all that I do and suffer is for your good. As a pledge of this, I give you My Body under the Bread to eat“. 

8. In the same way also He took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them, saying: »Drink of it, all of you; this Cup is the new testament in My Blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.« Again, it is as if He said: „I have had mercy on you by taking into Myself all your iniquities. I give Myself unto death, shedding My blood to obtain grace and forgiveness of sins, and to comfort and establish the new testament, which gives forgiveness and everlasting salvation. As a pledge of this, I give you My True Blood under the Wine to drink“. 

9. Therefore, whoever eats this Bread and drinks this Cup, confidently believing this word and promise of Christ, dwells in Christ and Christ in him and has eternal life. For these words »Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,« show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given to you through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: „forgiveness of sins“. You should do this in remembrance of Him, showing His death – that He was delivered for your offenses and raised for your justification. Giving Him your most heartfelt thanks, you take up your cross and follow Him and, according to His Commandment, love and serve one another as He has loved and served you. For we, the Church, are all one bread and body, even as we are all partakers of this one Bread and drink from this one Cup. 

10. For just as the one Cup is filled with wine of many grapes and one Bread made from countless grains, so also you, being many are one body in Christ. Because of Him, you love and serve one another, not only in word, but in deed and in truth. May the Almighty and Merciful God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, accomplish this in you and me. 

11. You have been invited by Christ Jesus Himself to His Heavenly Father’s glorious banquet of eternal life. Do not excuse yourself from Christ’s invitation and Supper, but receive His invitation with joy and thanksgiving for He has established and instituted this Supper for your blessing. The Supper has been set; join me in receiving it for your salvation and forgiveness.  Amen. 

12. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, You have caused Your wonders to be remembered; You are gracious and merciful. In this Sacrament of the Altar You give us Your true body and blood in the true bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins. Help us to rightly remember all You have done for us in Your life and crucifixion whereby You merited the forgiveness of each and every sin we have or will commit, for Your forgiveness is properly given to us through this new testament Passover meal we call Holy Communion, so that we may always know and believe that we are at peace with You on account of Your holy merit that has been applied to us as our own merit.  Amen. 

Which is poured out for everyone 

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, Vol. 4. © 1963 Henry Regnery Co. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Augustine. Confessions.  

Starck, Johann Friedrich. Starck’s Prayer Book. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House.