+

+ THE LORD'S SUPPER +

On the journey through our earthly life to heaven, our

good and gracious God provides a holy and precious

—the Lord’s Supper. What a privilege it is for us to receive

need His forgiveness. Our sinfulness and the troubles, sorrows,

difficulties and stresses of our life in this fallen world are all

reasons we need the Lord’s Supper.

As great as is our need, even greater is the life-giving meal

He has provided! It is a very personal way God works in our life

to save us, to strengthen us and to keep us close to Him. Jesus

promised to be with us always, to the very close of the age

with these words: "This is My body, given for you. This cup is My

blood of the new testament, shed for you for the forgiveness of

sins" (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20; 1 Cor.

11:23-25).The Lord’s Supper "is the true body and blood of our

Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ

tremendous treasures of God’s mercy are the love, peace and

hope that He gives us in His Supper, and the ability and desire

to do God’s will, living in love and harmony with others.

It is often observed how there is a foreshadowing of the

Lord’s Supper in the Old Testament discussion of how the sacrifices

were eaten by those for whom they were offered (1 Cor.

10:18).The Scriptures indicate that without the shedding of

blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb.9:22).The blood of

Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7;

bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, rather we believe, teach,

confess and rejoice that He is present. We Lutherans let the words

of Jesus stand without arguing about their possibility, or trying

to explain how they are true. As Luther put it so clearly, "We

maintain that the bread and the wine in the Supper are the true

body and blood of Christ's III.6).Everyone who communes

receives into their mouths the body and blood of Jesus Christ,

whether they believe it or not, be they worthy or unworthy.

Jesus' Word is sure and certain. The Holy Spirit gives us

faith to trust in and believe Jesus’ words, "Given and shed for

you for the forgiveness of sins." Faith in Christ’s promise is

what makes us worthy to receive His Supper. Christ's words of

institution retain their validity and efficacious power and thus,

by virtue of these words, the body and blood of Christ are truly

present, distributed and received.

we need what the Lord gives in His Supper. We dare never

make a law about how often an individual "should" or "must"

receive the Lord’s Supper. But this is a separate question from

how frequently Holy Communion is offered in our congregations.

Our Lutheran Confessions make it clear that the Lord’s

Supper is offered every Lord’s Day and on other days when

there are communicants present (AC XXIV.34 and Ap.XXIV.1).

In saying this, our Confessions are merely reflecting the

truth of the Sacred Scriptures, which place the Lord’s Supper at

Because of our sinful human nature, we are tempted at

times to think, "I don’t need to take Communion. I just don’t

feel like it. "But when we feel this way, we need to realize that in

the Lord’s Supper, the holy God of God, and Light of Light, very

God of very God, is coming among us, under the bread and

wine, to be with us, to join Himself to us, to forgive, renew and

strengthen us.

In preparing to receive the Lord’s Supper, it is good for us to

review, "Christian Questions with Their Answers," on page 306

advice can be given than that, in the first place, he put his hand

into his shirt and feel whether he still has flesh and blood, and

that he by all means believe what the Scriptures say about it in

"Secondly, that he look around to see whether he is still in

the world, and keep in mind that there will be no lack of sin

and trouble, as the Scriptures say in John 15-16 and in 1 John 2

and 5.

"Thirdly, he will certainly have the devil also about him,

who with his lying and murdering, day and night, will let him

have no peace within or without, as the Scriptures picture him

to the world. Here is that bread of heaven, that angel’s food, of

which if any man eat he shall never be hungry (John 6:35,51).

"The children of Israel had the ark of the covenant and the

mercy seat, where they could hear the Lord speaking with

them face to face (Ex.25:21, 22).Here we have the true ark of

the covenant, the most holy body of Christ, in whom are hidden

all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col.2:3).Here

we have the true mercy seat in the precious blood of Christ

(Rom.3:25),through which God has made us accepted in the

Beloved (Eph.1:6).

"Nor does Christ simply speak the word of comfort to our

souls, He also takes up His abode in us. He feeds our souls not

with heavenly manna, but, what is far better, with His own

blessed self. Here is the true gate of heaven for our souls, and

the ladder reaching from earth to heaven on which the angels

a price. He holds us dear because He feeds our souls with so

dear and precious a food. He holds us dear because we are

members of His body, of His flesh (Eph.5:30).

"The holy flesh of God, which the angelic hosts adore in

the unity of the divine nature, before which archangels bow in

lowly reverence, and before which the principalities and powers

of heaven tremble and stand in awe, has become the nourishment

for our souls. Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be

glad (Ps.96:11),but still more let the believing soul exult and

sing for joy, to whom God gives such an unspeakable gift!"7