Our Lord speaks. We listen. The
stance of faith is open to receive all that the Lord gives in
His Word. Of the Sacrament of the Altar, our Lord says:
"Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you. This
do in remembrance of me....This is my blood of the new
testament, which is shed for the forgiveness of sins. This do,
as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me" (see
St.Matthew 26:26-28; St.Mark 14:22-24; St.Luke 22:l9-20; I
Corinthians ll:23-24). Jesus' words make the Sacrament what it
is. Without his words there is no Sacrament. We may bring no
contradiction of Christ and His words into this Holy Communion
of His body and blood. Here we enter into the very Holy of
Holies of the New Testament-Jesus' very body and blood. Here the
body and blood born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius
Pilate, risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven is put
into our mouths. This is the most intimate union of the believer
with the Lord.
Eating and drinking Jesus' body
and blood is a proclamation of faith. The Lord's Apostle writes
"For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you
proclaim the Lord's death till He comes" (I Corinthians
ll:26). It is the prayer of the same Apostle that Christians
"with one mind and mouth glorify the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ (Romans l5:6). We may not come together in the
Lord's Supper with differing minds and mouths. In keeping with
our Lord's words and gifts and in conformity with the apostolic
practice of the church catholic, the Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod practices closed communion. Out of reverence for the
Lord's body and blood and out of sincere love that seeks to
guard the spiritual well-being of all who would commune, we
invite to the altar those who have been baptized in the name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have been taught the Lord's
words, and are currently joined to an altar where Christ's words
have free course, undiminished by human error or novelty. The
church has no mandate from the Lord to make things up as she
goes along.
Even as the Apostle Paul writes
"I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to
you "(I Corinthians ll:23), so the church can hand on only
that which she has been given. We have been given the Sacrament
of our Lord's body and blood. How we are to receive and use this
gift to our spiritual good, we know from the Lord's Word:
"Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of
the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and
blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so eat and
drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy
manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the
Lord's body" (I Corinthians ll:27-29). In keeping with
these apostolic instructions, the Large Catechism declares
"For we do not intend to admit to the sacrament and
administer it to those who do not know what they seek or why
they come" ( Tappert, The Book of Concord, p.447). Those
who are to be admitted to the Lord's Supper are first to be
baptized and instructed in the way of the "all things"
which our Lord gives His church (see St.Matthew 28:l9-20) so
that they know what it is that they receive in the Sacrament
(the true body and blood of the Lord) and how they are to
receive it (repentance and faith). This happens through
catechesis (teaching), the fulfillment of this catechesis is
celebrated in Confirmation where the catechumen pledges "to
continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer
all, even death, rather than fall away from it" (Lutheran
Worship, p.206).
If one departs from this
confession and Church, he may no longer eat and drink at this
altar. While we may not presume to judge the faith of another,
the Scriptures do call us to judge between varying confessions
of the faith (see Romans l6:l7). In practicing closed communion,
we are not entering into a judgment concerning the saving faith
of individual members of other churches. We rejoice over all
those who have saving faith in Jesus Christ. Fellowship at the
altar is not established by faith in the heart but by sharing in
a common confession of faith anchored in "the Gospel
preached in conformity with a pure understanding of it and that
the sacraments administered in accordance with the divine
Word"( Augsburg Confession VII,2-3; Tappert, The Book of
Concord, p.32).Without agreement in "doctrine and all its
articles" (Formula of Concord X,6; Tappert, The Book of
Concord, p.616) there is no fellowship, no oneness in the
"holy things" of Word and Sacrament. We are painfully
aware of the barriers that outwardly divide Christ's people and
we pray week after week in the Divine Service "For the
well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all."
It is a cause of great sadness that all Christians are not yet
united in God's Word and therefore are unable to receive
Christ's body and blood together. Where there is no unity in the
Word, there can be no unity in the Sacrament. As a called and
ordained servant of the Word, the pastor is the "steward of
the mysteries of God" (I Corinthians 4:l-2) in the midst of
the congregation. The pastor exercises this stewardship by
giving out Jesus' body and blood in accordance with His
words.
The Lord's Supper is good
medicine. It is the medicine that carries forgiveness of sins,
life, and salvation. Good medicine provides healing when it is
taken according to the directives of the physician. If good
medicine used apart from the instructions of the physician, the
results can be hazardous. The same applies to the Lord's Supper.
We sincerely want all people to receive the Lord's body and
blood with us, but we want them to receive this potent gift in
accord with the words of our Lord. As a steward of the mysteries
of God, our pastor stands ready to assist you in preparing to
come to the Lord's Table with us by teaching you His Word.
-
The Rev. John T. Pless
University
Lutheran Chapel Minneapolis, MN
Eastertide
l993
