I am going to conclude this series on the Eucharist by reflecting on the moment of Communion, the discernment and distribution of the Body and Blood of Jesus.
It matters not to me whether we all agree on our language concerning the Presence of Christ in the elements of Communion. My experience is that even those who proclaim the Real Presence many frequently fail truly to discern the body or receive the Body and Blood in a worthy manner. No doubt, it is for this reason that many of us are weak and sick, and many have died unnecessarily.
This is the moment in the Eucharist with which I currently struggle. Not that I am afraid of judgment, but because I am keenly aware that I am missing something that, if properly discerned, would release in me and in the Church power that we are terrified to wield, myself included. Examination of this moment requires that we engage in some serious study of the oldest of the texts that speak to it, from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another “if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home” so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come. (I Corinthians 11:23-34)
The single most important point (in my reckoning) necessary for the understanding of this passage is its context. Paul here is in the process of criticizing the behavior of the Corinthians when they come together to eat the Lord’s Supper. “For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.” (1 Corinthians 11:21-22)
Paul’s primary concern here is the way that followers of Christ receive the Body and Blood of the Lord as though it were theirs alone, as though they were not mystically bound to one another in “the body.” So when he speaks of eating and drinking without discerning the “body” he does not mean the Eucharistic element, but the mystical Body of Christ that is the oneness created among His followers.
And to eat and drink without first discerning the “Body” is what constitutes an “unworthy manner.”
It is unfortunate that many of us, myself included, grew up hearing that passage “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” (King James Version) This can be, and often has been misconstrued to suggest that somehow, through self examination, I may render myself worthy to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. And it has frightened many a believer away from the Table for fear that they might somehow multiply the condemnation they felt for their sins by the “unworthy” reception of Communion. But this is simply not what the text says. It speaks to the manner of receiving and eating itself. It is the unworthiness of that manner that leaves us guilty. (“Bound” is another way to translate the word we translate “guilty.”) Self examination here speaks to our willingness to look at the state of our hearts as we approach the altar, and see if we are approaching as one bound to our neighbor in the “Body” or as an individual, coming to get something for myself. (Which appears to be what the Corinthians were doing.)
And our failure to receive as “members” of Christ’s Body does not multiply our guilt, it does not somehow add to it by piling on top of everything else guilt for the Body and Blood of Jesus, but rather, this failure leaves us as guilty of His Body and Blood as we are in every moment. For we are. Guilty of His Body and Blood. Somehow, it is the perception of this mystical Body that also lifts from us the weight of that guilt and the judgment that goes along with it.
I struggled to have any grasp of what this means (and I still cannot perceive this, except through a glass, darkly) but recently, in the celebration of the Eucharist, I was given a gift. As I prayed the words of the Eucharistic prayer, in my heart I was crying, “Lord, let me see! I want to discern your Body in a way that sets us free, that sets me free! I want to eat and drink of you in a worthy way, in a way that frees us from death and sickness!” And suddenly, as I struggled to keep the audible words going, I felt as though the congregation and I were being bathed in a flood of the Blood of Jesus. It was pouring over us so forcefully, so drenchingly, so heavily that I could scarcely stand or breathe. And in that moment I understood that we are one Body because we are washed in one Blood, and somehow, in a way that I still cannot describe, I knew that we were truly united to one another through that Blood. Not in some abstract theological way, but in a tangible, earth-shaking way.
And I understand now how it is that the day that we truly discern that Body standing washed in that Sacred Flow, we will conquer sickness and death. No, our failure is not the only reason that we now cope with those ravages of life, but I am sure that the power of that flood is such that we will see the miraculous become ordinary in that day. Our bickering and our divisions and factions are not the cause, but the result of our failure to discern. We need not struggle against those ills, but rather look to that Blood that overcomes them. When we are divided it is a sign that we are not standing “under the Blood.” Pretending to be in agreement will not bring the healing we desire. Compromise won’t, either. Only looking to the Blood of Jesus, and discovering that I in my sin, and you in yours are both made clean in the same glorious, overwhelming flood will enable us to eat and drink of the Body and Blood of Jesus in a manner worthy of the Sacrifice that made it possible for us to stand at all.
Hallelujah!
