THE RIPPLE EFFECTS OF COMMUNION *
Mark 14:12-24
Sermon Objective: Since the first “last supper” there have been ever-expanding ramifications, waves if you please, of God’s grace extending to the world.
12On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
13So he sent two of his disciples … 16The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
17When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me."
19They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, "Surely not I?" … 22While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."
23Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.
24"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,"
INTRO
It’s just a ripple. It starts with an event; a stone thrown into the water, a droplet of dew from an over reaching branch, a paddle pushing through, or an earthquake under the ocean. It starts with an event but far surpasses the event itself. It has ever-expanding ramifications. Some effects are simple, innocent, and pleasant. Some wreak havoc by forming tsunamis that take lives by the hundreds and thousands.
Everything we do seems to leave ripples … waves caused by our event. We simply move and it affects the flow of air. Some of these ripples are, again, innocent and passing but some … well some have significant impact! Like:
• The ripple effects of how we treat one another
• The ripples of how we spend your time and money
• The ripples of receiving communion
Communion?
Yes.
Receiving communion has a ripple effect too. It began with the first “last supper” of Jesus and those waves are still expanding outward and still disrupting / altering everything it comes into contact with.
The final meal that Jesus held with His followers has multiple resonance meanings. It connects backward to the public ministry of Jesus and forward toward His death and the post-Easter life of His people.
Jesus’ last supper was to be the first supper of the future.
Today we will highlight three meanings … three ripple effects.
A CONTINUATION OF THE MEAL PRACTICE OF JESUS
Sometimes we miss the first ripple effect because it is so basic. This special meal was, first of all, a continuation of the meal practice of Jesus.
According to the Gospels, shared meals were one of the most distinctive features of Jesus’ public ministry. He often taught at meals, banquets were topics of His parables, and his practice was often criticized by his opponents.
Jesus’ practice at meals was scandalous and offensive to the good clean religious folk. They wanted him to be more scrutinizing and sanitized with his dinner partners (Mark 2:16; Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34; Luke 15:1-2). Instead he ate with the “undesireables”. The suspect and outcast of society (both literally and in his parables) were his choice companions.
It reminds me of the story about Mother Teresa of Calcutta who once slipped out of a banquet where she was an honored guest and ate with the help.
Jesus’ meal practice was about inclusion. The social boundaries he adhered to were established by “The Kingdom of God” and they pointed to a very different society. Even those present in this final meal were, in most cases, not preferred or acceptable people. Many (most) of them were peasants and would never be invited a meal with to a King. But with Jesus they would dine regularly.
Sometimes we identify uncomfortably close to the critics rather than the guests of this meal. We forget that, spiritually speaking, we are all peasants, sinners, undesireable, and unqualified; and yet we look over our glasses and ascertain that others eating the sacred meal with us are unfit for the occasion.
Let us never forget – you are never called to judge another’s worthiness for the meal … in fact, you will be judged for that. You are only charged to examine yourself.
1. A Continuation of the Meal Practice of Jesus
AN ECHO OF THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND
There is another ripple effect that moves out in ever-expanding waves from the meal. It has echoes of the feeding of the five thousand.
When Mark tells the story of the last supper he uses four verbs to describe what Jesus did; took, blessed, broke, and gave.
These four key words take the reader back to an earlier story, the feeding of the five thousand, when the same verbs were used and in the same order. Mark 6:41 says “Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people.”
We would do well to ponder this for a while. You see, Jesus’ meal with these peasant-followers addressed one of the major survival issues of their day; food … the real threat of starvation. Being peasants and receiving real bread and real wine had faaaar more than mere symbolic meaning … IT WAS AN OVERTURE THAT SHOWED GOD’S LOVE AND PROVISION.
Jesus sought solutions to hunger that were out of the mainstream.
The disciples, as you may remember, wanted Jesus to send these hungry people away. They took the calloused (yet still predominant) view that they should be sent away so they could get their own food … provide for themselves.
“Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat” (Mark 6:36). That seems quite reasonable to the disciples (and to us). But Jesus had another solution … a grace-filled, merciful solution that shows the heart of God: “YOU give them something to eat.” (Mark 6:37, emphasis added).
Furthermore, Jesus demands his disciples to be part of His solution. They participate step by step through the entire process.
• They find the food (Mark 6:38)
• They organize the meal by having people set in order groups (Mark 6:39)
• They distribute the food (Mark 6:41)
• They clean up afterwards (Mark 6:43)
The stories in Mark 6 are designed to show the readers that Jesus is the very God of creation. GOD OWNS THE WORLD AND HE WANTS ALL OF HUMANITY’S NEEDS MET AND HE APPOINTS HIS FOLLOWERS AS STEWARDS TO MAKE CERTAIN IT GETS DONE.
This meal is more than “symbolic ordinance” for Jesus’ followers. It invites us to experience the heart of God. Jesus provided for their needs and, by implication, Jesus’ followers are to be stewards who also provide for others in His name.
Can your identity with Jesus mean any less? Receiving the sacred meal with Jesus identifies you with Him and it means you allow his compassion to become yours.
It means we quit being judge and jury. We leave that to God … we simply serve and love those who cross our path.
1. A Continuation of the Meal Practice of Jesus
2. An Echo of the Feeding of the Five Thousand
A PASSOVER MEAL
The ever-expanding ripple effect moves out even further. There is yet another far reaching wave of grace.
This meal was, of course, also a Passover meal. It resonates with the story of the exodus – it is the great Jewish feast that celebrates God’s act of deliverance. It was after the first Passover meal that Pharaoh’s will was broken and the people of God were liberated.
Before eating the meal, the Hebrews took the blood of a lamb and placed it over the doorpost so God’s death-angel would know who identified with YHWH and pass over them.
Then, they ate the meal, girded their loins, put on sandals, and got ready to leave.
THE FIRST PASSOVER WAS THE LAST SUPPER IN EGYPT.
The Passover Lamb was food for the journey. It was God’s grace (his empowering provision) for all their needs.
Being Wesleyan in theology helps us to see broader perspectives of this meal than some of our brethren in other traditions. We understand it to be a sacrament … not merely an ordinance. We understand it to be a connecting point between God and humanity.
The sacrament conveys God’s presence to the believing community. This sacrament is a divinely appointed meeting place whereby you can experience God’s gracious presence and power in your life. It is a “means of grace.”
To say that communion is a means of grace means that there is something mysterious going on.
• We are saying that in some strange way we cannot explain, people meet God when they receive communion.
• We are saying that a person seeking God is more likely to find Him if they receive communion.
• We are saying that a person who is having trouble experiencing God’s presence or who is in a “dark night of the soul” is more likely to feel God’s presence if they receive communion than if they do not.
This is why Paul teaches each of us to examine ourselves (1 Corinthians 11) to see if we are receiving the meal in a worthy manner. PARTICULARLY AND SPECIFICALLY, PAUL TELLS THE CORINTHIANS THAT THE WAY THEY TREAT EACH OTHER IS WHAT MAKES THEIR PARTICIPATION “WORTHY” OR “UNWORTHY.”
JUDGING EACH OTHER, EXCLUDING SOME FROM FELLOWSHIP AND PARTICIPATION IS INDEED BLASPHEMY AND HYPOCRISY.
Even Jesus invited ALL his disciples receive the meal … Judas included. If Jesus did not cull the sheep and the goats at that point I dare say we are on dangerous grounds if we choose to – just as the Corinthians were.
Ultimately, receiving communion is between you and the Father; and I assure you He knows the heart. If the heart is yearning for Him and surrendered to Him then Communion will be a powerful meeting place of grace.
Our table is an “open” table. The invitation is, however, not unconditional. It makes demands; those who come for Communion should be disciples of Jesus Christ. The table is for those who commit themselves, renounce sin, resist evil, profess faith, and live in Koinonia (fellowship with a diverse people)—all of it made possible by the Holy Spirit.
WRAP-UP
1. A Continuation of the Meal Practice of Jesus
2. An Echo of the Feeding of the Five Thousand
3. A Passover Meal
The last supper was the first meal of a new covenant.
THE BREAD AND WINE ARE NOT JUST SYMBOLS OF JESUS’ BODY AND BLOOD. THEY ARE AN INVITATION. THEY OFFER YOU A MEETING PLACE, A POINT OF CONTACT, WITH JESUS.
FIRST they are meal we share in common with each other … totally undeserving and yet accepted by Christ and one in Christ.
SECOND we participate by being stewards of God’s resources and identifying with Jesus by providing for the real needs of humankind.
THIRD we participate by seeking and celebrating His deliverance from the bondage of sin.
These work much like ripples and move out from the point of event with ever-expanding ramifications. It started with the first “last supper” and the motion is still affecting lives today. And as God’s grace impacts and transforms you those you touch can be transformed too.
As I read 1 Corinthians 11:17-33, see if you can find these three aspects. They are there.
1 Corinthians 11:
17In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22Don’t you have homes 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 praise you for this? Certainly not!
23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions
* Special thanks to Marcus Borg and John D. Crossan. Their book, “The Last Week,” has heavily influenced this sermon.
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
