It’s not unusual to see signs like this at restaurants: No MSG Added. Sometimes it’s the most prominent sign you’ll see, even bigger than the sign with the name of the restaurant on it! What is this MSG and what’s so bad about it that certain restaurants want you to be certain that they’re not cooking with the stuff? MSG stands for “Monosodium Glutamate” and is made of water, sodium and glutamate. Glutamate is an amino acid that naturally occurs in corn, peas, and tomatoes. But it can also be combined with water and sodium to make MSG, a salt-like substance which is used to enhance the natural flavor of certain foods. While Health Canada has deemed MSG safe, some people have a sensitivity to the additive and can develop blurred vision, chills, headaches, nausea, and several other symptoms. Therefore some restaurants hope to lure more customers by advertising that they don’t use added MSG.
It sounds like MSG is best avoided, so I need to be honest with you and let you know that Holy Communion contains MSG—not Monosodium Glutamate, but the Mighty Son of God (among other things). A couple of weeks ago we were reminded how Holy Communion is better than manna because it’s packed full of Vitamin F—forgiveness. But many have wondered how simple bread and wine can give us the forgiveness of sins? In answer to the question “How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things?” Martin Luther wrote: “Certainly not just eating and drinking do these things, but the words written here: ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’ These words, along with the bodily eating and drinking, are the main thing in the Sacrament. Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: ‘forgiveness of sins.’” How do you know that you receive forgiveness through Holy Communion? Because it contains the Mighty Son of God who gave us his word concerning the sacrament.
OK, so we’re back to that argument. Is Jesus’ body and blood really present with the bread and wine of Holy Communion, or does the bread and wine just symbolize the body and blood? Doesn’t our text put to rest the controversy? Paul said: “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16)
Paul clearly says that the bread and wine of Holy Communion “participate” or have a “joint sharing” with the body and of blood of Jesus. Think of it like this. When you join a sports team you may get a jersey with your name on the back and the team’s name on the front. By joining that team you haven’t ceased to be yourself, but you have become part of something bigger than you. That’s kind of what happens in Holy Communion. The bread and wine don’t stop being bread and wine, but because of Jesus’ promise that bread is also now his body, and the wine is also his blood. Holy Communion really does contain MSG—the Mighty Son of God even if you can’t detect his presence with your senses.
So what’s the benefit of actually receiving Jesus’ body and blood? A few years ago a Canadian youth was arrested in Rome for trying to walk off with a piece of the ancient Roman coliseum. Why couldn’t he just stop at the gift shop like everyone else and buy a replica of some ancient artifact? Why did he risk jail and a fine to have the real thing? Because he wanted a piece of history. Think now of what Jesus gives you in Holy Communion—not a replica or a reminder of his body and blood; he gives you the real thing. When you walk back from Holy Communion, you’re carrying in your body a piece of history more precious than if you were to own the original cross on which Jesus was crucified. Not only that, you carry in your body a piece of His story—the absolutely true story of his love for you and his forgiveness!
It’s no wonder the Apostle Paul called the cup of Holy Communion “the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks” (1 Corinthians 10:16). But I wonder if we haven’t come to see the cup of Holy Communion more like a cup of obligation—something we have to spend an extra ten minutes at church to receive because this is what’s expected of communicants? But we won’t think that if we remember how Holy Communion contains MSG—the Mighty Son of God. Tell me, have you ever gone out of your way to get the autograph of someone famous? If so, shouldn’t we clamor to get what is offered here in Holy Communion—not a mere memento of our savior, but the Savior himself?
And because we do receive Jesus in Holy Communion, we also receive the forgiveness of sins. You could say therefore that Holy Communion contains another kind of MSG—Much Saving Grace. Do you appreciate this blessing, or do you suppose that others have more need of it than you do? If so, you might as tell me: “Pastor, give my wafer to ____________. He struggling more with sin right now than I am. And give my swallow of wine to ______________. She really needs the extra forgiveness after what she did.” But that’s not how Holy Communion works. No. We each get the same amount of wine and bread because we all have an equal need for forgiveness whether we’ve committed one sin or a thousand.
And the forgiveness that Jesus gives us in Holy Communion is so abundant that it should shoot sideways to the person who is communing next to you. Sure, some of their sins may have been aimed at you. But in Holy Communion Jesus is forgiving those sins and he’s also giving you the power to do the same so that those who commune together may truly be one.
Paul spoke about that unity when he wrote: “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:17). Just think of how bread is made. It starts out as hundreds of thousands of individual kernels of slightly different shape, color, and size. They’re collected, crushed, and baked into one loaf. Likewise we who are different from each other, are brought together at the Lord’s Table and baked into the same loaf with Christ. We’re made one, or as the Message translation puts it: “…our many-ness becomes one-ness—Christ doesn’t become fragmented in us. Rather, we become unified in him. We don’t reduce Christ to what we are; he raises us to what he is” (1 Corinthians 10:17).
This truth is illustrated in the way that we commune. We come forward together as one body, not as individuals who commune at separate times on separate days. No, we don’t all come up to Communion at the same time because there isn’t room for that, but it’s not like the first table is reserved for only those who contribute to the church over 10% of their income, and the second wave for those who have been members for twenty years or longer. Young and old, home owners and apartment dwellers, classical music lovers and classic rock lovers all walk forward together and in so doing we’re all confessing our equalizing need for the forgiveness that Jesus offers. And when we step away from Communion, we do so as forgiven as the person who was standing next to us. Consider what that means in the way that you will treat that person. In spite of your differences with that individual in personality, you will treat him or her as God just treated the individual: with patient love and forgiveness.
But that’s not always easy to do is it? The people that we commune with walk away forgiven as we do, but they still remain sinners just as we are. That’s why it’s good to remember that Holy Communion contains yet another kind of MSG—More Strength for Good. About 15 minutes before a race, runners will often ingest energy gels to give them the right balance of sugar and electrolytes their body will need for the exertion ahead. Well, Holy Communion also gives you a boost, a boost to do good: to be patient with your children, to be kind towards your siblings, to stop stressing about your future, to forgive betrayals. If in Holy Communion you receive Jesus who is not just your Savior, but also the almighty King, what is it that you lack? Absolutely nothing.
But since we will forget this truth and we will sinfully worry and take out our stress on others, thank God that he invites us to make use of Holy Communion often. Thank God that he’ll never say, “That’s it! I’ve given you all I’ve got. You’re on your own now.” No, so deep is his love. So limitless is his forgiveness that he beckons us to come often to receive this wonderful meal that’s full of MSG: the Mighty Son of God, Much Saving Grace, and More Strength for Good. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
(2 questions) What is the first kind of MSG that Holy Communion contains? How do we know this from our sermon text?
Explain: When you receive Holy Communion, you receive a piece of history, and a piece of His story.
(to ponder at home) The Apostle Paul said that in Holy Communion we receive the “cup of thanksgiving.” How can we keep this from becoming a cup of “obligation”?
(3 questions) What’s another kind of MSG that Holy Communion contains? What does it mean that this MSG shoots sideways to the communicants next to us? How is this truth illustrated with the bread of Holy Communion?
(2 questions) What’s yet another kind of MSG that Holy Communion contains? In what specific area of your life do you most need this MSG?
