The Lord's Supper is the expression of church unity 29/09/2009 13:51

The Lord's Supper is the expression of

church unity

Can you please explain the meaning of the Lord's Supper?

I participate in it month after month but am not sure of its significance.

By ROLAND CHIA

MOST theologians would agree that the institution of the Lord's Supper goes back to Jesus Christ
Himself.

In all three Synoptic Gospels we have the explicit words of Jesus recorded by the evangelists which
inaugurated the practice (Matt 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20). There is strong evidence to
suggest that the last meal that Jesus shared with His disciples was a Passover meal of Jewish tradition,
although some scholars have disputed this conclusion.

The oldest document regarding the practice of the Lord's Supper is found in Paul's first letter to
Corinthians (chapter 11), where he included the narrative that was passed to him through oral tradition.
In that passage, Paul also gave some specific instructions as to how the Supper should be conducted, and
the proper attitude needed to participate in it. This shows that the practice of the Lord's Supper in the
Christian committee has already been in existence before the writing of the first Gospel, which was
probably the Gospel by Mark.

Although churches across the denominational divide celebrate the Lord's Supper, there are some
significant disagreements between the different traditions regarding the significance and meaning of the
practice. For instance, there is a dispute about the way in which Christ is present in the elements of bread
and wine used in the Lord's Supper. Some claim that at their consecration the bread and the wine are
transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Others maintain that the bread and the wine only
represent the body and blood of Christ.

The body of literature that has been produced by the different traditions on the theology of the Lord's
Supper or the Eucharist is daunting. It is impossible to even begin to discuss some of the finer points of
the ongoing theological debate on this subject in the limited space allotted for this essay. What I propose
to do is to present, in the sketchiest outline, the meaning of the practice. It is hoped that this will help
readers to grasp the significance of the Lord's Supper in the life of the Church and the individual
Christian.

The Lord's Supper is firstly a remembrance of the sacrifice of

Christ on the cross for our salvation. The last meal that Jesus had
with His disciples before His arrest and execution marks an
important point in the history of the world. It marks the point in
which God will make His salvation available to His creatures

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The Lord's Supper is the expression of church unity 29/09/2009 13:51

through the sacrificial death and victorious resurrection of His

incarnate Son.

The bread symbolises the body of Christ that was broken, and the wine symbolises the blood of Christ
that was shed for the sins of humanity. The Last Supper therefore anticipates the sacrifice of Christ on
the cross. The Lord's Supper serves as a reminder of the deliverance from sin and death that God has
brought about through the death of Jesus. In this way, the Supper's relation with the Jewish Passover
Meal is clear. Both have to do with the deliverance of the people of God.

Precisely because the Lord's Supper celebrates the salvation that is wrought by Christ, it is not just about
remembering the past. In celebrating the Lord's Supper, we are also celebrating the future. Through His
death and resurrection, Christ has opened up a future for us - a future with God. Thus in 1 Corinthians
11:26 Paul says that "whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until
He comes".

The Lord's Supper urges us to look back at the cross so that our vision of the future will be clear. Most
rituals of the Supper include this threefold declaration: "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come
again." The Lord's Supper unites past, present and future. The certainty of the past gives us hope for the
future in the present.

The celebration of the Lord's Supper is not just a memorial; it is also a proclamation. Every time we
participate in the Lord's Supper, we are telling anew the story of God's gift of salvation in Christ. Every
time we celebrate the Supper we tell His story, the story of the One who became man for us and for our
salvation. But by doing so, by telling His story, we are also telling our story, the story of the community
of faith. Furthermore, by putting our faith in Jesus, Christians are caught up in His story. Our stories are
now profoundly wrapped up in His. This means that His resurrection has become our resurrection, His
life our life!

Finally, the Lord's Supper also has to do with communion. That is why it is sometimes called Holy
Communion. In the Lord's Supper a two-fold communion takes place: communion with Christ and
communion with the Church. Put differently, the celebration of the Lord's Supper unites Christians
together in Christ. Because in eating the bread and drinking the wine, Christians participate in Christ,
Paul could therefore write, "Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the
blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?" (1 Cor 15:16).

But in participating in the Lord's Supper, Christians also participate in the fellowship that is made
possible by Christ. Thus the Lord's Supper is the expression of the intrinsic unity of the members of the
Body of Christ, the Church. As Paul has again put it so succinctly, "Because there is one loaf, we, who
are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf." (1 Cor 15:17).

Dr Roland Chia is Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Lecturer in Historical and Systematic Theology at
Trinity Theological College. He worships at the Fairfield Preaching Point in Woodlands with his wife.

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