09/29/2018
Are we ready for the Lord’s Table when we take Communion? Have we prepared ourselves body, soul, and mind to receive Him? Do we take this meal lightly or is it a moment of intense spiritual fulfillment? Of all the sacraments that we as Christians are involved in, consuming this meal should be our most spiritually anticipated... Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Anointing the Sick, Ordination, and Matrimony, are all for not without the body and blood of Jesus offered in sacrifice for us. Are we ready to receive Him? Are we ready to take Him into our bodies?
“And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"
And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us." And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.”
Mark 14:12, 15-16 ESV
It was a week before the American holiday of Thanksgiving Day, and our home was already being prepared to receive the entire family for the celebration of our Thanksgiving meal. Canned goods, both frozen and fresh vegetables, ham, turkey, bread, and all the spices and drinks that would enhance the meal. Then on the day before the meal would be served the cooking would begin... cakes, pies, casseroles, beans, breads... all the foods that we would consume as we thanked God for the year that had just passed and in preparation for the one that lay ahead. All to symbolize the bounty and many blessings He had provided. As rich and wonderful as this table appeared; as overflowing as it was in the symbolic provision of God... it pales in comparison to the Lord’s Table where we go to receive the body and blood of Christ.
On our annual Thanksgiving table there is so much food that there is barely room for a plate, but on the Lord’s Table there is a simple chalice, and a plate with unleavened bread... yet, although it looks like a pauper’s meal it is a feast of immense proportion. This is a meal that has been given to us because there is no way that we could afford to purchase it... not individually nor collectively. This is the Lamb of God that has been offered for us, and is now ingested, and lives within us.
“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Luke 22:19-20 ESV
So I ask again... “Are we ready for the Lord’s Table when we take Communion?” We spend so much time physically preparing for the other sacraments, and yet this one is so simple in its offering that it is easily gathered together... one cup, one plate, a little wine, and a few pieces of unleavened bread... and yet they are the redemption of the world. Preparing for this feast is not physically demanding, but spiritually the preparation should be grueling. Every nook and cranny in ourselves should be scrubbed clean, and every hint of sin met with contrition and prayers for forgiveness. All of our pride should be swept aside, and our humility and unworthiness revealed. This is the preparation we should make to receive the meal that none of us earned, and that none of us could provide for himself. This is the taste of Grace.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
The Apostle John said it best as he wrote these words...
“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”
John 1:16 ESV
As we approach the Lord’s Table, or as we pick up a tiny piece of bread, and a taste of juice from the communion tray, what is our state of preparation? Is this something that is so simple in its physical performance that we lose sight of what we are doing? Is repeating a prayer of contrition so routine to us that the words cross our lips with nary a thought? Is the wafer so tasteless, and the juice so much like the glass you had with breakfast that they barely register with your senses? Well brothers and sisters, I ask that you listen to your spirit, and pay attention to the weeping of your soul, because this is a Spiritual Supper more profound, and more carefully prepared by God than any we set before ourselves as we celebrate our various feasts. Do we examine ourselves, and prepare ourselves thoroughly for this moment... this meal?
“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 concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
1 Corinthians 11:26-28 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for all the centuries of preparation which proceeded the offering of your Son Jesus for my redemption. I thank you Holy Father for the life of your Son that was offered with so little fanfare, just a sideshow of drama to a typical Passover Feast, and a simple cup of wine, and piece of bread, after a Passover supper that was unremarkable otherwise. I thank you for the humility with which your Son went to the Cross and gave up His life that I might be redeemed, and your Grace poured over me. Help me Merciful Father to prepare myself as if it were for that moment in the upper room, each time I approach your Table. Let my eyes see the hand of Christ outstretched as I am offered His body, and His blood. Help me to hear his voice in my ears as scripture is repeated “This is my body...” hear my prayer of contrition Father, and forgive me my sins as I pray from the very Spirit within me, and cry tears from my soul in remorse. I pray in that moment when I ingest the body and blood of your Son that I have prepared myself to be received by you, and that at that instant I will abide in Christ as He abides in me. Praised be your name Father for setting a meal before me that even Kings are unworthy of, and then inviting me to dine. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who sets a Table of unending mercy and grace before me... me, an unworthy sinner made whole not by my own efforts, but by the blood of your Son Jesus Christ my savior.
Rich Forbes