Communion (Eucharist)

[B-A-C]

1Cor 11:23; For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
1Cor 11:24; 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."
1Cor 11:25; In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
1Cor 11:26; For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

1Cor 11:27; Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
1Cor 11:28; But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
1Cor 11:29; For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
1Cor 11:30; For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.

This is also called the Lord's supper.
During the Passover there was an "order' of things that was supposed to happen.

Passover Seder - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The cup that is mentioned here in 1 Cor 11 is most likely the "4th cup" cup of redemption.
I notice in verses 25 and 26 it says "as often as". I would take this to mean more than once. In fact I would take it as "regularly".

The bread here would have been unleavened bread. (no yeast) This was commanded several times in the old testament.
(Unleavened bread is mentioned over 50 times in the Bible)

Exod 12:8; 'They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Exod 12:15; 'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
Exod 12:17; 'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance.
Exod 12:18; 'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
Exod 12:20; 'You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.'"
Exod 12:39; They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
Exod 13:6; "For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.
Exod 13:7; "Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders.
Exod 23:15; "You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.
Exod 29:2; and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour.
Exod 29:23; and one cake of bread and one cake of bread mixed with oil and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread which is set before the LORD;
Exod 34:18; "You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.
Lev 2:4; 'Now when you bring an offering of a grain offering baked in an oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers spread with oil.
Lev 2:5; 'If your offering is a grain offering made on the griddle, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil;

Some churches make a big deal out of whether the bread is leavened of not. I've been in churches that do it both ways.
If you've ever looked out a "Premium Saltine"(R) Nabisco (TM) cracker. You will notice several things about them.
First obviously they are unleavened. Second they have holes punched in them. Third they have scoring mark and spots of them from being baked in an oven.

These were originally made by F.L. Sommer out of St. Joseph Mo. around the mid 1870's. He said the crackers intentionally were made this way because of certain Bible scriptures.

In the bread represents the body of Christ then..
Isa 53:5; But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

The crackers are pierced and scored because Jesus's body was. The unleavened bread represents the sinless life Jesus lived.

John 19:37; And again another Scripture says, "THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED."

This verse is a prophecy of Jesus's return, but it could also be taken as looking at "pierced" unleavened bread.

.. to be continued ...

 

[Beetow]

● 1Cor 11:26. . . For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

The Greek word translated "proclaim" is somewhat ambiguous but one of its meanings is to preach.

In other words; when the congregation partakes of the Lord's flesh and blood in the manner he prescribed, they're delivering a homily; which of course would be a waste of motion were it only "preaching to the choir". I believe the communion service should never be done behind closed doors as some churches do. No, it really ought to be done right out in front where the curious can see for themselves.

I also believe that the service should be accompanied by an explanation; similar to the one below:

For three hours that infamous day, all the land thereabouts went dark; inky black. During that time the people could hear Jesus moaning.

"My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why so far from my call for help, from my cries of anguish?" (Ps 22:1)

What the Romans had done to Jesus up to that point was scarcely even a scratch compared to what God did to him during the darkness. The man that emerged wouldn't have been known by his own mother had she not been there from the beginning.

"Even as many were amazed at him-- so marred were his features, beyond that of mortals; his appearance: beyond that of human beings" (Isa 52:14)

We dare not pity Jesus. We dare not feel sorry for him as if he were a Holocaust victim or some such. Instead: applaud and be glad; be really glad because had he not put himself thru that ordeal, nobody would make it to safety.

● Luke 2:10-12 . .The angel said to them: I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

The angel announced the birth of a savior; defined by Webster's as one who rescues. We've all seen examples-- lifeguards, firemen, cops, emergency medical teams, Coast Guard units, snow patrols, and mountain rescue teams. Rescue workers typically save people in distress who are facing imminent death and/or grave danger and utterly helpless to do anything about it.

In other words: Jesus Christ's ordeal is a lifeline, so to speak, that God is all set to throw to anyone and everyone for whom destiny in Hell is a foregone conclusion if only they have the good sense to plead guilty and throw themselves on the mercy of the court by a simple, naive prayer something like this one:

"God, I know I'm a sinner. I would like to take advantage of your son's death."

Does Jesus' Father honor those kinds of prayers? Well if His son's story of the tax collector at Luke 18:9-14, and the account of the malefactor crucified along with Jesus at Luke 23:38-43 are truthful indicators; then I can honestly, and confidently, attest that He does, and He will.

» Just about everybody who's ever heard anything about Christianity is aware that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, but what is often unknown is that it was personal; as Isaiah 53:6 says: "The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him."

In other words: the iniquity of each of us fell on him, i.e. any name we might pull out of a hat, and as many names as we might pull out of a hat: that one name, and each name, is an individual for whom Christ endured the cross; there are no exceptions. Is it any wonder then why the angel announced not just joy, rather, "great joy" that will be for all the people?
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