Sermon for November 8th

“Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

When I read the assigned text from the book of Hebrews for this last week, it reminded me of some pretty heated theological arguments made back in the 15th and 16th centuries in the Roman Catholic church. Church reformers were being killed and excommunicated; much blood and ink was spilled. And what were they all arguing about? The Lord’s Supper. Some maintained that the Catholic church was sacrificing Jesus again and again each week during the Mass. They argued that Jesus’ sacrifice was once and for all and that the Mass had made that action unclear. However, the Catholic church argued back: a “re-sacrifice” was never the intention. Jesus died only once, but they maintained that believers celebrate this sacrifice, mystically, each week—giving thanks for what God has done. People have been killed for what they taught and believed about the Lord’s Supper, but do you even know what you believe?

What is the Lord’s Supper? The Lord’s Supper is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ given with bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself, for us to eat and drink. Those are the words that Martin Luther wrote down in the Small Catechism, a book used to teach both young and old about the basic tenants of the Christian faith. But how often do YOU think about what you are doing when you walk up here? Is it just a tradition that you go along with? Is it necessary to think about it in a particular way for it to work? If you don’t agree with what I say in this sermon today, should you even bother coming up to take a nibble or a sip? Does it really matter WHAT you believe?

When people begin talking about the Lord’s Supper, someone usually starts using fancy words like transubstantiation and consubstantiation even though few people care or can quite remember what all that means. So, for today, let’s not get too arrogant about trying to describe what WE think is actually happening and, instead, talk about why it is important to have the Lord’s Supper in the first place. First off, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper because Jesus told us to do it, “Do this in remembrance of me.” But, more specifically, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper in order that you might believe that your sins are forgiven: As Luther pointed out, whoever believes these words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” has exactly what the words say, “the forgiveness of sins.”

You and I have a great temptation: we want to make faith something WE do, something WE are in control of, something WE hold onto. But then, when hardship comes, when things start falling apart, when things go wrong, it’s easy to despair. We lose confidence in ourselves and our choices, we lose control and, then, almost as a second thought, we realize that we have also lost our grip on faith. We want to trust in ourselves and in our ability to believe in Jesus no matter what, but we are often not strong enough to trust God when everything seems to be against us. We throw out the commandments if they don’t sound good to us. We begin to believe that Jesus has failed us when our lives get turned upside down.

But the Lord’s Supper comes at you from outside of yourself. No matter how you feel. No matter what you have done. No matter how weak you are. “Thinking” internally that you are a sinner is much different than having another person tell you that you are one and then start listing off what you have done to deserve that title. Understanding that you are forgiven is a fleeting experience until you have a little bit of that forgiveness stuck in your teeth to wiggle around with for the rest of the worship service. The Lord’s Supper is a way for you to believe in something other than yourself. To cling to God’s promise given to you with a word attached to the things of this earth. As some theologians have put it: In the Lord’s Supper, you eat the drink the words. You swallow the promise whole and it becomes not just something you “know about”, but it becomes a part of you.

“In the night in which he was betrayed our Lord Jesus took bread, broke it, gave thanks, and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take and eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.” The words seem so simple, but there are many disagreements about what they actually mean. Believe it or not, the problem lies with one very little word: “is”. “This is my body given for you.” I’d like to quickly give you three examples of how churches understand that word “is” and what each can mean for your faith.

Roman Catholics believe that when a properly ordained priest speaks these words, the words of institution, the bread becomes the body of Jesus Christ. It is no longer bread at all. It IS Jesus’ body. This happens in spite of what you may think or what you believe. One moment, Jesus is absent, sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. In the next moment, the priest makes Jesus present. The common term in the Catholic church for the Lord’s Supper is “The Eucharist” which means, to give thanks. According to this tradition, giving thanks to God is the primary purpose of the sacrament.

The church reformers were right, there IS a sacrifice occurring each week in the Mass, but it was not Jesus that’s was being re-sacrificed, it is the community of believers giving their sacrifice of thanksgiving to God . . . unfortunately, that still creates a big problem. The Lord’s Supper becomes more about your prayers going up to God rather than God’s forgiveness coming down for you. The whole direction gets reversed and your faith pays the price. Sinners won’t get very far by being motivated to great acts of virtue, they need to be saved from the bondage of sin.

But other churches see this little word “is” in a different way. For them, “This IS my body” means this “symbolizes” my body. The argument is quite simple. At the last supper, Jesus is standing right there, so how could he possibly mean that he is giving away his body! It’s not like he ends supper with little nibbles out of his arms and legs. Furthermore, 2000 years later, now that he has ascended into heaven, how could we possibly be eating away at him! It’s preposterous! According to this understanding, the purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to remember Jesus and the importance of his sacrifice. But I hope that you see the problem. Once again, the action has changed directions to the detriment of faith. The Lord’s Supper becomes about how well you can “remember” the story or how much you “appreciate” Jesus’ sacrifice, rather than just receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

As usual, Lutherans have always been the odd little ducks in this story, but I hope that you will see that it is for a good reason. Lutherans believe that when Jesus said, “This IS my body” he meant it. On that point, we agree with the Catholics. He wasn’t being symbolic. God does what he says. On the other hand, Jesus didn’t have to magically change the bread into something else in order to use it to give you faith. After all, he came down as a human being to forgive your sins. Not just as God, not just as a human, but as both, completely. When you taste the bread and hear the words, “The body of Christ given for you,” it’s only bread unless you trust that Jesus is telling you the truth. Apart from your faith it’s just bread and wine. If you don’t hear the words, you can’t believe them. You are chewing on the muscles, the bones, and the very sinews of your Lord . . . ONLY when you believe the promise that is spoken not with your head, but with your heart, by faith alone. Jesus is not a magician, he is a Savior. Faith in the words of Jesus makes all the difference.

Why is this so important? Not because you are have to pass a test. But because only by trusting in Jesus words can you discover that Christ is not absent here, he is present in the Lord’s Supper. You don’t have to pray for him to be there. You don’t need a special kind of priest to bring him there. He is there already. You don’t need to be reminded of what Jesus has done, but given your Savior to save you. In the Lord’s supper you are given Jesus Christ. God doesn’t need you to DO anything, just believe what he has promised. He is yours. What you need is faith and the Lord’s Supper gives you something to believe in.

So then, do you need to understand all of this in order to get the goodies? No. Do you need to think about the right things in order to be forgiven? No. The Lord’s Supper is not about how thankful you are, how smart you are, how mature you are or how religious you are. But when you come forward, realizing that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, then you will find something most astounding: Jesus Christ, your Savior and Lord is here for you. For the sake of your faith, he has promised to place himself in bread, in wine, and in words so that you might not simply hear about your forgiveness, but eat it and drink it. Jesus came down so that he might give you all that he has everything, withholding nothing—his body, his blood, and his life to save you. “Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.” All of you are welcome at His table, for by faith alone you are saved. Amen.