A call to restore the Lord’s Table to our weekly worship
We have come to our penultimate installment on the frequency of communion. Here, I argue that communion is deeply embedded in the call of the gospel. This argument demonstrates how this argument is not just about growing in union with Christ and one another; this is about correctly presenting the gospel to those who are outside the church. Weekly communion is missional in the best sense of that word.
An argument from the call of the gospel
We have already alluded to this in our argument from the week. But the fact of the matter is that God’s invitation to the sinner is not only an invitation to receive forgiveness of sins, but it is an invitation to a feast. You can already see this in the Exodus where Moses’ original request to Pharaoh is that Israel goes into the desert for a feast unto God. Likewise, Scripture pictures the holy land as a place of food and feasting.
Look at Jesus’ invitation in John 6, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger; and whoever believes in me shall not thirst.” This episode is after he was miraculously provided food to the five thousand. Again in John 4, He offers the Samaritan woman living water. Now Jesus is speaking of spiritual food and drink. However, the physical food and drink of the Lord’s Supper are what he gave as a reminder that we need to find our spiritual food in Christ.
In Matthew, we see this again. We have the call in Matthew 11, “Come to me you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” In Isaiah, where that quote comes from, the rest comes via food and water. We can think of Matthew 22, where the kingdom of heaven is compared to a wedding feast. Of course, there are many other examples of this comparison. This also nicely ties in with Revelation 19, where we see the wedding feast of the lamb. The Lord’s Supper is that wedding and is a promise of that wedding.
Commentators comment on the book of Luke, noting that Jesus always seems to be having a meal in the book of Luke. This is the table of the kingdom of God. Jesus says so in Luke 14. He is encouraging his disciples to invite all to the banquet of God, the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. When one who is eating with Jesus hears this he says, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Jesus goes on to emphasize the high importance of coming to that banquet. God is inviting Israel to a new banquet in Christ.
We tend to isolate the table from Jesus’ ministry. But Jesus gives us a table that is at the center of his ministry. The Lord’s Supper only continues the festal reality that our Lord is with us. Jesus has come to announce the kingdom of God; he has come to announce rest. He comes eating and drinking for the bridegroom is here. Jesus asks the disciples of John who ask about the disciples lack of fasting, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” When we worship God, we have a promise that the bridegroom is here with us too. Why don’t we eat with him now? At least when we gather to hear him every week?
The Lord’s Supper is a gospel event. We taste and see that the Lord is good. The Lord is so good that he has given us a new beginning in Jesus Christ. Every week he continues to give us that new beginning.
The penultimate words of Scripture are an invitation to a feast. Verse 14, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life.” Verse 17, “Let the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come… let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” We say these words, but we do not show people these words through the sacrament God has ordained. The rest of the gospel is found in eating and drinking the spiritual food that Christ provides. As Christ says, “my food is to do the work of my Father.” God promises the word for that end, but particularly he has chosen the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to nourish us in our spiritual life. Why do we devalue the importance of that gift?
The way we focus on the Lord’s Supper in our churches suggests that it is meant to strengthen us in our bonds with each other internally. The Lord’s Supper is about our unity with one another. This is true. However, the way Christ and the New Testament give the call of the gospel should make us question the assumption that this is only about the internal life of the church.
The Lord’s Supper is an invitation for the nations to join in and receive healing from the Tree of Life. It is a reminder to the congregation that they have received the goodness of God. Further, in their transformation into the image of Christ, they also become rivers of living water. Our failure to regularly celebrate the Lord’s Supper undermines our message to the nations about the goodness of our God.
