“And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it,...Likewise also the cup after supper.” Luke 22:19, 20.
My dear congregation,
Bread and wine. Why these two?
We pass them at our meals in New Jersey without much thought. Two common items you can get almost anywhere. That was true in Jesus’ day, too. But why, for instance, bread?
You know what hunger feels like. You also know the relief of eating when your body begins to speak. Bread curbs hunger. It enters us physically and strengthens us physiologically. Our Lord takes that simple truth and directs it toward Himself. We eat it physically, and He strengthens us spiritually.
“This is my body which is given for you.”
Luther saw consubstantiation in these words. But bread remains bread. Still, it does have efficacy. We won’t surrender to the memorialists. Eating it rightly, all the benefits of His broken body truly nourishes the hungry soul unto everlasting life. Christ’s real presence is spiritually evident in the bread, and we taste Him.
We receive something very personal, too. At the Table, bread is served into your own hand. You put it into your own mouth. Christ has appointed this “take, eat” action, to bring home to your soul His sufficient sacrifice for you. For you. Eating by faith, you truly share in Him.
Dear ones, I’m not ashamed to be of those, who need an assurance they can taste and see.
And why wine?
How well it fits with bread. The psalmist sings of “wine that maketh glad the heart,” right next to the bread that strengthens it (Psalm 104:15). At Christ’s Table, nourishment and gladness should be present. While it cost the Savior much to give, He also gives to rejoice in it.
But before our joy, was His pain.
“My blood, which is shed for you.”
He took our guilt and condemnation upon His pure and spotless soul. Everything God’s holy law demands, He satisfied. Every breach was mended. At Calvary hill, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame”, He bore the curse due to His people.
O, happy fault, that gained for us, so great a Redeemer.
The brokenness of the bread tells us of real bodily suffering. The wine speaks of blood pressed out. Our pardon requires death, and more than death; never ending death. Jesus subsumed God’s eternal wrath, in six hours on the tree, on the sixth day of the week. Six, the number of man. He took to Himself the trouble of man. Every sin that troubles you is under that sacrifice’s shelter, and every remaining fear is sufficiently allayed in Him.
Perhaps you wonder how two things so simple (as bread and wine), can help a soul so troubled.
The power rests in the hands of the Holy Spirit, dear one, who comes in the bread and wine. Pray Him to visit you in them. Alone, bread and wine can’t cleanse a guilty conscience, or strengthen a slumbering heart. The Spirit uses them to strengthen the faith of the looking soul, directing the eyes anew to Jesus, high and lifted up.
So lift your heart to Him.
As surely as you receive the bread and wine with a believing heart, His promise assures you of everlasting life. You may not feel it while eating, but just you wait. At the moment you need it most, He will already be there to help you. Even when faith trembles, His promise fortifies our shakings.
Child of God, here is appointed food for your appointed need. Here is a drink that brings peace through His blood.
Dear believing soul, “take, eat, drink” them with your eyes upon Jesus Christ given...
“For you.”
Your friend and pastor,
J Lewis