Where is Jesus Christ?
Josh asked a weird question, a question we probably take for granted most of the time: Where is Jesus Christ?
And he tied in the question to the eucharist (lit. “good gift”). Where is Jesus Christ? He is in the bread and wine.
Presence is more than physical. It is probably nearer to sex the way Josh had written some time back. There is a sense of more than physical in the eucharist. To be frank, there are a lot of different views of the eucharist which evolved from the first breaking of the bread. But these views refer backwards to memories of Jesus initiating some sort of “table ritual”. Is the bread his real presence? I really don’t think the bread changed into something else or had any significant physical transformation. But is it just road sign? Empty and meaningless in itself but pointing to another destination?
Probably not.
If symbol, the eucharist is probably like that of a signature or a seal. In and of itself, it denotes the authority of the owner of the signature or the seal. Reading a decree signed by the King is as good as having the King speaking to oneself in person. Which is why the bread and the wine is handled with great reverence. Because it is the body and blood of Jesus Christ, it is the as-if Jesus is present in person.
Oh, to hold god’s body in our wretched hands.
If there is one spot in the Church which god speaks to us about his fellowship, grace and love, then it is the altar of the communion or the eucharistic altar, the altar of good gift. Because most of all, Jesus said it reminds the disciples of his brokened body and shed blood, his whole life given to us in an act of loving self-sacrifice, and that act was to inaugurate a new age of new grace. “Do this in remembrance of me”
I have a deep suspicion now that Paul never meant for the eucharist to be a death memorial as Brethren assemblies usually teach. It is rather the whole idea of tying together Jesus’ paradoxical self sacrifice, his victorious defeat of evil and his parousia (interesting “Presence”, though we now see that words as meaning “second coming”); brokened body, shed blood, new covenant - the good gift.
And this Presence, we could explore how the Presence of god in the elements meet the Presence of god in the Church and individual christians as god’s little temples. Suffice to throw out the thought for further reflection.
Dear Lord Jesus,
We come to your table, unworthy as we are, assured that we are fully welcomed as your children, the children of your love.
We come not because our faith is strong nor because our strength is great. But because our faith is small and our strength petty that we now come to be nourished by your loving presence. Feed us Lord with your fellowship and your grace.
We thank you for the wheat and the vine, the fruits of the earth, in them we see and taste your loving provision to mankind. We thank you for the bread and the cup, the fruits of your self sacrifice, in them we see and taste your loving presence to the Church.
We pray that as we partake and are nourished by your presence, may we go out from here, sent, to be the salt and light of the World, nourishing the People with your presence in us. Amen
