Sermon Tone Analysis

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*Text*

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/1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV/

/23 //For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 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.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

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*Reading** the text:  thoughts and reflections*

 

The event at the table.

Perhaps one of the most significant acts of Jesus’ ministry.

It’s full of imagery.

There is dramatic tension.

Utmost theological importance.

These are just some of the musing going around in my head as I reflect on this.

Ferociously debated for centuries.

Often more divisive than uniting, this tends to be the separation point for many churches (as well as baptism).

Like many things in our walk with the Lord, we end up defending the trivial while the transcendent  gets scant attention.

Its easier to argue about I suppose, things we can use our senses to validate.

But what happens to the mystery?

I think it is important to keep in mind that the term “sacrament” doesn’t show up in Bible until Jerome’s Latin Vulgate somewhere in the 4th century.

Until, the Lord’s Supper was considered a */μυστήριον/** *a mystery.

I think we’d do well to keep this in mind.

We should also remember that it is a means of grace.

And because it is grace, we’d also do well not to dissect it so that we don’t kill it.

Like most of Scripture, we’re given the words without much explanation or footnotes.

They just are just spoken yet they bring response.

God’s word does not return empty.

When Jesus spoke of his body represented by bread and his blood represented by wine, what could that have meant to the twelve who were gathered at the table?

How were they supposed to respond?

Why didn’t they ask Jesus a litany of questions?

Maybe this happened, we just don’t know but I am confident that all participated in the sharing of the bread and the cup…even if done in silence.

There is a mystery in the participation that defies language.

We are asked to be part of something we don’t fully know or understand yet the Lord’s Supper calls us..bekons us to throw ourselves into the arms of God and trust, with Phil Yancey, that rumors of another world are undeniably true.

What do we do with the issue of faith when it comes to partaking in communion?

How much faith should we have?

What’s the dividing line?

Should those that have not professed a faith in Christ abstain?

How about those that just can’t buy that the bread~/body, wine~/blood thing?

Like most of us, we know where the boundary lines are so we can live safely in the box.

I have a suspicion that Jesus is about boundary busting than building.

His command:  “do this” didn’t have a list of conditional clauses for us to initial by.

The twelve themselves struggled with doubt (even after the resurrection!)

yet participated.

The event is, I believe, more invitational than exclusionary.

Faith does, of course, play a crucial role.

Otherwise, communion would have little significance or meaning to the participant.

Still, it is an extraordinary act of grace that Jesus commends a new covenant with those that are still struggling with doubt.

Perhaps it is the action that creates the faith rather than vice versa.

Images.

Pictures.

Feelings.

All kinds come to my mind when I think about communion.

Covenant:  Moses…Mount Sinai…Jeremiah:  a new covenant, not written on stone.

Bread:  Jesus comes from Bethlehem…I am the bread of life…man does not live on bread alone…when he broke bread with them, their eyes were opened.

The cup:  wedding at Cana:  saved the best until last, if this cup might pass…blood is life.

These are but a few of the images and themes that happen on “the night Jesus was betrayed”.

I wonder if the disciples had known the significance of the event in the upper room if they would’ve participated.

God prepared this special moment almost as mysterious as his birth.

There are some things that simply can’t be explained but we’re drawn to them because there is something truthful…something beautiful….something in our yearning for the eternal, home.

“Do this in remembrance of me”…the covenant remembered not with stone tablets but with grace…written on the hearts of humankind.

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*/Scholarship helps/*

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*Context & historical background*

 

 

*Language *

 

1 Corinthians 11:24 NA27 w/GRAMCORD, Int.

24 καὶ εὐχαριστήσας ἔκλασεν καὶ εἶπεν· τοῦτό μού ἐστιν τὸ σῶμα τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν· τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν.

ὑπὲρ  /for, in behalf of, for the sake of someone/

 

*Dictionaries*

 

The cup of blessing is rather a ’koinonia of the blood of Christ’; the bread is a ’koinonia of the body of Christ.’[1]

The common definition of a sacrament accepted by the Reformed and Roman Churches is that of an outward and visible sign, ordained by Christ, setting forth and pledging an inward and spiritual blessing.

…The efficacy of the sacraments depends on the institution and command of Christ.

The elements in themselves have no power; it is their faithful use that matters.

For through them men are brought into communion with Christ in his death and resurrection (Rom.

6:3; 1 Cor.

10:16).

Forgiveness (Acts 2:38), cleansing (Acts 22:16; /cf./

Eph.

5:26) and spiritual quickening (Col.

2:12) are associated with baptism.

Participation in the body and blood of Christ is realized through Holy Communion (1 Cor.

10:16; 11:27).

Baptism and the cup are linked together in the teaching of our Lord when he speaks of his death, and in the mind of the church when it remembers its solemn obligations (Mk.

10:38–39; 1 Cor.

10:1–5).[2]

The crucifixion of Jesus coincides with the celebration of Passover.

The NT writers saw this as deeply significant.

The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) present the Last Supper as a Passover meal (Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12; Lk 22:7–8), emphasizing the importance of Jesus’ words and actions.

This meal is subsequently commemorated in the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:23–33).

Elsewhere the death of Jesus is linked to the offering of the Passover sacrifice.

John’s Gospel alludes to this by observing that Jesus’ death resembles that of the Passover sacrifice because his bones were not broken (Jn 19:36; cf.Ex 12:46).

This connection is made even more explicit by Paul: “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7 NIV).

By linking the crucifixion of Jesus to the Passover, the NT writers highlight the redemptive nature of his death.

Like the original Passover sacrifice, his death atones for the sin of the people, his blood purifies and cleanses, and his body sanctifies those who eat it at the Lord’s Supper.[3]

| *The Passover* | *The Last Supper* |

| God remembered his covenant | A new covenant is enacted |

| Slavery in Egypt | [Slavery to sin?] |

| Deliverance from Egypt | Forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28) |

| Blood of Passover Lamb | Blood of Christ (our Passover, 1 Cor 5:7; the lamb of God, Jn 1:29, 35) |

| Interpretation of elements | Interpretation of elements |

| Call for continual celebration | Call for continual celebration |

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*Commentaries*

 

*11:26.*

The Lord’s Supper was a visible sermon that proclaimed “the message of the Cross” (1:18, 23; 2:2, 8), that is, the reality of *the Lord’s death, *and also the certainty of His return (*until He comes*) [4]

 

*23–25 *Paul begins with a reminder that he is repeating the tradition received from the Lord which he had passed on to the Corinthians when he was with them.

It recounts the actions and words of the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed.

They were to break bread in remembrance of Jesus’ death.

They were also to drink the cup in remembrance of the new covenant which Jesus ratified in his blood (/cf.

/the ratification of the old covenant with blood in Exodus and the promise of a new covenant in Je. 31:31, a covenant which was for the blessing of all the nations Gn. 12:3)[5]

 

 

*/Relevant Bible references /*