COMMUNION!

In the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites are the Luther memorials at Wittenberg, where the Protestant Reformation officially commenced. The Stadtkirche (Town Church) at Wittenberg is one such prominent site, and there I am at one of its doors. This Late Gothic church dates back to the 13th century. One of the treasures in this church is a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1523) depicting the Lord’s Supper. The faces of Martin Luther and other Reformers are clearly recognized in the work, officiating and participating in the ordinance.

The subject of this painting is particularly striking for 16th century Christianity and especially for the Stadtkirche. Until the Reformation, in the Catholic tradition, only the bread was served to the public; the wine was withheld from the congregation, a position reaffirmed in the Catholic Council of Trent, 1545–1563. It was Luther who spearheaded the movement to restore to the people of God both the elements of the Lord’s Supper. And it was at the Stadtkirche at Wittenberg that, for the first time in over a millennium, believers in that part of the world partook of both the bread and the cup.

… the Lord Jesus
in the night in which
He was betrayed took bread;
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.”
In the same way
He took the cup also,
after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant
in My blood;
do this, as often as
you drink it,
in remembrance of Me.”
1 Corinthians 11:23–25

This was a dramatic statement by Luther and his cohort, overturning what had been church dogma for centuries. This was a fresh reading of the New Testament. This was a demonstration of the Reformers’ willingness to challenge what they saw was unscriptural. This was a return to biblical forms of worship and church practice. This was an act of submission to the Word of God and the Spirit of God: a restoration and re-institution in its proper form of an essential practice of the Christian church—the Lord’s Supper, established by our Lord Himself.

“Do this in remembrance of Me.”
For as often
as you eat this bread
and drink this cup,
you proclaim the Lord’s death
until He comes.
1 Corinthians 11:24, 26

This ancient ritual, an enacted sermon, gazes both back and forward. It is anamnestic (a recollection of the past): the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that paid for our sins, that saves all who believe.

But God demonstrates
His own love toward us,
in that while
we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

The Lord’s Supper is also proleptic (an anticipation of the future): the return of Jesus Christ, in Person, one day … soon.

For the Lord Himself
will descend from heaven
with a shout, …
and the dead in Christ
will rise first.
Then we who are alive
and remain will be caught up
together with them
in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air,
and so we shall always be
with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:16–17

And we who live between those two points in history, in the “already … but not yet”, celebrate—yes, celebrate, with zest and gusto!—the Lord’s Supper. With thankfulness for what our God has already done in Christ. With assurance of what He is going to do in Christ. Salvation has “begun”; salvation will soon be “complete”. The Lord’s Supper underscores our conviction of those wonderful truths.

Partake with joy!