Remembering Jesus - The Lord's Supper
1 CORINTHIANS 11:17-26
Remembering Jesus - The Lord's Supper
1 CORINTHIANS 11:17-26
In studying any text it is often helpful to determine if it is nestled in a larger context. Our present text, 1 Corinthians 11:17-26, is in a large context which deals with abuses of worship. This large context is 1 Corinthians 11:2-14:40. Even 1 Corinthians 13, the famous chapter on Christian love, is actually a part of this larger context, and designed as an unsurpassed corrective for the intolerable behavior of the wayward Corinthian Christians.
Although they had many other serious problems, none was more scandalous than their abuse of the Lord’s Supper. It is difficult to study their sordid behavior with proper balance. We must remain close to the text to maintain our own objectivity. Paul tells them the divisions in the congregation made it impossible for them to partake of the supper. These divisions were more than those mentioned in the first chapter of his letter. There were also divisions based on social class and money being demonstrated in their gatherings. The world was in the church and the Lord’s Supper was being trivialized.
Paul attempted to point out their gross error by sharing with them the true nature of the Lord’s Supper. He spoke to them as if they had never heard of the Supper. What a tragedy. Yet, how often do we see fallen Christians living a sinful life as if they had never known how ugly such a life is.
Paul reminds the Corinthians that Jesus, even on the night of His betrayal, established a memorial that speaks of life. He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body which is broken for you…” Then He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” How often do we see Jesus’ request violated, perhaps because this request is not understood. “Do” implies more than merely eating. “Remembrance” is often treated as if it were a verb. Grammatically, it is a noun. It refers to the state we are in when we “do” remember Him. It is neither fleeting nor momentary. The Corinthians had apparently completely forgotten that the entire Supper, including assembling, thanks, breaking bread, drinking the cup, was to be done in a state of remembrance. These things are what they were to “do.” They were to be done in a state of remembrance. This state should be prepared for ahead of time. It should not be interrupted by whisperings, writing checks, surveying the audience, thinking foreign thoughts, etc. There are more ways to desecrate the Lord’s Supper than getting drunk, as some of the Christians at Corinth did. It takes more than a song to prepare for the Supper. There was also the cup “after supper.” This suggests the seder order of the Passover feast (see written text in Index for more on this subject). A true metonymy. They could not drink the cup. They were told to drink its contents, the fruit of the vine which represents the blood by which the new covenant was ratified. “As often as you drink it” necessarily infers repeated action. That repeated action was to continue until Christ’s second coming. Therefore, each time we partake we articulate our faith – till the end of time. This proclamation is to be a unified chorus (1 Cor. 10:16-17). However (and this is one of Paul’s major points), each gathering of the Corinthian Christians was a “proclamation” that they had lost the true meaning of the Supper. How sad.
