Today we look at a topic many of us have questions about – communion.
This review will be a little longer than normal so that we get the big picture down in writing.
Origins – Altar and Table
We start with the origins of the practice – the Passover banquet hosted by Jesus. That banquet, like other major sacrifices in the Old Testament, involved two stages – the altar and the table.
At the altar a sacrifice was made for the forgiveness of sins and restoring of relationships (atonement).
At the table the sacrifice became a meal which celebrated the newly restored relationship (communion).
The table was a joyful, communal event. A happy feast!
New Covenant Celebration
During the Lord’s Supper, Jesus brought the happy feast of Passover liberation into fulfilment with a whole new meaning. This is my body. This is my blood.
That weekend Jesus gave up his body at the altar of the cross. His body became the ultimate sacrifice. And at the table he instituted, it became the meal of ultimate celebration.
The first Christians celebrated the Lord’s Supper at regular meals known as agapes or love feasts. They worshiped and fellowshipped around the table, hosted by Jesus himself through the Holy Spirit.
They gathered to break bread ‘with glad and sincere hearts’ on the Lord’s Day – the hope-filled day of the Resurrection.
Historical Evolution – From Table to Altar
In time, as those churches added numbers and struggled with cultural challenges around the table, the bread and cup were separated from the table.
The eucharist became a ritual observed in a meeting hall, separated from the communal joy and group participation of the love feast table.
In time the love feast faded away altogether and controversy heated up around the nature of the eucharist.
At the 4th Lateran Council of 1215 the church officially declared the eucharist to be the literal body and blood of Jesus, not just spiritually but physically. This was followed by changes in the liturgy which made the wine accessible only to the clergy.
The Lord’s supper had been taken from its rightful place at the table and moved back to the altar. It became a sacrifice – a work performed to make atonement for sins.
Protest and Reformation
As soon as the council formalized the doctrine we now call transubstantiation, protests were made. Catholic leaders like John Wycliffe, Jan Huss and eventually Martin Luther sought to reform the church’s practice. They saw transubstantiation as an unbiblical and demonic idea, borrowed from secular philosophy.
These reformers were excommunicated from the church and the Protestant Reformation was born. Controversy continued as reformation teachers sought to define the nature of the eucharist, but the bread and cup were restored to the whole congregation.
Communion Today – Back to the Table
By the 18th century, protestant groups like the Moravians and Methodists took the reforms even further back in time and sought to restore the love feasts.
They brought the Lord’s Supper back to the table where it began.
In the Protestant world today we mostly observe the Lord’s Supper as a part of our liturgy in our church buildings. The line between altar and table is often blurred as we make our way forward quietly, individually and introspectively. Those all have their place, but they are not the heart of biblical communion.
Come joyfully to the Table
The next time you make your way to the bread and the cup, feel free to smile. Feel free to remember that you have been set free from judgment and sin by the blood of Christ. Remind yourself that the altar work was finished forever at the cross. In your mind’s eye see the Lord Jesus there at the table rejoicing over his people as we enjoy true communion together.
“Maybe someday instead of solemnly making our way to the tables, we should dance for joy, maybe we should sing every born-again song we know, maybe we should tell our homecoming stories, and laugh like people who no longer fear death. Maybe we should ask if anyone wants seconds, and hold our little cups high to toast lost sinners found, and dead brothers and sisters alive.” -Philip Yancey
Tom Brown is the planting pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Wichita. Tom and his wife, Mandy, have worked together in ministry for over 20 years and have four children. More about Pastor Tom Brown