Matthew 26:26-29
While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
What do you think it mean when Jesus says, “This is my body,” after giving his disciples bread? This has been the subject of endless theology debate over the centuries.
Roman Catholics, borrowing the Aristotelian philosophical categories of “substance” (the essential thing itself) and “accidents” (the concrete appearance of something in its particularity), confess that the bread Jesus offered – and that used in Holy Communion today – is “transubstantiated” (that is, has its essential substance changed, even though its particular accidents remain the same).
Reformed theologians have argued more simply that Jesus was speaking metaphorically, that he did not mean to imply that he was actually giving his body to the disciples to eat but that the bread only represented his body. (Even easier to argue when reading Luke, where Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of me.”)
Lutherans have opted for not so much a middle ground as a whole other way of looking at matters by saying that the whole of creation is imbued with the presence of God (and therefore with the presence of the Son of God, the Word made flesh). Therefore, Jesus’ actual presence is inherently and already a part of the bread he gives his disciples, indeed, all bread, but in this meal Jesus promises to be revealed there in love and mercy for us.
Each of these distinct confessions has its own proponents and one or the other may appeal to you. But I wonder if there is also a more basic answer.
I think that when Jesus says that the bread he offers is his own body and the wine they drink is his blood of the covenant he is telling us that he is giving himself completely and fully, not sparing any part of himself (which also means God is not sparing any part of God’s own self). More, he is saying that he is offering all of himself to us in order that we may perceive how much God loves us and be drawn into a new relationship with God defined and determined by that love.
I’m not quite sure how that connects with the various theories that seek to explain the Lord’s Supper, but maybe it doesn’t need to. Maybe it’s enough to know that Jesus shared that meal and gave himself for his disciples out of love…and that he still does.
Prayer: Dear God, each time we share in the Lord’s Supper, remind us that we are receiving your gift of yourself to us, really and truly, that we may live in and through your love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: “The Last Supper,” Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (1896).
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