Category: Communion Meditation

The blood of the covenant is the basis for this sacred meal. The Eucharist is an indispensable element of this triumphal coming. You cannot separate blood from wine.

We considered the shouts of the people of God in Zechariah. Yahweh had become their protector and victor. The true King gives his life/his blood for the sake of the people. Those who cried and sang expressed a theology of authority and submission. true authority is sacrificial. True submission can only occur by following the One who submitted himself, even to the point of spilling his own blood.

All this we celebrate at this table, where Jesus and His disciples eat and drink and sing. At this table, we celebrate the coming of the Lord, His victory, His judgment. At this table, we anticipate His coming again, to judge all things and bring in the new heaven and new earth in fullness. In this meal, we celebrate all that Jesus has done, and anticipate in faith all that He has yet to do.[1]

The Eucharist is a Lenten meditation without words. On this table we have bread and wine; body and blood given and broken for our sins. The gospel is an inescapable dimension of this Supper. The importance of its continual and weekly observance is confirmed when we consider that our worship is a gospel presentation each week. A true and faithful Father not only instructs his children, but he also feeds them. Come and eat, our Father invites us today.

The Psalmist stresses that the afflicted will eat and be satisfied. What greater comfort do we need? He hears our petitions, nurtures us, and shows his great care. We can be certain today that he is repeating that exact process as he feeds us. God is no respecter of persons when it comes to salvation, and he is no respected of persons when it comes to giving us his good gifts. At this table, the rich, the brokenhearted, the poor, the sick, and the hungry are welcome to taste and eat.

The goodness of Yahweh is the source of his faithfulness to us, the psalmist says. This is a weekly reminder to us that we may not come trusting in our strength or wisdom, but in the mercy of God. The table of our Lord is an extension of that mercy and faithfulness to us. When the psalmist says I shall not want, he speaks not only of earthly necessities, but also of spiritual provisions. God cares for us at all stages of life. Come and eat and enjoy God’s riches.

This gospel movement is a great illustration for how God works in history. The God who planted a garden in the beginning of history is redeeming the garden in our history. He expects us to find satisfaction in this garden.. Wheat and the vine pictured here at this table in bread and wine are a taste of the garden God is restoring in this world. Every time we eat together we are affirming that God is on the move.

In our sickness we are called to cast our cares on Jesus Christ. Christ is healer of nations; the cure of Israel. When we come to this table we are acknowledging that He is the only one that can give us what we need. What we need now is bread to fix our eyes on Jesus and wine to fix our joy on Jesus. As the city gathered to see Jesus heal, we gather to see Jesus renew us in his grace.

We have been removed from a dark realm and transferred into a kingdom of light. Jesus is the One who accomplishes this transfer. He does this by silencing the Evil One, and by stating explicitly that you are his. And every time the devil utters anything contrary, Jesus silences him with his word of authority. The Lord we serve silences evil, so we may speak his praises. Let us praise the Lord who shuts the mouths of evil doers and opens ours to taste bread and wine.

Our Lord Jesus is the model of discipleship. As a people we can only serve as models to others as we are following the example of Jesus Christ. Even in our sins we can model our perfect Savior, by trusting in Him and relying in His grace to renew our hearts.

Those disciples called to follow after Jesus were drawn by an irresistible call; the call of grace; the call to abandon all for the sake of the One who abandoned all for us.

In Bread and Wine, we no longer taste the bitter abandonment Jesus suffered at Calvary, but we taste the sweet reality of His risen body. Let us eat and drink of the goodness of God in Jesus Christ.

The Epiphany Glory is the startling revelation of the Son of God to the Gentiles. We are recipients of this great light. We have seen it by the grace of God, and now we walk in it by the grace of God. To be united to our Lord, to be baptized into His glorious body is what compels us to service and to shed this light to the world. We are walking lights. A heavenly portrait of earth would indicate that the light is shining brighter and brighter each day.

At this sacred table we enhance the brightness of the gospel by eating and drinking together. Let us come and receive this holy meal.

Our most holy Lord was not bound by the law, but he endured the law’s demands that the law might not have power over us. Christ, the one give for us, now becomes our heavenly food. We who have our hearts circumcised and have entered the covenant through the new sign of the covenant, baptism, come to His table emboldened to obey and to live faithfully; set apart, just as He was set apart for us in his circumcision at birth and in death. May Christ our Lord be praised, evermore and evermore.