| Part 4 |
The Church Meaning and Membership Part 4 In our previous discussions we examined the meaning and concept of church as used in the scriptures … both Old and New Testaments. Recall that we should think of an ecclesia … or church … as an assembly of believers … Called out of … the world … by God … For his purpose …to be his people … in covenant. We looked at the workings of the Holy Spirit in the early transformational stories of the Acts of the Apostles … and the call to baptism … and full life in the assembly. The Ethiopian … Cornelius … and Paul … We recognize, however, that the church … is a church of sinners … but … of repentant … changed sinners. And the church has established procedures … for our lives in community after baptism … Confession is one of those procedures … a ritual … a sacrament. So we looked at confession … and some early practices. The church, through its ministry to the assembly has … as John Chrysostum states … “the power to bind and loose, to forgive and retain sins, which is not even given to angels. It is a power given by God through the promise of Christ.” The next logical step is to look at the true sustaining gift of the community … deliberately instituted and provided by Jesus himself … the Eucharist. The story of the Mystical supper and the institution of the Eucharist appears in the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke … and is also described by Paul in his 1st letter to the Corinthians … From Matthew chapter 26 … “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.” (Matt 26:26-28) In this presentation … Jesus says … “Take … eat” & “Drink from it, all of you …” Today … the priest says … “In the fear of God and with faith draw near …” Not a request … but a command. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are two other key words in this retelling of the institution of the Eucharist … The covenant … Covenant here is a guarantee … a contract … The idea of a contract in a scriptural sense is simple … I will be your God … if … you will be my people Partake of the death of Jesus … by receiving his body and blood … and you will also participate in his resurrection … the manifestation of the glory of God … and a sign of the approval by God … of Jesus’ salvific work … At the very end of the reading from Matthew … Jesus says that his blood … “… is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Interesting … not for “all” … but for “many” … The offer is made to all … but is not accepted by all … Some simply reject … or refuse the gift … In Paul’s guidance to the assembly in Corinth … he says “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Cor 11:26) Eucharist … means thanksgiving … Every time we participate in the Liturgy … in the Eucharist … we say thanks to God for the gift of the saving blood of Jesus … Our faith … and hope … in the new covenant … is made real in the Eucharist. But … there are warnings … not to take this gift lightly … or without thought … From Paul … Partaking of the Supper Unworthily“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.” Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” (1 Cor 11:27-29) We clearly saw this same thinking with baptism. Baptism brings one in … makes one a part of the assembly. But if one does not act upon one’ baptism … does not respond to the Holy Spirit … that baptism can be an indictment and a curse. With the Eucharist … one must receive in a worthy manner … after a self examination … and discerning what it is that is being done. The communion prayers acknowledge these requirements … We say … “I … believe that this is truly Your pure Body and that this is truly Your precious Blood.” Discernment … I know what this is … I freely come forward … for the gift … and acknowledge my obligations … We continue … “Therefore, I pray to You, have mercy upon me, and forgive my transgressions.” Self examination … acknowledgement of continued sinfulness … but sorrow … … have mercy on me. “ And make me worthy without condemnation to partake of Your pure Mysteries for the forgiveness of sins and for life eternal.” I can never be worthy to receive these Sacred Mysteries … the body and blood of Jesus that offers me the hope of salvation … but … I come forward anyway … with the supplication … make me worthy … This is a complete throwing of oneself on the mercy of God. Discernment … self examination … supplication --------------------------------------------------------- It is most interesting to note that although the Gospel of John does speak of the Mystical Supper … there is no mention of the bread and wine or the institution of the Eucharist at that event. The main feature of John’s Mystical Supper is Jesus’ washing of his disciples feet. However … within the Gospel of John … there is what is called the “Bread of Life” discourses … where Jesus mystically … and mysteriously … speaks of the Eucharist which has yet to be instituted. Jesus says … “’I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. The Words of Eternal LifeWhen many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you? … among you there are some who do not believe.’ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.’ He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.” (John 6:48-71) ----------------------------------------------------- Many who had followed Jesus … perhaps for years … were scandalized by this teaching … they no longer followed him. Jews were not allowed to touch the blood of another person … it was defiling. Here Jesus was telling his followers to … drink his blood. And notice … Jesus says … that one of his closest followers … whom he had selected … was a devil. What does this tell us? Being in the church … in the assembly … is no guarantee of salvation … Jesus says that even in his small assembly of twelve … there is a devil … Judas. I would agree … in what we call church today … there are still devils. From heretics in the early church … to purveyors of permissiveness in the modern church. From the beginning … the worst enemies of the church have come from the inside ... not from the outside. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Father Alexander Schmemann wrote an entire book on the meaning of the Eucharist … and its importance in the assembly. Fr. Schmemann states that the gathering of the assembly was expressly for the purpose of partaking in the “Lord’s Supper”, what we call the Divine Liturgy. The gathering itself … revealed the assembly … meaning the purpose of gathering … and assembly. We must not think of the “Eucharist” as only that part of the Liturgy when we receive the Sacred Mysteries. The act of gathering and assembling of the faithful … according to Fr. Schmemann “was always considered the first and basic act of the eucharist.” The presider … stands at the head of the assembly and announces to God … here we are … not here I am. When one goes to “church”, one goes … to gather together … into assembly. In effect, there is no church until the gathering takes place. When everyone is individually out in the world … taking care of their own business … there is no assembly. … potentially an assembly … yes … practically an assembly … no. When we gather … we respond to our baptism … to the mystery of the Kingdom of God. When one fails to gather … into the assembly … they in effect excommunicated themselves … from that assembly … the local church … and are not … in effect … a part of the church. Fr. Schmemann goes even further … he states … He is very clear and direct in his criticism … “It should be obvious to what degree contemporary individual entries into the temple, at any moment of the service, violate the essence of the eucharist. One who maintains his individuality and freedom in such a manner does not understand the sacrament of the assembly.” Just as bread and wine … “can be transformed into the partaking of the body and blood of Christ.” … when we partake of that body and blood … we are to be transformed into a new life … together. We Pray … … “And unite all of us to one another who become partakers of the one Bread and one Cup in the communion with the Holy Spirit.” ---------------------------------------------------- There are sacraments because we are fallen … because we are sinful. Jesus said … ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’ (Luke 5:31-32) According to Fr. Schmemann … The Liturgy … the Eucharist is … Sacrament of unity. Sacrament of the assembly. Sacrament of the Kingdom. ----------------------------------------------------------- “But, in our world there are many who simply say … I have not killed, I have not stolen, I have not committed adultery.”
Again, Jesus says …
One of my favorite quotes … primarily because it is subtle … but simple … is from John Chrysostum …
but … it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
That’s what John is talking about. --------------------------------------------------- One must be in the world … but not of the world:
(1 Cor 3:19)
The mansions are built. The feast is prepared. Jesus is awaiting our arrival. If we desire to live with God forever (theosis) we must change ourselves (metanoia) and work with his grace (synergia) to change the world one encounter at a time. To partake of the promise, one must truly become aware of oneself. “The person who is ignorant of himself is not aware of the tremendous need which he has to step out of his old condition and turn once again to God.” Partaking of the divine nature has many components … seeking God … understanding ourselves … hating and rejecting our sinfulness … accepting and working with God’s grace … fundamentally changing our lives … living the gospel … taking advantage of the sacraments and the Church … praying, with more then simply our lips, and loving our neighbor. There are many opportunities to partake of the divine nature in our daily lives but we must take these opportunities and fulfill them for God, ourselves and the world. |
John Rybicki |