I hereby am inviting you to dinner at my place this evening.
Come on by! It will start at 6pm and it will end promptly at 6
:10 pm.
Oh, and by the way…I won’t be there. And you might as well bring your own food, because how can I offer you anything if I am not there.
Is that ridiculous, or what?
When Jesus says, ” eat my body and drink my blood”, when He tells us to “do this…” He is inviting us to dine with Him. He wants us to feast on the True Bread which has come down from Heaven for our sakes. If He’s not even going to be there… then why bother?
Of course He’s going to be there… it’s His Supper for cryin’ out loud!
He never told us to do anything where he would not be present. How can He be present? After all, He has ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. That’s right, He’s up there, so how could He be down here with us?
What! He’s God! He can be anywhere and everywhere He wants to be! Simultaneously! He is inside every molecule of every thing in the universe and beyond. But He can’t be, or wouldn’t want to be present at the meal which He’s commanded us to attend?
That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. And that goes for Holy Baptism as well!
If I ever invite you over for dinner, don’t worry, I’ll be there, and I’ll serve up plenty of vittles as well.
– Steve Martin
Filed under: Sacraments |
The Old Adam Lives! 
St Steven,
What a great presentation of the fallacy of Real Absence. Why bother indeed.
He is Present and what a blessing we do not have to be without Him.
Glory to God in the Highest!
St Steven,
Thank you very much.
He is present! For without Him we are just left to our own devices…like so many are. What a needless shame.
He is present!
Thanks be to God!
– Steve M.
St. David,
Sorry about that.
I got my Saints mixed up!
I’m me and you are you.
– Steve
St. Steven,
You’re with ELCA? I’m with Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore (LCMS)! We belong to “sister” denominations! Glad to know you and I are fans of the late Gerhard Forde too! May God bless your witness to confessional Lutheranism in ELCA, and even beyond!
Though I am baptist, the idea that the Supper is merely symbolic flies in the face of everything we know about his Presence. None that I have asked say that Jesus is not really present when two or more are gathered. The follow up question of the Presence, shouldn’t be any harder to answer, then should it?
Nice, work.
Thomas,
You are so right. It shouldn’t.
But, since our old Adam is hanging on for dear life, we have that thread of unbelief that dogs us until we are laid down for the last time.
I believe that the old Adam does not want to relinquish control, therefore if Christ is not really present then it’s now up to me to muster up enough seriousness for the both of us.
Since when have we ever been serious enough?
Thanks so much Thomas!
Grace to you!
– Steve
It’s not so much that the Old Adam does not want to relinquish (cool word BTW) control, but he has a tendency to “curve inwards”, i.e. look to himself, within him, so to speak, for the presence of God. Hence, e-n-t-h-u-s-i-a-s-m = God-within-ism. Adam and Eve were the first Enthusiasts. They relied on their sense-experience instead of the clear Word of God and hence succumbed to the temptation.
Alright?!
Jason,
You are absolutely right!
We trust in ourselves and not in our Maker and Redeemer.
The Old Adam lives!
Let’s try and kill him off (again)!
Thanks Jason! I look forward to checking out your site.
– Steve M.
Very nice, Steve. I love it. Of course, he is present. Peace.
Thanks Ivy!
He surely is!
Grace to you!
– Steve
Great Post! I can’t add any more thoughts because everyone has said exactly what I feel. 🙂
Cat95,
You are great encouragement to me!
Thanks…and God’s Peace!
– Steve
PS- I was hoping to get at least a couple detractors…maybe next time!
“Do this in remembrance of me”. Isn’t this command telling us that we are to ‘do’ the supper to ‘remember’ Jesus and what he commanded all those years ago?
Isn’t it a ritual that helps us ‘commune’ with others. I think one has to simply think back and imagine with genuine sincerity and a pure heart what Christ did, then the blessing and spiritual power will come. It’s just like baptism is an outward symbol of our commitment to Christ that shows the world that we have changed our lives and decided to follow Jesus. The two are just symbols aren’t they? Anyone? Where am I wrong…. At least this is what I was taught at Calvary Chapel.