For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11.26)
At the 1st weekly communion of the new session at IBTS this morning, the rector Keith Jones preached on the reminder of Paul, the apostle, that is our physical communion with Christ, we proclaim Christ’s death until He comes. It got me thinking. What could Paul really mean?
Well, of course he meant to remind folk again of the sheer grace of God. Of Christ’s sacrifice for us. Of the message of Isaiah 53. We are called to be recipients of what Christ did, when he died to demonstrate and manifest the fullness of God’s forgiving love.
But there’s something more, too. Something that Western Theology has tended to forget. That is, that the Cross must be followed by the Resurrection, as surely as Isaiah 53 is followed by Isaiah 58. For as the Cross is what Christ passed through for us, so we too, in our baptism, must pass through the Cross with Christ. What does this mean?
Jesus didn’t get crucified only to bring God’s forgiveness to us. The Bible is clear that He was crucified because He gave Himself for the purposes of the Kingdom of God. His life was given over to the expression and execution of the Nazareth Manifesto. And just as his crucifixion was the fruit of His faithfulness to God’s Kingdom purposes, so His Resurrection is the vindication of such a life given over in the purposes of God.
And so it is for us. To declare Christ’s death is to declare our commitment to His cause. To recognise that faith demands fulfilment through our participation in God’s purposes revealed in Christ’s life and ours.
The declaration of Christ’s death is, yes, a declaration of thankfulness. But it is also a declaration of purpose. As Christ lived to bring good news to the poor, so must we.
Well, of course he meant to remind folk again of the sheer grace of God. Of Christ’s sacrifice for us. Of the message of Isaiah 53. We are called to be recipients of what Christ did, when he died to demonstrate and manifest the fullness of God’s forgiving love.
But there’s something more, too. Something that Western Theology has tended to forget. That is, that the Cross must be followed by the Resurrection, as surely as Isaiah 53 is followed by Isaiah 58. For as the Cross is what Christ passed through for us, so we too, in our baptism, must pass through the Cross with Christ. What does this mean?
Jesus didn’t get crucified only to bring God’s forgiveness to us. The Bible is clear that He was crucified because He gave Himself for the purposes of the Kingdom of God. His life was given over to the expression and execution of the Nazareth Manifesto. And just as his crucifixion was the fruit of His faithfulness to God’s Kingdom purposes, so His Resurrection is the vindication of such a life given over in the purposes of God.
And so it is for us. To declare Christ’s death is to declare our commitment to His cause. To recognise that faith demands fulfilment through our participation in God’s purposes revealed in Christ’s life and ours.
The declaration of Christ’s death is, yes, a declaration of thankfulness. But it is also a declaration of purpose. As Christ lived to bring good news to the poor, so must we.
