The precious blood of Christ

 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

Luke 22:19-20

Introduction

In this famous passage which establishes the Lord’s Supper (aka Communion, The Table, Eucharist, etc.), we see the Lord Jesus Christ celebrate the Passover with His disciples. During that meal, they were to commemorate the mighty work God did when He delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt. This is such an important event that even the preamble to the ten commandments states, “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 20:1).

The Passover is the most important holiday of the Jewish calendar (with the only possible contender being Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement), because it is the celebration of the momentous achievement God made when He judged the false gods of Egypt and delivered His people out of the house of slavery. The Passover is why the pharisees scoffed at Jesus in John 8 when He suggested they were slaves to their sin. They were deeply offended because at the Passover, God delivered Israel out of slavery, never to be slaves again.

And so this moment holds tremendous importance in the Christian faith. Jesus is our Passover lamb, sacrificed for the sake of His people, to bring them out of the house of slavery (Romans 6:20-23). In fact, in the Eastern Churches the holiday celebrating Christ’s resurrection is not called Easter, but “Pascha” which means “Passover.”

The controversy

On October 31, 1517, a German monk posted 95 subjects he wished to debate on the day’s bulletin board: the door of the local Church. After much internal struggle, Martin Luther presented these topics to bring to light issues he found pressing within the Holy and Apostolic Catholic Church. To say the events that followed made history would be an understatement. Combined with the power of the printing press and Erasmus’ work on collecting the entire New Testament in the original Greek manuscripts, the Protestant Reformation seemed nearly unstoppable. Europe began to split straight down the middle of the continent as people gained access both to the text of the Bible in their own tongue and the writings of men like Luther who questioned some of the teachings and practices emanating from Rome.

The Reformation was largely split into two camps: the German Reformers who followed after Martin Luther, and the Swiss Reformers who followed after Ulrich Zwingli. In an effort to unite their movements, the German and Swiss convened in 1529 to hold the Marburg Colloquy. The two camps began drafting a unified Protestant theology, agreeing on all propositions except for one: the nature of the Eucharist.

On one side of the controversy was Zwingli and his followers who insisted salvation rested in faith in Christ alone, and that to take the institution of the Supper literally, one would have to sacrifice and destroy Christ’s body over and over again. In opposition was Luther and his followers who demanded salvation was directly connected to the participation in this sacrament. They believed that while Christ was not present in a material way, He was still present in the bread and wine because, “hoc est corpus Meum,” which is the Latin translation of Luke 22, stating, “this is My body.”

This divide in Protestantism is far less pronounced between the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox. This is because both of these churches regard the Eucharist as a miracle which occurs at the consecration of the elements, and that they become the true body and blood of Christ (what is meant by “true” here is not material, for those who might think this is some sort of gotcha). That is why there is very strict protocol in those churches for the spilling and disposal of the body and blood.

Squandering the blood

A friend of mine I have worked with is a Deacon in the American Orthodox Church. He is a very smart and caring man, and we have had several serious discussions of faith, theology, and doctrine. One topic that has come up several times is his service with parishes that do not have a dedicated Priest. Because they do not have an ordained Priest, they do not have anyone who is able to consecrate the elements and present them to the congregation. My friend, therefore, serves as an intermediary for those parishes and brings consecrated bread and wine to them, and conducts the liturgy for them locally with an already consecrated bread and wine.

I have asked him questions about practicality, like, “what if someone accidentally spills some of the wine?” To which he has quite confidently answered that he has not witnessed this occurring. But if it were to occur, he has told me, it would be expected for the people to lick it off the floor, because according to their custom the body and blood are only properly disposed of by consumption by believers (there are additional/secondary protocols I don’t have time for). On the surface, this makes sense. If the bread and wine actually become the real and true body and blood of the second person of the Trinity, then every atom of it would be infinitely precious!

But what if we are missing the forest for the trees with this kind of thinking? Because Jesus really did spill His blood (John 19:34; Hebrews 9:14), maybe there is a more direct way you or I may squander His shed blood, free of interdenominational controversy.

In Hebrews 9, we learn that the sacrifices of the Old Testament were a precursor to the sacrifice Christ would make on the Cross. That the blood of animals shed was only a foreshadow of the blood of the One shed that could truly atone for sin. And in Isaiah 53:5, we learn that this Christ would be wounded for our transgressions. 1 Peter 2:24 teaches that Christ bore the sin of His people on His body. Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 5:21 teaches us that Christ Himself became sin for the sake of we who have sinned.

All that to say that the entirety of the sins committed by those He has redeemed was borne by Him at Calvary, under the wrath of God. Each drop of the precious blood of Christ was payment for the transgressions you and I have committed time and time again. And though His forgiveness is infinite, and His mercy is without bound, it can be measured in the suffering He endured for you. So do not squander His precious blood by continuing to tolerate sinful patterns in your life. Put them to death just as He was put to death on the Cross (Romans 8:13).

May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.