THE TABLE OF THE LORD

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not discern the body rightly.

            The above words (1Cor.11:27-29) were written by Paul in his letter to the church at Corinth.  The New Testament epistles are often referred to by scholars as “occasional documents", meaning that they were occasioned by misbehavior on the part of the church that needed corrective in- instruction.  In this instance, the Corinthian Christians were guilty of overlooking the horizontal aspect of the table of the Lord:  …In your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk…do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing?  What shall I say to you?  Shall I praise you?  In this I will not praise you (1Cor.11:21-22).  James Thompson (Our Life Together, p. 68) writes, “The problem was that while some of the Christians feasted, others were hungry and were forced to feel their poverty painfully and shamefully.  The Corinthian congregation, which should have been a company of brothers and sisters at worship, presented a shame-less picture of social division.”

            Phillip Slate observes that the ”unworthily” of the King James Version is an adverb of manner, not an adjective of person - - a technical way of noting that it was not the unworthiness of the partakers, but the manner in which they were partaking that had become sinful.  As he further notes, “The Lord's Supper is not for sinless people."  In this passage, the body that was not being rightly discerned was not Jesus on the cross  (with its accompanying physical, mental, social and substitutionary pain), it was rather a failure to properly esteem the Body of Christ (the church).  In partaking at the table of the Lord, we often think vertically (our gaze is cast heavenward), and rightly so.  But in our gathering together in The Lord’s Supper we must not overlook the cross's horizontal dimension.  To state this matter plainly, COMMUNION is intended to be a COMMUNAL event.  The Greek word, "koinonia", is translated by our English words communion and/or fellowship and it describes having all things in common.   

            The Supper is a SHARING in both the body and Body of Christ (1Cor.10:16-17).  Since there is one bread, WE WHO ARE MANY ARE ONE BODY.   Instead of serving as the unification of brothers and sisters in Christ the Corinthians had turned The Supper on its head - - making it an occasion for cliques to separate brethren.  As Thompson warns, “wherever that happens the Supper is distorted.”  A final word from Paul offers a remedy for the troubling behavior at Corinth:  So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, WAIT FOR ONE ANOTHER (1Cor.11:34).  The Table was designed by God to act out the meaning of the cross.  The end result of the sacrificial ministry of Jesus was the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles in one body to God through the cross (Eph.2:16).  The Lord’s Supper is a weekly reminder of the gospel’s power TO UNITE ALL INTO ONE, regardless of race, class or gender (Gal.3:28).  John Hicks captures the essence of the Corinthian calamity:  "The problem is not that the Corinthians did not think about the cross, but rather the problem was that they did not embody the cross in a communal way at the table" (Come To The Table, p. 123). 

                                                                                    Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ