Funeral Or Festival? What Should Be Our Mood During The Lord's Supper?

The song leader picks out a song, tells us the number and begins to sing. About half way thru the final stanza, four men get up and begin to walk to the front of the room where there stands a table. Setting on this table are multiple shiny plates containing small pieces of bread and small containers of juice. One of the men says a prayer, asking that we would all examine ourselves and take it in a worthy manner. Then the men begin to walk down the aisles handing the plates to the people sitting on the ends of the rows. As the bread, and then the juice, is passed to me, I take it, put it in my mouth and close my eyes. The room is quiet, just then a child asks his Mother a question and is quickly chastised for it, “Be quiet,” she says. As we sit in silence with grim looks on our faces we must make sure we don’t talk, smile or heaven forbid laugh, that would be irreverent, and then the thought strikes me, “The only other time the atmosphere is like this, is when I’m at a funeral.” Why? Why are we acting like we’re at a funeral? Why are we told it is to be a silent, solemn occasion?

Of course I knew the answer given all too often, I’d even preached sermons explaining this in the past. “The Lord’s Supper is a time of solemn remembrance of the great sacrifice Jesus became for our sins. We show reverence to our Lord by conducting ourselves in a respectable manner while remembering his death, that is why we remain silent during this time.” For a while I struggled with the thoughts I couldn’t get out of my head. At first I tried to suppress the things I was feeling and learning. I heard the voices saying things that I was becoming all to accustomed to hearing, “Who do you think you are? Do you really think we’ve got it all wrong this whole time? Believe me, men much older and wiser than you would have figured this out if it were true. You must be becoming a liberal!” I wondered where this solemn ritual came from (I could find no trace of it in the New Testament),and  the more I studied, the more I realized that what we were doing was not commanded by God, as I had always thought. And so, here I am writing this blog, and asking the question, “What should our attitude be during the Supper?”

The Messianic Banquet

Something that can shed light on the practice of the early Christians is a study on the Jewish hope of the Messianic Banquet. Isaiah wrote of a great banquet that would be hosted by the coming Messiah (Isaiah 25:6-8). This was a great hope of the Israelite people, they longed for the day when they would be reclining at the table of the Lord. When Jesus came he “came eating and drinking” (Matthew 11:19), hosting celebratory meals for all who would come, looking forward to “the wedding supper of the Lamb” as John writes (Revelation 19:7-9). The great event was clearly a hope of first-century Jews. One Jewish man once declared, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God” while at the table with Jesus. Jesus himself said, “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). The practice of the early Christians was an extension of the practice of Jesus of eating festive meals with his disciples, and looked forward to the wedding supper of the Lamb.

It’s Sunday Not Friday

Aside from an ignorance of historical fact and the national hopes of Israel, the traditional arguments for observing the supper in our current manner seem to confuse Friday with Sunday. We are not gathering for the Lord’s meal while he is in the grave. The tomb was empty! Jesus was raised from the dead! The Lord’s meal is not a funeral. Yes Jesus was crucified, but he was resurrected. Jesus lives!

In thinking about this apparent confusion between Friday and Sunday, crucifixion and resurrection, a few biblical events come to mind. First, Jesus found the women going to the tomb (as if it was a funeral) and Mary crying outside the tomb and he asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” Crying over the death of one who lives makes no sense and when she realized he was alive her sadness turned to joy.  Then Jesus encountered two disciples walking the road to Emmaus deflated, and he said to them, “How foolish you are and how slow to believe that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? (Luke 24:25). When I think of how our practices of the Lord’s Supper do not fit with the things we say we believe about Jesus, I’m reminded of Jesus’ question to Martha (John 11:25), “Do you believe this?” Do we believe that Jesus lives? If so, then why do we practice the Lord’s Supper, which by all accounts is to look back on the work of Jesus (which was the greatest victory ever and the reason for our purpose, lives, hopes and aims), the way we do?

I have often thought, while we sat there in silence and gloom, “I wonder what Jesus thinks about what we are doing.” I can imagine him, as we each look down with eyes closed and somber looks, screaming at us, “I’M ALIVE!”

I have to be quite honest; I’m just not exactly sure what part of the Lord’s supper makes us so somber. Is it the communion with a victorious, risen King in his kingdom? Is it the koinonia with the family of God? Is it the celebration of his victory over sin and death? Or the remembrance of his great sacrifice and great triumph?

Altar Mentality

When we examine our practices and where they came from, we find that we have an altar mentality instead of table mentality. We examine ourselves, which mainly consists of thinking about our sins and how they made him suffer. This is an altar mentality. The altar was where the sacrifice was offered. The table is where the blessings were enjoyed. On the cross Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice for us. But he rose from the grave and broke bread with his disciples. When we gather for the Lord’s meal it is not to be around the altar as the sacrifice has been offered once for all (Hebrews 7:27), it is to be around the table. But we seem determined to treat the Lord’s table as if it is an altar and we miss out on the table he has prepared for us, the blessings he is extending to us that we don’t seem to want to embrace.

If you are reading and finding it hard to consider anything other than your long-held practices, perhaps this illustration will be of some help. Just to make it clear we go to church every week, to express our devotion for the one who died for us by taking the bread and juice in silent gloom, thinking about our sins and how bad they made him suffer. Now, imagine for a moment you and your wife have a weekly date night, every week ya’ll get together and spend some special time alone. But there is a problem. You see some time ago she did something that made her feel terribly guilty. You forgave her but she never really let it go. And each week on date night, she feels it is her responsibility to spend that entire time completely focused on what she did and the pain it caused you. Now, would you appreciate that she has that attitude and spends that time in that manner, and see that as evidence that she is worthy of being your wife? Would you thank her for her attitude of reverence? OF COURSE NOT! But this is essentially what we are doing during the Lord’s supper.

Come To The Table

The Lord’s meal is an event where Jesus followers are looking back on the victory won by their Lord and King, presently enjoying his reign and looking forward to his return. Our King has invited us, the table is spread, come and join the celebration.