Mark 14:22-24

THE HOLY COMMUNION

‘And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is My body. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And He said unto them, This is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.’

Mark 14:22

A few words on our Holy Communion, before we pass to the reception of it, will not be unfitting. Not that we may enter into controversy—God forbid! for no preparation could be worse—but rather to take our minds away from argument, and clothe them, if we may, with a humble, holy, loving simplicity, such as becomes the guests of Jesus.

I. Is not it strange and sad that this, our Holy of holies, should ever have been wrapped in such clouds of mystery; and that that which ought to shine out the clearest should have been so darkened by the defiling touch of human bickering? Is it because it is the stronghold of faith that Satan, knowing its value, loves to draw the battle there?

II. If you worship, why do you not also communicate?—You say, The responsibility is greater, and the qualifications are higher. Is it so? Where is that in the Bible? You answer, ‘He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself.’ Well, now, hear the whole passage: ‘He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation,’—a loss, a chastening—‘to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep’—that is the damnation. ‘For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged,’—chastened—‘we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.’

III. It is a very simple thing to take the Holy Communion. It only wants that you should feel that you are a sinner, and that Christ is your Saviour; that you should so hate the sins that you have determined to give them up, and so love Christ that you wish to love Him better. Then, coming in that dependence upon Christ, which is the wedding garment, you are a welcome guest; and the worse you feel yourself, and the more sensible you are of your need of Christ, the more welcome.

IV. But is not the responsibility very great?—The responsibility is great indeed to come to church, it is very great indeed to pray, or to approach God in any way. It is a very responsible thing to have been baptized; it is a very responsible thing to be called a Christian. The responsibility to come to the Lord’s Table is exactly of the same kind. And you enable yourself for all your other responsibilities by taking upon yourself the responsibility of being a communicant. And do let me ask you, Can you really be a Christian, can you love Christ, if you do not come to the Lord’s Supper? Do not tell me of the affection, or the reality of the profession, of that man who goes on disregarding what I asked him, with my dying lips, to do for love of me!

V. Come as little children.—You come to meet Christ, you come to receive Christ. Do not stop to confuse yourselves with endless questions and metaphysical subleties—how you meet Him, and how you receive him. Be more a child; just feel that you take Christ into your heart of hearts, into your very being, in the way, whatever it be, which He shall please to come and impart Himself to you. As you eat the bread and drink the wine, do not refine upon it, do not go into what you can never fathom, but only think and know this,—Now I join Christ to myself, and myself to Christ, as all my life, and all my strength, and all my joy.

VI. A feast of love.—That there is mystery in the Holy Communion we cannot for a moment doubt. The service calls itself ‘these holy mysteries.’ Only, this is the simplest of all simple things—it is all love. Of the whole circumference of love, this is the centre. There Jesus tells me His love to me, and there I tell Jesus my love to Him. There the departed ones, and we who linger still, the saints in heaven and the saints on earth, angels and archangels, the whole Church in all worlds—all that is dear and beautiful and holy—meet, and we are one. It is one bread and one body, one sweet brotherhood of souls, one Christ and one hope, one Spirit in every heart, one heaven and one home, ‘one God and Father of all.’