The Supper

New Creation, Hospitality, and Hope in Christ

Ronald P. Hesselgrave

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781532675768
  9781532675775
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532675782
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

The Lord's Supper (or Eucharist) has often been a subject of intense debate in the church. What is often lost in this debate is the significance of the relationship of the Eucharist to Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples, which was a Passover--or Passover-like--meal. Moreover, the Last Supper connects back to various meals in Jesus' earthly ministry. And it looks forward to the great messianic banquet as fulfillment of Jewish expectations. In exploring these connections, this book focuses on the three motifs of "new creation," "hospitality," and "hope" in Christ. Most significantly, when we break the bread and drink the wine (or juice) together we are asserting the reality of the new creation in Christ, affirming God's grace, forgiveness, and cruciform love which is to be embodied in the Christian community, and anticipating the day when God's present and ongoing work of restoration, justice, and reconciliation will ultimately prevail. The Supper, then, is basically a condensed summary of the story of God's plan of redemption. Hesselgrave brings together biblical, theological, ethical, and social insights in a way that deepens our understanding of the meaning and practical significance of biblical texts related to this central ordinance of the church.

1

The Supper and its Historical Context

In recent years, there has been a great deal of interest in what is often referred to as the “historical Jesus.” Since the heart of the gospel message concerns Jesus’ death and resurrection, it is natural that much of the attention should be given to these central aspects of the Christian faith. This is particularly the case when Easter approaches and there are many media portrayals of the life and death of Jesus. No one denies that Jesus ate a final meal with his disciples. His words about the cup, the bread, his body and blood are among the most secure and established elements of our tradition about Jesus.1 However, many secular Jesus scholars view these events through the category of myth rather than true history. Christians, of course, believe otherwise—that Jesus died and rose again so that all of his followers could eventually do the same (1 Cor 15:12–58). This is what Jesus predicted when he told his disciples in the Last Supper: “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt 26:29). Yet, I often wonder whether we as Christians really grasp the full meaning and significance of Jesus’ words. If we did, I believe it would revolutionize our lives.

Not too long ago, my wife Kathi and I took a trip to Springfield, Illinois where we visited the Lincoln Monument and the Lincoln Museum. We also toured reconstructions of the houses and communities where Abraham Lincoln lived during his early years as a child and then as a young adult. Visiting these various sites helped us to put the life of this great president into historical perspective. Such historical monuments, reconstructions, and museums help us to mark key turning points in our nation’s history. We also remember these events through the celebration of holidays such as President’s Day, Memorial Day, and the Fourth of July. In these celebrations we commemorate the sacrifices that were made; and through various means such as symbols, parades, and speeches we even in some sense relive or re-enact the great historical events which have impacted us both individually and collectively as a nation.

The Lord’s Supper (also called “Communion,” “the Lord’s Table,” and the “Eucharist”2) is such a commemorative event in the life of the church. In this ordinance we remember, both individually and collectively, Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross. One author has observed, however, that for many Christians the Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist, is an isolated event that is barely connected with Jesus’ ministry. Although we repeat Jesus’ words which were first uttered in the Last Supper, we “pay little attention to [their] context in the story of the passion, let alone the whole gospel. Isolated in our perception of its origins, the Eucharist becomes equally isolated in the life of Christians today. And the New Testament, which should help us integrate the Eucharist into our lives, ends up reinforcing its isolation.”3

While these words might seem to some to be an overstatement, I agree with this author that the Lord’s Supper is often divorced from its historical context. The main point is that the Lord’s Supper is rooted in Jesus’ “Last Supper” with his disciples, which was essentially a Passover meal.4 The antecedent of the Lord’s Supper is therefore the Jewish celebration of the deliverance of the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt. Why is this important?

Let’s back up for a moment and consider why the Gospels were written in the first place. The underlying message of the separate gospel accounts is that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection comprise the central event of cosmic and human history and provide the key organizing principle for our lives as Christians.5 The Last Supper, which forms the basis for our practice of the Lord’s Supper, points to this reality. Of further importance is the fact that the Gospels connect Jesus’ identity as King over all things with his purpose in dying on the cross.6 For various reasons, Christians have tended to separate the kingdom and the cross. On one hand, there are “kingdom Christians” who have a social-gospel agenda; on the other, there are “cross Christians” with a “saving-souls-for-heaven” agenda. Each of the four gospels, however, brings these two viewpoints together into a unity that is much greater and more comprehensive than the sum of their parts.7 N. T. Wright and others have alerted us to the tendency of Christians to split off what philosophers call the “problem of evil” from what theologians think of as the “atonement”—“as though the cross of Jesus were not, in the New Testament, God’s ultimate answer to the ‘problem of evil.’” According to Wright, this is a dangerous mistake.8

For Wright, this myopic understanding of the gospel can be corrected only by seeing the story of Jesus as climax of the story of Israel. In other words, the story of Israel—and indeed the whole story of the world to which the story of Israel is a response—is most clearly and fully understood through the story of Jesus. In Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis conveys this sense of divine redemption as a “story” when he states that “in Christianity God is not a static thing . . . but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama.” Moreover, this drama is played out in each one of us as believers; or (putting it the other way around) each one of us has to enter into the pattern of this drama.9 From this perspective, the Last Supper is itself a divine “drama” that we as followers of Christ participate in through the observance of the Lord’s Supper. That is a central theme that I intend to develop in this book.

The Last Supper as Embodied Drama

Before going into the details of the Last Supper, let me further clarify the approach I am taking in this book. What do I mean when I describe the Last Supper (and therefore the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist) as a “drama?”

A Nexus of Issues

There is a nexus of issues which confronts any reader of the Bible.10 Often, they are not directly addressed in our “plain” reading of the Bible. But they are always lurking under the surface. First, what is the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament? One biblical scholar, Cra...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Chapter 1: The Supper and its Historical Context
• Part One: Old Testament Preparation
• Part Two: New Exodus and New Creation
• Part Three: Eucharistic Hospitality
• Part Four: The Wedding Supper
• Conclusion: The Lord’s Supper and the Life of the Church
• Bibliography