January 2014

The Blood of the New Testament in the New Year

“But lest the infirmity, unworthiness, and uncleanness of our flesh disturb or overturn our faith, the Son of God affirms that in His Supper He is offering His body and His blood to us in such a way that with the bread and wine we receive them in our mouth, that we may be even more certain that our unworthiness and uncleanness of our flesh can be covered and hidden before the tribunal of God through the most holy body and precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ”

[Martin Chemnitz, The Lord’s Supper, 190].

The end of one year and the beginning of another often has us living in between them. We jostle back and forth, recounting the past with its fading memories and failures and the future with its pregnant hopefulness and optimism. There is much to grieve over in the past. There is much to look forward to in the present. There is much to confess and lay aside and there is much to rejoice over and enjoy. Contrary to the general belief, we are not the sum total of our deeds. We are not defined by what we have done or left undone, but by the New Testament of our Lord in this old and fading life. The newness of life doesn’t begin with the turning of a calendar page, the changing of a number, or the descending of a huge crystal ball in New York’s Time Square. What makes life new is the New Testament. What make life new is the Word which speaks newness, and life into being. Our Lord did so in the beginning. He will do so in the end. He does so even now in these precious words, “This is the New Testament in my blood.” There is new life, eternal life, in the blood of the Lamb. So we sing and confess with the hymnist, “Water, blood, and Spirit crying By their witness testifying To the One whose death defying Life has come with life for all” [LSB 597:1].   

Now new life can become old routine. This is a great fear amongst us. We are afraid that the blood of New Testament will be stripped of its newness by old and repetitious ways. Just like many things in our life that we take for granted, we dare never have this wonderful blood of the New Testament become old hat. We want it to be special. Thus, we will refrain from overusing it. But ask yourself, “How could you ever overuse a gift that you always need.” And there it is. An honest look at years past will bring with it much regret. Self-examination will always result in the realization that I need a New Testament because the old one has failed and it’s simply not enough to wash away all my wretchedness. I am not enough. Not for my God and not for my neighbor. My wife, my church, and my life tell me this everyday. Some may say otherwise. But they deceive themselves. Only in confession do I see aright my emptiness, the brokenness of my life, and the lives of those around me. I see it all, and it’s a mess, it’s ugly, it’s twisted, it’s deformed and it’s malnourished. My life is begging to be fed. My life is begging for hope. My life is begging for newness.    

The beggarly nature of this life can often fluctuate. We can go for a time in this life without having much go wrong. Then again, we can hit a rough patch, perhaps even a sink hole, where nothing ever seems to be right. Thus no Christian can arbitrarily tell another Christian how often he must feel this beggarliness. Some might feel a need for it every day; others once a week; still others even less. In his “Christian Questions and Answers,” Luther is helpful here. In answering the question, “What should admonish and encourage a Christian to receive the Sacrament frequently,” he responds, “First, both to the command and the promise of Christ the Lord. Second, his own pressing need, because of which the command, encouragement, and promise are given” [LSB 330]. You go to the Sacrament often because what Jesus says and because what He gives underneath the bread and wine. You go to the Sacrament because of your beggarly life.  

Be that as it may, many go to the Sacrament based upon the set patterns of their church’s practice and their own spiritual life. Its not that they despise the Sacrament, they simply have had no need to think about a more frequent reception. The pattern has been set. As the saying goes, “if it’s not broken, then don’t fix it.” And yet the church is broken. It’s a community of broken sinners only forgiven only living in the Broken One, shed for the remission of all her sins. It’s made up of individuals who are deeply broken and battered by the guilt of their sin and the grievous nature of the wounds that they carry in body and soul. The church collectively and individually sings, “I come, O Savior, to thy Table, For weak and weary is my soul; Thou, Bread of Life, alone art able To satisfy and make me whole: Lord, may Thy body and Thy blood, Be for my soul the highest good” [LSB 6:18:1].   

Though broken, the church cannot dictate to the individual sinner how often they should come to the Lord’s Table. As a dispenser of our Lord gifts, of preaching and the Sacrament, I would never want a beggar to be without food, nor a sinner without the forgiveness of sins. Yet, as I mentioned earlier the desperate nature of one’s sins and the guilt that they bring can often be a moving target. This is not to be seen as an “issue” in the church. The New Testament of our Lord and our reception of His gifts are intimately tied to what we believe, teach, and confess regarding the church, sin, forgiveness of sins, and our life together as the very Body of Christ.

Ponder then the words of our Lutheran Confessions, “Since the Mass is such an imparting of the sacrament, among us one common Mass is held on every holy day, and it is also administered on other days if there are those who desire it. Nor is this custom new in the church. For the ancient teachers before the time of Gregory do not mention private Masses, but often speak of the common Mass” [AC XXIV: 34-35]. As the church we live individually yet we live communally. Let me be clear: I am not asking you to purely discuss what has become the “pros and cons” of “weekly communion.”  Rather, I want you to think about the Lord’s Supper. I want you to ruminate on what you were taught in the Scriptures and the Small Catechism regarding the Lord’s Supper. I want you to reflect on why you go to the Sacrament. I want you to reflect on what you would say if this precious gift were taken from you. In that vein, I would graciously ask you to reflect on the New Testament of our Lord’s Body and Blood, in this New Year.    

The Lord Be With You,

Pastor Raffa