What does it mean to take the Lord’s Table in an unworthy manner? Have you ever heard those lines from a Church pulpit just before a Holy Communion service? Did you make a quick prayer of repentance to ‘acquire worthiness’ before the bread and juice reached your pew? Have you ever felt so unworthy you altogether skipped the sacrament?
By no means is this a small matter. Many a church folk have been plagued by those Scripture lines through time and geography. Penalties for desecrating Holy Communion are dire indeed, but where exactly does the offence lie?
Firstly, let’s lay the case as it reads in Paul’s epistle to the Church of Corinth.
27 Therefore, whoever eats the Lord’s bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord! 28 So let a person examine himself first, and then he may eat of the bread and drink from the cup; 29 for a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. 30 This is why many among you are weak and sick, and some have died! 31 If we would examine ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined, so that we will not be condemned along with the world (1 Cor 11:27-32 ~cjb).
What is Holy Communion?
In the passage above, Paul castigates Corinthian believers for their mischievous approach to the holy ordinance. They’d drifted from the model set for them. Says he, 23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. (1 Cor 11:23, 24 ~kjv).
I passed on to you exactly what I received from the Lord, but you turned it into something else!
Paul was not in the Upper Room where Jesus took His last supper. But John Mark was there. It’s the home he shared with his mother, Mary. In fact, Mark is the ‘young man carrying a pitcher of water’ whom Jesus’ disciples followed to locate the venue of their Passover festival. John Mark is the ‘young man who fled naked’ when Jesus’ captors tried to grab him. Thus, Mark followed Jesus and His disciples from his home to the garden where the Lord was arrested. Certainly, John Mark did not sit with Jesus’ team, but he could very well have watched them as they celebrated Passover. Thus, his report on the ordination of Holy Communion is very authoritative.
22 While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah, made the b’rakhah, broke it, gave it to them and said, “Take it! This is my body.” 23 Also he took a cup of wine, made the b’rakhah, and gave it to them; and they all drank. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood, which ratifies the New Covenant, my blood shed on behalf of many people (Mark 14:22-23 ~cjb).
Those Jewish men were observing Passover, a feast commemorating Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. It was called ‘Passover’ because an angel of death killed all firstborns of Egyptian children and livestock but ‘passed over’ Israeli households, sparing them. To qualify for that ‘passing over’, Israel was instructed to slaughter a specific lamb and smear its blood on the top and two side posts of the doors to their houses. God had promised, 13 The blood will serve you as a sign marking the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over you—when I strike the land of Egypt, the death blow will not strike you. 23 For Adonai will pass through to kill the Egyptians; but when he sees the blood on the top and on the two sides, Adonai will pass over the door and will not allow the Slaughterer to enter your houses and kill you. (Exo 12:13, 23 ~cjb).
Mark’s record gives us an amazing revelation. Jesus said, “This is My blood, which ratifies the New Covenant…” In other words, the Passover lamb symbolized Jesus. The blood of the lamb shielded Israel from God’s punishment on all Egypt. Similarly, the blood of Jesus now shields many people from eternal damnation! How many people? Everyone who takes refuge in the blood of the Son of God! The lamb provided protection against God’s judgement on sinful Egypt. On a much larger scale, the blood of Jesus provides protection against God’s eternal judgement upon a rebellious world. Jesus is to Christians what the lamb was to Israel—the Passover Lamb!
Taking Communion in an Unworthy Manner
A house with blood-stained doorposts protected everyone inside. The only qualification was for a person to be inside. Occupants of a secure precinct didn’t earn their safety by personal merit. The angel of death didn’t ask to see report cards on personal behavior. In deciding who to strike or spare, he only looked for a lamb’s blood on the doorposts.
What has that to do with our approach to the Lord’s Table? Everything! To spare Israel from the punishment meted on Egypt, a lamb gave its life. The slain lamb’s blood averted punishment to all those within the house. Not only did the sacrificial lamb’s blood deter the angel of death from hurting Israelites, its flesh also nourished them for exodus! The lamb was a universal panacea for an afflicted people. It was the hope of every member of the Israeli community. Everyone understood that. Nobody tried to disqualify his fellow. Nobody counted themselves more deserving of God’s grace. Undeserved favor was divinely instituted for the benefit of many.
Today, in place of the lamb, Jesus has given His life to secure us from eternal damnation. Just as Israel commemorated the Passover, we commemorate Christ’s sacrifice. Passover reminded Israel that God spared them, but He punished Egypt. Similarly, Holy Communion is meant to rekindle the cost of our redemption. What should be our attitude toward that reminder?
At Corinth, some Christians came for Holy Communion with gluttonous irreverence. They gobbled all the bread and stuffed their bellies with communion wine. Other members of their house churches arrived at the venue only to find nothing left for them. Such were the folks to whom Paul directed his rebuke. Being unmindful of their fellows, they ranked themselves above other believers. They failed to discern the Lord’s body, neither in the symbolism of bread and wine—which they treated as common food—nor in the corporate fellowship of fellow believers!
Nothing exhibits worthless conceit than an attitude that demeans other believers. Anyone who reads Paul’s lines to create a guilt trap, or to prevent another believer from commemorating the price of his/her redemption is approaching the Lord’s table unworthily. Such a person desecrates the purpose of Holy Communion.
Finally, Jesus suffered for our sins. We remember His sacrifice with humility and reverence. While we cherish the blessings purchased by His sacrifice, we cannot claim to honor its memory while maintaining a lifestyle of the sins that inflicted God’s wrath upon our Passover Lamb.