What is Communion All About?
For me, the single most important claim that is made about Jesus in the NT is found in John
1. In vv. 14, 16–17 we read:
And the Word became flesh and lived among
us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of
grace and truth…From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The
law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John,
and the earliest Christians, believed that Jesus is the one and only Son of God
who became flesh and lived among humanity full of grace and truth. That’s
amazing and exciting but it is not yet the most astounding and life
transforming claim made in the NT about Jesus.
Are
you ready to hear it? It is found in John 1:18, which reads:
“No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the
Father’s heart, who has made him known”
The
one and only Son of God became flesh and lived among us full of grace and truth
in order to make the unseen God known to us! Let that sink in for a minute or two. It means
that we can know God as well as possible, by knowing Jesus! People ask, “Is
there a God?” “If God exists, can I know who this God is?” “If so, can I know
what this God is like – what he thinks, what he wants, and what he thinks of/feels about me?”
John would
answer, “Yes, absolutely. Just read my account, where I tell you about the God
who became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth." Jesus made the
same claim for himself in John 14:6–8:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father
also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Yet,
amazingly, Philip immediately responded to Jesus by saying, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” What?! Are you kidding me? What I’d want to say to Philip and the other apostles
is this: “Come on, guys, get your act together. Open your eyes. The Father is
in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. Right there, in front of you, for the last
3 years, is God in human flesh. You are seeing the unseen God!”
Here’s
how Jesus responded: “Have I been with you all this
time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the
Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9).
But
maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to criticize the apostles here. Perhaps I don’t really get it either–when I still want God to show himself to me,
when I'm still confused about what God is like, desires, and thinks of/feels about me; and when I wonder whether God really loves and accepts me "just as I am".
That’s
why I need the communion–to remember Jesus, who he is and thus to be
reminded of who God truly is! And when I look at God as revealed in Jesus’
life – his deeds and his words – and his death, what is God like? John, who
knew God intimately through the life of Jesus, summed up God’s essential nature
in 1 John 4:7–9, 16, which reads:
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who
loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God,
for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way:
God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him…So we
have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love,
and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them
God
IS Love. There is no hate in God. He loves all people, all the time. Everything
God does is motivated by love, and thus demonstrates his perfect love. And
there is no greater demonstration of God’s love than what we are remembering
by sharing the bread and the fruit of the vine. Truly, God IS
love and that’s I need to remind myself of every time I share in the
communion.
Why
is it so important that I keep God's essential nature clearly in my mind? Because God wants me live out my faith NOT motivated by
fear, but motivated by love! Listen to these words of John from 1 John 4:17–18:
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on
the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no
fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with
punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
God’s
love is perfect. And perfect love–the love God has for me–as clearly and
consistently shown in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, has NOTHING to do
with judgment or punishment and thus God’s love casts out fear.
When
you look at Jesus today, what God do you see? Do you see ‘a’ god who is
constantly evaluating you to determine if you measure up, if you’ve been spiritual enough, if you’ve
done enough good, if you’ve repented completely enough and, if God has determined that you've fallen short, will not welcome
you into his eternal presence? Or do you see ‘the’ God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who loves with a perfect love? He wants you
and I to live unafraid of judgment and punishment and to cast off our fear-based
faith and embrace a love-fueled life of faith.
That,
to me, is what I want communion to be about as I move forward in my
Christian journey. I want to cast off the fear, as I am reminded, through
Jesus, that God is love, perfect love, and that fear has no place in my heart,
because God loves me perfectly. For “In this is love,
not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning
sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
If
you will, please pray along with me:
“Thank
you, God, for loving us perfectly, so perfectly that you gave your son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins. Thank you, Jesus, for loving us perfectly so
that you did not regard equality with God something to be held on to, but you
emptied yourself, and you took on the very nature of a servant and were made in
human likeness and you humbled yourself to the point of death on a cross.
Therefore, Jesus, as we take this bread and fruit of the vine, we join with the
heavenly host and give you praise because…You are worthy…because you were
slain, and with your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe and
language and people and nation and you have made us to be a kingdom and priests
to serve our God. So to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise
and honor and glory and power for ever and ever. May we honor you, God, this
week by living out our faith, motivated not by fear of judgment but motivated
by your perfect love for us. May all the redeemed of God say, ‘Amen!’”
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