Neither Magic Trick Nor Post-It Note

What do we believe happens at this table? Many of you know that there has been a long and (in some ways) frustrating conversation regarding this question. Some have taken Jesus words: “This is my body, this is my blood” or “Unless you eat of the flesh and drink of the blood of the son of man, you have no life within you…,” and they have sought out chemical equations and philosophical gymnastics to explain and defend some sort of doctrine of transformation in the elements of bread and wine. Sometimes there are even special bells rung in churches so that the congregation knows when that magic trick has taken place. In other traditions, this meal is nothing more than a mental reminder, a big, fancy post-it note. These are rather simplistic caricatures, and there is far more to this conversation. But as Reformed and Biblical Christians we reject both of these errors, and insist on the one hand that salvation and eternal life are found in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus and that Jesus gave us this bread and wine to feast upon that life. But Jesus did not teach any kind of transformation of the elements; he did not say: do this magic trick. He merely said eat this bread and drink this wine, and you will feast upon my body and blood. Therefore we believe his word, and trust that he is able to do all of this and more through his word and the working of his Holy Spirit. And therefore we also reject the post-it note memorialists; for we insist with Paul that this meal is not just a reminder (it is that), but it is also the communion in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus and the communion of the body of Christ, the Church, and that it proclaims to God the Father and the entire watching world the death of Jesus till he comes. John says that eternal life is found in the Son which is the life of the Trinity. This meal then must be at the center of a recovery of biblical evangelism. If the gospel is to be proclaimed to the lost world around us, then we must at least proclaim the gospel in the way that Jesus taught us to. And one of the important ways we do that is by celebrating the life of the Trinity revealed in Jesus Christ. We celebrate and feed upon the Triune Life here with bread and wine and thankful hearts.