From the River to the Ends of the Earth

This meal is the Christian common meal. Just as you regularly eat dinner together as families, so too, the Lord Jesus invites us to dine with him every Lord’s Day. Just as you have certain manners and customs at your table, so too, the head of this table has given us a pattern to follow here. Here at Holy Trinity, after the bread is broken the assistants and I serve one another and then we pass the loaves to you. We repeat to one another a blessing, “My Life for Yours,” as we serve one another the bread. In this way we not only imitate the likely pattern of the Last Supper when Jesus first instituted this meal, but we also picture the gospel going out into the world, as we serve and bless one another. Likewise, after we give thanks for the wine, the assistants and I serve one another and then we take the cups to you, and once again we repeat the simple gospel blessing to one another, “Christ’s blood for your sins,” and in so doing we imitate Christ and the disciples as well as picture the gospel going out to the ends of the earth like the great river flowing out of Ezekiel’s temple. As Ezekiel followed the river which flowed out from the door of the temple, it was at first ankle deep then up to his knees and then his waist, and then it was too deep to measure. And the man in the vision spoke to Ezekiel saying, “This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes” (Ez. 47:8-10). Thus, as we proclaim the Lord’s death in this meal, we are enacting what we believe the future of the gospel is. Our manners at this table picture blessing flowing out from the thanksgiving, out into the world, bringing healing and restoration to the ends of the earth.