At Christ Covenant Church we celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. After I read the warning, I present a brief homily (which I have prepared in the week before) to teach on an aspect of the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, to help my congregation to understand better the act of worship that they are preparing to participate in. Below is a brief homily on Luke 15:32, followed by the formulary we use for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper itself.
I have a small book by Peter Leithart entitled “Blessed are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord’s Supper.” It is incredibly helpful in finding all the imagery of feasting and God’s grace in feasting throughout the Bible. And there is much more than even in here. You can find it here. I encourage not only my congregation, but also all of my readers to consider the multi-faceted depth and beauty of the grace that we taste at this Table. One major factor in the reformation of the Canadian Church is to restore the centrality of the Table of Christ in the life of the congregation.
Teaching:
Congregation of Christ, in Luke 15, we find the story how the father received back his prodigal son who had wasted his inheritance and lived his life up until this point in debauchery. At the very end of this passage, the father says to his sullen older son: “It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” (Lk. 15:32)
Luke is the gospel of the seeking God. In Luke 19:10 we read: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” This is the fulfillment of the promise of God in Ezekiel 34:11: “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.” Lost and rebellious sheep matter to God. We find that again in Luke 5:31–32: “And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’”
Especially in the gospel of Luke, you see that this is not a table of the elite, those who believe that they are self-sufficient and that they don’t need to rely on God for grace and mercy in time of need. This is not a table for those who trample on the weaker brother like we see in Corinth. It was not a table for proud Israelites who didn’t want to sit at the same table as former sinners and Gentile converts. It is a table for the humble and the contrite, for all those who know their sin and misery, and who find in Jesus their complete salvation and life and joy.
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus rebukes joyless Pharisees and stuffed shirts who will not rejoice with him over the conversion and repentance of the lost and the sinner.
The prodigal son was only a picture of all of Israel which had turned away after other gods. He is a picture of the spiritual state of the older brother. It is only a prodigal God who goes after His rebellious sons. The old brother too was called into His Father’s joy, but he chose to be sullen.
This feast then is inherently and forever a feast of prodigals who know their sin and misery and the goodness of God as shown in His only beloved son Jesus Christ. Do not be the son on the outside sadly looking in. Do not be the sinner who chooses the life of rebellion rather than a humble return to his father. Rather, come to this table with a heart overflowing with joy, because you know this: the Father delights in sons who return to Him with a humble and contrite heart. He sent His only beloved son into the world for this purpose: to deliver prodigal sons.
He sent His only beloved son into the world for this purpose: to deliver prodigal sons.
Let us then stand and confess our delight in the work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit by singing the words of the… (Nicene Creed)
Table Service:
Zephaniah 3:16–17 “On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: ‘Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.’”
Bread
[Breaking] For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Prayer: Our Father, who gives bread for our life, we bless You that You cause us to live, not by bread alone, but by the living Word and living Bread who has come down from heaven. Amen.
[Distribution] Take, eat, remember and believe that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ is given for you, for the remission of your sins and strength unto eternal life.
Wine
[Pouring] In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Prayer: Our Father, who gives wine to make glad the heart of man, we bless You for the gladness You have given our hearts through Your Son, whose blood was poured out for us, that we may drink of Him and share in the abundant life of His Spirit. Amen.
[Distribution] Take, drink, remember and believe that the precious blood of Christ was poured out for the remission of all your sins, so that drinking of Him, you may proclaim with faith and joy the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ over all powers of sin, death and Hell. [drink]
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash