"der Leib Christi"

¹⁴When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. ¹⁵He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; ¹⁶for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; ¹⁸for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:14-20)

How can bodily eating and drinking do such a great thing?

Eating and drinking certainly do not do it, but rather the words that are recorded: “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sin.” These words, when accompanied by the physical eating and drinking, are the essential thing in the sacrament, and whoever believes these very words has what they declare and state, namely, “forgiveness of sin.”

Who, then, receives this sacrament worthily?

Fasting and bodily preparation are in fact a fine external discipline, but a person who has faith in these words, “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sin,” is really worthy and well prepared. However, a person who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, because the words “for you” require truly believing hearts.

“Kommen Sie. Erhalten Sie, was Sie sind: der Leib Christi. Werden Sie, was Sie sind: der Leib Christi.”

We were sitting in the chapel at the Augustinian Cloister in Erfurt, Germany when the pastor spoke something like this when inviting us to come forward for Holy Communion . Bill Swanson, one of the two pastors at the ELCA’s Wittenberg Center who were hosting my group of seminarians during our January term trip, smiled and nodded his head. I asked him what she had said, and he repeated it to me, then he translated: “Come. Receive what you are: the body of Christ. Become what you are: the body of Christ.”

There’s a question that always rises when we discuss the Lord’s Supper, whether it’s Sunday School, Confirmation, an Adult Education class, or systematic theology in seminary: when does “it” happen? When do bread and wine “become” body and blood? How does “it” work? It’s an important question. One of the major divisions among the reformers of the church in the 1500s was centered on this very meal. Some believed the meal was a memorial - that Christ is present only symbolically. Others, like Martin Luther, pointed to the words “This is my body” as a sign of the actual presence of Christ in the meal. 

In the Small Catechism, however, we find none of these finely-parsed theological discussions. We find this: what matters are the words, hearing them, believing them. No discussion of transubstantiation or consubstantiation or memorial presence. No metaphysics. No Latin at all. Just this simple instruction: hear the words, and believe what Jesus says, particularly these two: “for you”.

It is in the hearing and the believing that the meal happens. That pastor with her lovely German words was absolutely right: in the receiving, we are transformed, and this is what matters. They are performative words: they create what they say. The Lord’s Supper isn’t a chemistry experiment or a philosophical debate: it is a transformational experience in which bread becomes grace, wine becomes forgiveness, and people become a body united. 

“Kommen Sie. Erhalten Sie, was Sie sind: der Leib Christi. Werden Sie, was Sie sind: der Leib Christi.”

Come. Receive what you are: the body of Christ. Become what you are: the body of Christ. 

Whoever believes these very words has what they declare and state, namely, “forgiveness of sin.” Amen.