Twenty-first Sunday Ordinary Time B

Image: Trinity Church, Boston - Stone Carving.
from Art in the Christian Tradition, 
a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.

August 23, 2015

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Many attempts have been made to explain this mystery.
The early church simply affirmed that the risen Christ was with them at their celebrations of the Lord's Supper, but during the Middle Ages laborious attempts were made to explain how and when Christ was present in the sacrament.
It was in this period that theories such as transubstantiation were forwarded.
Transubstantiation is the belief that somehow the very substance of the bread and wine is transformed into the substance of the flesh and blood of Christ, even though the outward appearance of the bread and wine remain unchanged.
The medieval church began to affirm that when the priest lifts the host and says, "Hoc est corpus meum" (that is, "This is my body"), the bread is miraculously transformed into the physical presence of Christ.

Protestant reformers, while affirming Christ's presence at the church's celebrations of the sacrament, were disturbed by such interpretations.
To them, such interpretations reduced the sacrament to alchemy, a form of sacred magic.
It is telling that the phrase “Hoc est corpus” was later transformed into the familiar magician's incantation "hocus-pocus."

Unfortunately, many people assume that if they do not believe in the doctrine of transubstantiation, they do not believe in the real presence of Christ at the Lord's Table.
But today there seems to be wide consensus in both Protestant and Roman Catholic circles that the manner and means of Christ's presence cannot be captured by this or any other explanation.
Christ's presence is real in this sacrament, but the manner and means of that presence may remain mysteries to us forever.
The ways in which Christ is present at this meal are not mysteries in the same way that a magician's pulling a rabbit out of a hat is mysterious.
If we were to examine a magician's hat and insist that he repeat the act again without his cape, then we might very well understand how the feat was accomplished.
But the mystery that is present at Christ's table is forever beyond the reach of explanation.

It is more like the mystery of love.
Where does it come from? How is it sustained? How does it sustain us?
We will never fully know, but the power is no less real because of our inability to explain it.
It is nothing less than the mystery and the power of Jesus made real and made available to us.

In our cerebral approach to religion, we often assume that the most important religious truths can always be reduced to words.
But just as an art critic once observed about great art, the part of the sacrament that really matters is the part that will forever remain beyond the reach of explanation.
Sacraments are important, in part, because they take us where words cannot go.

There are times when we can be particularly grateful that the presence of Christ is not something that can be grasped only by the intellect, that such a presence can be experienced by other means.
A woman suffering from dementia who cannot hold a point in a sermon long enough for it to make any real difference can still hold the cup of blessing to her lips and receive the presence of Christ.
A child for whom theological explanations are about as incomprehensible as molecular biology can still receive the blessings of this table.

Occasionally, I will hear someone say that children should not receive communion until they fully understand what it means.
When I hear that I always think, "At what age is that?
Who can claim to fully understand all that the sacrament means.
John Calvin, after a long dissertation on the sacrament, summarized his understanding of Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper by saying, "I would rather experience it than understand it."

How is Christ present in this meal?
We cannot fully know.
Such close love is always a mystery.
But his presence is no less real for all of our inability to explain it.
What we can do is seek the mysterious blessings of the table and receive the profound gifts of a profound God.
For all who receive the presence of Christ, John's affirmation is good news, indeed:
You are what you eat.