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Love
Teaching Text: 1 Corinthians 11:23–33
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night 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.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
A Living Communion
The Calling to Become Communion
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
Sermon Summary
“The pain lasts a few days. The sermon illustrations last a lifetime.”
Three NYC Marathons. Biggest lesson between race one and race three? Nutrition.
Early on: eat when hungry. Later: eat on a schedule. Not because I felt hungry, but because my body was spending, and I had to put back in. Didn’t hit the wall nearly as hard.
We come to the table every week. Not because we’re physically hungry. We come to be formed by this meal.
Nourished by the love of God
Aware of the cost of his extravagant love
Reminded that He’s not just a God in a past story. He promised to return. His resurrection becomes ours.
Aware of each other, because we’re becoming a Eucharistic community
What we have received, we pass on. Love. Grace. Forgiveness. Attentiveness. Mercy.
Corinth: a city church in trouble.
Full of faith. Struggling to live as Jesus people. Unity in diversity? They kept sliding back into the world’s status rankings. At the meal itself.
God is insistent on this. Remember Acts 5. Radical generosity, and a couple lies to get the credit. The consequences are devastating. Why so severe? God is protecting the infant church from power scheming, status anxiety, manipulation. God is insistent to keep the good news, good news.
So Paul writes with a stern correction. And he opens with:
“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you.”
Two things:
The Kingdom moves along relational lines. Passing on what we’ve received. God gets us involved.
This predates our Gospels. Paul wasn’t quoting the four accounts. He was passing on what he’d received: from Jesus, the Spirit, those in the room.
What did Jesus come to do? Announce the Kingdom. Reveal it. Invite us in.
Describing it. The Good Samaritan.
Demonstrating it. Feeding, forgiving, freeing. Washing feet.
Inviting us in. Through His life, death, and resurrection.
Describing: Luke 10.
An expert in the law: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answers with a question. The man gives the right answer: love God, love neighbor. Then wants to justify himself: “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus tells a story. Brutal mugging. Jerusalem to Jericho: 17 miles, a 3,500 ft descent, 300 ft drops with no shoulder. Thieves everywhere. Likely based on a real event.
The man is stripped, beaten, unconscious. Unrecognizable. No clothes, no speech, no identity.
A priest passes by. A Levite passes by. Hearers would know why. Touch a corpse, unclean for a week. Skip the week and enter the temple, capital offense. Priest: wealthy, riding. Levite: poor, walking, and his supervisor just rode past.
And everyone knew the formula. Priest, Levite, and next comes… the layman.
He shocks them. A Samaritan. The despised enemy is the hero.
And the cost:
Alone in dangerous territory
Bandits still around
Exposed to suspicion. Why wouldn’t they think he did it?
HE SAW HIM. HE HAD COMPASSION. HE WENT TO HIM. HE USED HIS OWN OIL AND WINE. HE WALKED THE DANGEROUS ROAD. HE BROUGHT HIM TO SAFETY. HE PAID THE COST.
Jesus makes your neighbor include your enemy. The Kingdom of God has sacrificial love for enemies at its heart. And Jesus has done that for us. When we couldn’t help ourselves, He gave His life.
Demonstrating: the Upper Room.
Same Jesus. Same night He’s betrayed. He washes their feet. Humility in action. The least is the greatest. Go and do the same.
The Good Samaritan Jesus. The foot-washing Jesus. The Cross Jesus.
Now He has a community, led by His Spirit… hoarding food, ignoring the poor, getting drunk, sorting by status.
Paul says: this cannot be.
Does that mean you can’t come unless every sin is confessed? No. Examine your heart before God, yes. But you can’t earn this. It’s a gift of life won by sacrificial love. The problem in Corinth was ego. Pride. Disdain for the other. Or worse, so absorbed in your own comfort you forget everyone else.
What is this meal?
The body and blood of Jesus.
A proclamation of His death. Mercy and victory.
A promise of his return. The resurrection life, fully known.
It calls us to perceive the body. Aware of each other. A new family. A new way of seeing.
When we eat this meal, we become this meal. Christ broken and poured out for us. We, broken and poured out for each other. For our neighbor. Even the neighbor who was our enemy.
Urgent, because the distortion wounds. This is why church hurt, hurts so deeply. But communion is too important to give up on because of bad examples.
Be nourished. Free gift. The mercy and victory of the Cross. Be aware of the body. Saved as a family. Pass on what you’ve received. Freely. Christ is our supply.
Direct Quotes
“We eat this meal and we become this meal.”
— The Preacher
“The eucharist [is] not simply an occasion for Christian devotion and fellowship, but a powerful statement to the world at large, and perhaps particularly to the ‘rulers and authorities’ who put Jesus on the cross, not realizing that this would bring about their own downfall. It is the announcement of Jesus’ death; and through Jesus’ death the powers are defeated, and people who were enslaved to them are rescued.”
— N.T. Wright
“When the meal is celebrated the Lord himself is there, not simply absent, away in the past, or longed for at his coming in the future, but present through this ‘memorial.’ The eucharist is the moment at which the past event comes forward to live again in the present, and the future moment of the Lord’s return comes backwards in time to challenge us in the present.”
— N.T. Wright
Three Questions for Personal Application
What am I coming to the table to receive? Not because you’re hungry, but because you need to be formed. What would it look like to come this week knowing you can’t earn it, and simply be nourished by His love? Where do you need to put back in what life has been spending?
Whom am I ignoring, or ranking below me? Pride and disdain can be loud. Absorption in our own comfort is quieter. Ask Jesus to show you the person, or the kind of person, you’ve passed on the other side of the road. What would it cost to stop?
What have I received that I’m meant to pass on? Love, grace, forgiveness, mercy. All freely given to you. Who in your life needs to receive it from you this week? Trust that Christ is your supply, and you don’t have to hold anything back.
“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:26
