Do you ever feel ignored, invisible, an unnecessary and unhelpful intrusion into some one else's priorities?
I recall, from high school years, a story written by one of the students for the school magazine. It was written in the first person about a young man who dreamed up and made an invisibility machine. Time came for the trials. An old man was coming toward him. He seemed quite unaware that someone was in his way. The young man had to step aside quickly to avoid a collision. "Excellent!" he thought. "He can't see me! My machine works!"
As the old man went on past, the young man heard him muttering, "Now where are those spectacles? Now where are those spectacles?…" The old man had undergone cataract surgery before the advent of lens implants. He was totally dependent on his pair of heavy-lensed spectacles so he could see. Without them, everything was a blur.
The Christians in Corinth prided themselves in their spiritual gifts. The problem was that they were disembodied gifts. The purpose of gifts is for building up the body. They claimed their gifts - and took pride in them - for personal use.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul teaches that we are all members of the body of Christ with different gifts. The body is incomplete without all the gifts. And that's why Paul wrote chapter 13 - that beautiful hymn on love. The gifts are empty without love. Gifts need to be embodied, not disembodied.
In chapter 14 Paul writes, "When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation or a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church" (v. 26). Spiritual gifts need to be embodied.
This same attitude carried over into their celebration of the Lord's Supper. In fact, he says they aren't really eating the Lord's Supper at all - "for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?" (11.20-22).
After giving the account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, he goes on to say, "Therefore, 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. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognising the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself" (vv. 27-29).
It is often assumed that this is simply an allusion to the communion elements - "this is my body… this cup is the new covenant in my blood." Now, that's possible. Yet somehow we have to read it in the light of their attitude and actions towards one another. By their selfishness and rudeness towards fellow-Christians, they were failing to recognise the body of Christ.
We recall the words of Jesus, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift" (vv. 23-24).
When Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment, he replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Mt. 22.37-40).
He didn't give his questioner the option of the greatest commandment without the second one as well. Our love of God isn't to be seen in isolation from love of our neighbour. Our worship of God cannot be separated from our attitude and response to our fellow-worshippers. We are meant to "recognise the body of the Lord."
So great has been the fear of eating and drinking unworthily that, in some traditions, the wine wasn't given to the people, lest they spill it, and the bread was given as a wafer to be placed on their tongue, not into their hands lest they drop it.
But these days we are coming to a stronger and healthier understanding of the people of God as the body of Christ. Are we appreciating and loving our Christian brothers and sisters? Are we ministering to and supporting one another?
Don't get me wrong! They had failed to understand the Lord's Supper - the body and blood given for them, the new covenant established for them. Those reconciled to God are to be reconciled to one another - a New Testament theme repeated again and again.
But we need to see more than the body and blood offered in the sacrament. Open our eyes and look around. See the body of the Lord all around us! Hear the Lord's call to love one another, to wash one another's feet…
In Matthew 25.31-46, Jesus extends the picture even further. Service to one of the least of his brothers is service to him. The group on the left pleaded that they hadn't seen him or they would surely have served. That was their tragedy - they failed to recognise the body.
So, let us examine ourselves before we eat the bread and drink the cup. Be reconciled to God. Be reconciled to one another. Love God. Love one another. Offer ourselves as servants of God. Serve one another wholeheartedly.
Come to the table with confidence in the grace of God. By his grace, eat and drink worthily.
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