Sacrament

Lenten Vespers, Week Two

John 6:51-58

I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.

Homily:

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

One of the reasons I’m a Lutheran is that I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. But this Church cannot be identified exclusively with any one given denomination or sect. We are all of us the Church, all Christians together.

This becomes obvious to me when I turn to my favorite authors. C.S. Lewis was an Anglican, George MacDonald was Scottish Congregationalist, and David Bentley Hart is Eastern Orthodox. Meanwhile, J.R.R. Tolkien, G.K. Chesterton, and Peter Kreeft all hail from Roman Catholicism. And when I read their works, it is crystal clear that all these men know the same Jesus—that they share one Lord, one faith, one baptism. They are all true sons of the Church, sainted sinners raised up to new life in Christ.

Luther taught that God has given us signs by which we may recognize the one true Church of every time and place; these we call the Marks of the Church. Last week we spoke of the first mark, the Holy Scriptures of the Bible. Tonight we turn to the next three: Baptism, Confession, and Communion. In other words, the Holy Sacraments.

What is a Sacrament? We certainly talk about them quite often, but what are they, really? In Confirmation we learn that each Sacrament has three parts: they involve a physical element, such as bread or oil or water; they are a true means by which we are given the gift of God’s grace; and we are commanded by Christ Jesus to perpetuate them, to share these gifts with others. Roman Catholics have a pithier description: a Sacrament is a sign that contains what it signifies. So, yes, the bread is a symbol of Christ’s Body—and it is Christ’s Body.

At times Christians quibble over just how many Sacraments there are, but not as much as you might think. The usual trope is that Catholics profess seven, while Lutherans proclaim only two: Baptism and the Eucharist. But that’s not entirely true. The Augsburg Confession clearly states that it is perfectly fine to speak of seven Sacraments, so long as we recognize that the other five are grounded in the first two: in the Altar and the Font.

In Baptism we are ritually drowned, submerged in the waters and raised up to new life. This is symbolic of being buried with Christ in His tomb, joined to His own death already died for us, then being reborn, resurrected, as we rise up again in Christ to Easter glory. But remember, the sign contains what it signifies. In Baptism we really and truly die to our sins, we really and truly join in Christ’s Body, and we really and truly are given His own Holy Spirit to dwell in us forever. It is not simply water that does this, but water with the Word of God added unto it. Christ Himself meets us in the Font.

Confession is a return to our Baptism, a return to Christ’s promise of mercy. We are assured that God, who is unchanging, is always hostile to our sins, for in sinning we separate ourselves from the God who loves us. But every time that we confess our sins and repent, turning to God for forgiveness—every single time—He will forgive. He will not hold back the floodwaters of His grace. Sin always separates us from God; Confession always absolves us. For if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

And then we have Communion: the Holy Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper. Here at this Table, Christ declares the New Covenant between God and all humankind. Here He gives to us His own Body as our sustenance, His own Blood as our life. Here He promises to make us one with one another and with Jesus Himself. Here are all invited to the eternal wedding feast of the Passover Lamb. So very much could be said about the miracle of Holy Communion, but how much more appropriate it is for us simply to bow in humble adoration, and come to the Meal prepared.

Why do we bother with such things, brothers and sisters? Why debase ourselves by seeking God in a simple pan of water? Why trust in spoken words to purge our souls of sin? And how dare we claim that bread and wine truly become Jesus Christ upon this Altar? Shouldn’t the Church focus on matters spiritual rather than upon the material and mundane? But this, dear Christians, is precisely the point. The central pillar of our faith is the revelation that in Jesus Christ, God became Man. He took on flesh and walked among us. He wept and laughed and worked and cried and loved and suffered and died—just like us. Then He rose from the dead, burst forth from His tomb, so that we too might be pulled up from our graves to live forever with Him.

This is the miracle, the scandal, of God’s Incarnation: that when we could not raise ourselves up to Heaven, God plunged down here, down into the mud and the blood, to be with us; to save us from ourselves; to love us all the way to hell and back. And this miracle is not over! Christ is still with us, in Spirit, yes, but in flesh as well. In Baptism we are given His Spirit, and in the Eucharist we are given His Body and Blood. So then, tell me, what does that make us? What does someone become who has the Spirit of Christ, the Body of Christ, the Blood of Christ? It makes us Jesus! We are His Body now, still at work in this world, still called to heal and forgive and love others unto death—even death on a cross.

And so, brothers and sisters, wherever we find the Holy Sacraments—wherever we find the Font and the Altar and the forgiveness of our sins—there is the Church. For ultimately, there is only one Sacrament, one physical embodiment of grace, from which all others flow: and that of course is the Risen Christ, who is with us now even unto the end of the age.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.