My daughter tugged on my arm, her green eyes pleading for me to come closer. With her lips to my ear, she pointed at the tiny cups and fragments of bread. “Mommy, is it time for samples yet?” she asked.
Her five-year-old understanding caught me off guard, and I didn’t hide my smile well. “You mean Communion?” I said. “Soon, baby, soon.”
It’s her favorite part of church. The sip of juice, the nibble of cracker. And when we take it together, she tells us what Communion means: Jesus gave his body for our sins and his blood for our life. It’s a simple retelling of an unfathomably deep and rich story. Yet she doesn’t need to know the theological implications to trust that it’s for her.
It’s for you, too. This “sample” of the body and blood of Christ.
Communion as a Foretaste
In one sense, the idea of Communion as a sample is perfectly true. We are just tasting the smallest bite of what is yet to come in our life with Christ. When Jesus ate his last meal with his disciples, he intimated what is yet to come:
“I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God . . . I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:15-17 NIV).
I can’t help but think that maybe Jesus was envisioning the wedding supper of the Lamb, when evil will be decimated and a deafening shout of praise will rise from the multitude around the throne. We’ll gather before the King of Kings as his radiant bride, blushing, rejoicing, and celebrating (Revelation 19:1-10).
That, indeed, is yet to come. But we sample it every time we gather with the body, the bride of Christ, in worship. We taste it every time we remember the victory of the cross in Communion. We experience the shadow of it in our marriages when we practice forgiveness and celebrate intimacy. . .
Read the rest at The Glorious Table.
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