The cup offered by the Father, the cup he would drink upon the cross is full of fiery indignation and is the exact payment for sin owed to an infinite God.  Jesus drank from that cup for his people.  But the cup offered by Christ in communion is the cup of his blood, shed for the forgiveness of sin.   The supper is theologically rich.

I once read a book about how to read good literature.  The author made a clear assertion.  He said a meal is never just a meal.  Now, I am not a lit scholar.  I don’t want to argue for the veracity or falsity of his claim.  But I would say that the Lord’s Supper is never just a meal.  The Lord’s Supper may be a small piece of bread and a little taste of wine but it is a theological feast meant to feed weary travelers not with a substantial eating but an eating done in faith. But this is not to say that the Lord’s Supper is a cognitive event.  It is.  But it is more than that.

But before saying what that more is let me remind you of the theological purpose of the meal.  In Matthew 26:27 it says about Jesus, “And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  Here the basic theological categories are all present.  We have Jesus, the substitute who will take and drink the cup of God’s wrath on behalf of his people now offering those same people to drink from the cup of blessing.  To put it differently, the cup offered by the Father, the cup he would drink upon the cross is full of fiery indignation and is the exact payment for sin owed to an infinite God.  Jesus drank from that cup for his people.  But the cup offered by Christ in communion is the cup of his blood, shed for the forgiveness of sin.   The supper is theologically rich.

Read More