Today’s Scripture Reading (October 10,
2014): Matthew 26
I am a
Baptist. All that probably means is that I belong to one of the most rebellious
Christian denominations ever invented by Followers of Christ. To be brutally
honest, we will not let anyone tell us what to do – even other Baptists (unless
it has something to do with what we do in the bedroom when we are not sleeping,
then we have many forced opinions on each other with regard to what we believe –
ah, but that is a story for another time.) What amazes me sometimes is that
there are so many different flavours of Baptists. This rebellious group of
Christians who will allow no one to tell them what to do, seem to be
continually dividing over the question of what others are doing – and I admit
that I haven’t quite gotten that part of being a Baptist figured out.
I am a
Baptist. My particular flavour of Baptist belief has separated from other
Baptists over the role of women in the church (there are probably other
reasons, but this is the one that seems to stand out the most.) Unlike some of
our closest Baptist relatives, we are egalitarian – which simply means that we
believe that anything a man can do, a woman can do (and all my woman readers
are welcome to add the word “better” to the end of that statement.) It is part
of the identity of who we are.
But there is
another part of our identity and it is a specific rebellion against the Roman
Catholic Church. When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we stress that the bread
is a symbol of Christ’s body – that the wine (or in our case, the grape juice)
is a symbol of Christ’s blood. It is a rebellion against the view of the
Catholic Church called transubstantiation – a teaching that says that the bread
and the wine used in the Lord’s Supper actually changes and becomes Christ’s
body and blood during the celebration, even though according to our senses the
bread and the wine appear to remain unchanged. For the Baptist, this does not
happen. The bread and the wine symbolize Christ’s body and blood. And sometimes
in our celebration of the ritual we will downgrade this even further by
stressing that the bread and the wine are “merely” a symbol. We don’t want
anyone to get any ideas about what is happening.
Except that
I was reminded recently that that was not what the Bible says. The words of
Jesus recorded by his disciples say absolutely nothing about the bread and the
wine being “merely a symbol” of Christ’s body and blood – they record that
according to Jesus, he said “this is my body” and “this is my blood.” And this
is a significant oversight for a religious group that has many within its fold
that hold to a literal understanding of the Bible. The literal interpretation
would seem to support transubstantiation. Which leads me to the conclusion that
I am a Baptist also means that sometimes I am wrong.
Actually,
the Roman Catholic and the Baptists are probably both wrong when we come to
what Jesus meant when he described the bread at the Last Supper as his Body.
Jesus was probably looking back to something he had said much earlier in his
ministry - 54 Whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is real
food and my blood is real drink (John 6:54-55). His
meaning was never intended to be literal (transubstantiation) but neither was
it meant to be “merely a symbol.” The meaning of Jesus words were that those
who would be willing to be fully committed to him (the political meaning of “eat
my flesh and drink my blood” in Jesus day) would be raised up.
And every time we share in the Lord’s Supper ritual, we are not doing
merely anything. We are committing ourselves anew to the person of Jesus
Christ. We are indicating that we are fully committed to the cause and person
of Jesus. And that nothing will stop us from carrying out his will here on earth.
And that purpose does not change depending on whether we call ourselves
Catholics or Baptists.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Mark 14
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