Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Give Us This Day

Home
Evangelical
Mark 14:12-26 – Mystic Communion

Mark 14:12-26 – Mystic Communion

Last updated on: February 6, 2017 at 2:33 pm by Fr. Charles Erlandson

Mark 14:12-26 – Mystic Communion 2017-02-06T14:33:28-05:00 Fr. Charles Erlandson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

****What is this thing that Jesus does, this Last Supper, which is the Church’s first Communion?

I love a number of Communion hymns, but one that creates chills and goosebumps in me is “Come, Risen Lord” (this happens to me only when it’s sung to the “Edsall” tune.) The words that get me most are: “we meet as in that upper room they met.” Sometimes when I sing that hymn I am aware of a mysterious connection between myself, the worshiping parish I’m in, the disciples in the upper room at the last supper, and the church universal.

Sometimes in this life I find that there is a mystical connection between one thing and another. I’m not a very good mystic, even though I’ve read some of the mystics, but I’ve had a few quasi-mystical experiences. One of my favorites was in 2006 when I was visiting “Bede’s World” (Bede’s World, Bede’s World!) in Jarrow. There I was able to put on a monk’s garb, as if I were putting on the spirit of Bede. At the time, I was finishing my Ph. D. and working on Give Us This Day from a small Reformed Episcopal Church parish in Hot Springs, Arkansas: St. Chrysostom’s.

After leaving Bede’s World, I visited Bede’s tomb at Durham Cathedral. As I was thanking God for his life and work and asking for guidance in my own, I became aware of a close connection between the Venerable Bede and myself. He seemed to be telling me that it was a good thing for me to be in a small place with a small window on the world because often that provided just the kind of clarity and focus one needed to see the invisible in the visible. He told me that if he could be the most learned man of his day, never having strayed far from Jarrow, that I could likewise serve God from a small parish in a small town. Finally, he communicated to me that I could be of similar service to God if I would continue to humble myself before Him in the small things of life.

Sometimes in this life I find that there is a mystical connection between one thing and another. And so it seems sometimes as if Jesus’ disciples are present with us at the Lord’s Supper and as if I am present with them at the Last Supper. The Holy Communion has a way of translating us into God’s time in which time does strange things in this post-Einsteinian world.

Here, in the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, Eucharist, or Mass, we are united to Christ; here, we are made the Body of Christ again. Here, gathered together around the Table to unite in fellowship, are all the great events in the life of Christ: the Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost of Christ.

“And as they were eating, Jesus took the bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’”

Here is the pattern of all life and creation, made manifest by God in His creation and here in His re-creation: He takes hold, breaks, distributes, evaluates, and then enjoys.

In a moment of time, as Christ breaks the bread, He has broken it, He breaks it, and He will break it: time takes the form of ancient and venerable history; it smacks me in the face as a present force; and it whispers deliciously to me of what will always be.

As I see Jesus take the bread in Mark 14:22, I see Jesus’ birth and Incarnation. God takes hold of His Creation and becomes a part of it so that He might redeem it. As I see the priest take hold of the bread, I see Jesus take hold of the bread. The Incarnation is present here at the Eucharist, and God once again pronounces over His creation, “It is good, it is very good!”

As I hear Jesus bless the bread, I sense His holy and perfect life. The birth of Christ is forever connected to the life of Christ: God blesses what He took hold of for us, whether human life, or the bread of the earth, or the Bread of Life that unites them both. The Son didn’t become man only to die but also to live, and by that holy life which He took and lived we are made holy as well.

As I see the bread be broken and hear the snap of its moment of brokenness, I hear and see the coming Crucifixion. Here, as the bread is broken, the body of the Bread of Life is also broken. Broken 2000 years ago in Mark 14, broken today in Mark 14, and broken forever as the one, sufficient, and perfect sacrifice for the life of the world. Here is Christ’s sacrifice: once broken and always broken; once offered and always offered.

As I feel the bread as my turn to partake arrives, I feel the Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost of Christ. Here is the life of Christ, who though He was dead now lives again. Here is the Resurrection, promising that after the life of Christ has been offered and taken, He will take it up again. Here is the Ascension, promising that the human life which Christ took hold of has now been glorified and has entered heaven so that the divine and human may dwelling together forever. Here is the Pentecost of Christ, the life of Christ given for the Body of Christ: as Christ is broken and ascends into heaven, He is miraculously multiplied as the members of Christ are knit together into the one Body by His Spirit.

In the beginning, God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of one tree. But now He commands us to eat of one tree, Jesus, the Tree of Life. Christ is the food on which and by which His Body lives. In the Lord’s Supper, He has given, He gives, and He will give Himself to us as the heavenly food, so that He might be with us and we in Him forever.

Here, not only past, present, and future meet; not only the Incarnation, life, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost of Christ meet; but also God and man.

If all of this is too abstract, and it probably is, then remember this: that Jesus Christ offers Himself, all of Himself, to you in His Supper. If you’re having trouble seeing, hearing, and feeling Him today, then make it your intention to partake of Him more frequently and more faithfully. This will require planning and preparation, meditation and memory, but it’s the most important thing you can do this week.

Like the disciples, let us go and eat Jesus Christ today and, having eaten, go and sing a hymn of eucharist!

Prayer: All glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou, of thy tender mercy, didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption; who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again.

We most heartily thank thee, for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us who have duly received these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs through hope of thy everlasting kingdom, by the merits of his most precious death and passion. And we humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen. (From the Prayer of Consecration and the post-Communion Prayer from The Book of Common Prayer)

Points for Meditation:

How does Jesus’ Last Supper relate to my life outside of the hour of the Lord’s Supper? How does He come to me through the things of this life? In what ways is the Lord using the things of creation to unite me to Him?
How can I more faithfully seek the Bread of Life today?
Plan to sing at least one hymn of praise to God sometime today.

Resolution: I resolve to prepare adequately for the next time when I will partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Communion.

Last Supper – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Previous Post

February 5, 2017

Mark 14:1-11 - The Great Treasure

Next Post

February 7, 2017 Mark 14:27-42 - prayer and the Garden

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews Featured Give Us This Day Give Us This Day Devotional love me love my wife Love My Wife Reformed Catholicism Blog Spirit-Reality Take This Cup Uncategorized

Select a Month February 2022 November 2021 October 2021 August 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 September 2018 July 2018 March 2018 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What book comes after Proverbs?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Daniel Psalms Isaiah Ecclesiastes