The Attitude of Christians Towards the Lord's Supper

The Attitude of Christians Towards the Lord’s Supper

CHAPTER ONE

Objectives Of Study

The study sought to achieve the following objectives:

To establish the message Luke intends to communicate to his readers to understand its uniqueness in order to enhance teaching and learning of the
To explore the major theological themes from the analysis for further understanding of the Supper among Christians.
To underscore the relevance of the interpretation of Luke‘s account of the Lord‘s Supper for the celebration of the Supper among Christians in Nigeria.

CHAPTER TWO

THEOLOGICAL SYNTHESIS OF MAJOR THEMES ON THE LORD’S SUPPER

Introduction

The Lord‘s Supper has become a major subject for theological discussion among Christian scholars. This is due to the relevance of the Supper in the understanding of some important themes in Christianity. In the New Testament, the Eucharist takes on a theological significance and an eschatological image.¹²⁹ The understanding of the Supper as a heavenly banquet of the last days in which the redeemed will take part with Christ sets the background for such theological reflections on the Supper. In the analysis of the institution narrative of the Lucan gospel account, certain major themes that are of theological significance deserve to be given some deeper reflection. This chapter discusses and synthesizes these themes from the analysis to give an informed understanding of this subject from the Lucan perspective of the Lord‘s Supper.

Regeneration

The subject of regeneration is very paramount in Christian theology. The phrase ὑπεξ ὑκώλ δηδόκελνλ in v. 19 and ηὸ ὑπεξ ὑκώλ ἐθρπλλόκελνλ in the Lucan institution narrative shows that the Supper was instituted for the disciples of Jesus and for that matter only Christians can experience the Lord‘s Supper as communion. Jesus categorically gave the elements at the Supper and the command to keep doing it to the disciples who at the time of the institution constituted the nucleus of the new community who he was entering into covenant with.¹³⁰ The use of the plural personal pronoun ὑκώλ by Luke suggests that the command to the apostles was not exclusively to them but was extended to all others who through the sacrifice of Jesus will become part of the disciples. In Acts, Luke expresses this idea in Peter‘s response to the crowd on the day of Pentecost during his address on how the crowd must react to his message (Acts 2:38).

According to Bock, Acts 2:36 provides a theological conclusion of the address by Peter whiles v. 38 gives its application.¹³¹ The verse outlines the basic things that are necessary for regeneration – repentance, baptism and the Holy Spirit. Thus within Peter‘s response, he presents forgiveness and the Spirit¹³² as the principal gifts of God which is made available through the death of Jesus on the cross; and they serve as the entryway into a life with God.¹³³ This affirms Jesus‘ teaching in John 3:5 in his discourse with Nichodemus about how one can enter the kingdom of God. Jesus‘ answer to his question was in reference to regeneration as a pre-requisite for union with Christ. Raymond E. Brown commented on the answer of Jesus to Nicodemus that one takes on flesh and enters the kingdom of the world because his father gave birth to him; so a man can enter the kingdom of God only when he is born by the heavenly Father.¹³⁴ That is, just as life comes to a man only from his father, so does eternal life come from the heavenly Father through the Son whom he has empowered to give life. He explains further that even in natural sense, life is attributed to God‘s giving of Spirit to men; so everlasting life begins when God gives his Holy Spirit to men.¹³⁵ Being born of the Spirit as mentioned in John 3:5; seems to be making reference to the torrent of the Spirit through Jesus when he has been crucified and comes back to life.

CHAPTER THREE

THE LORD’S SUPPER AND ITS RELEVANCE FOR CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN CHRISTIANITY

Introduction

The discussion in this chapter focuses on how the tradition of the Lord‘s Supper can be contextualized within the perspective of the Nigerian church using the Methodist Church Nigeria as an Example for this study. As a central practice in Christian worship, some of the themes discussed in the synthesis of this work may be evident in the church, but this chapter discusses how the Supper is celebrated by Christians in recent times. It also looks at how the interpretation of the Lord‘s Supper could help in addressing some of the issues confronting the churches today due to their understanding of the Supper. This has been done through a discussion of the relevance of some of the major themes from the Nigerian perspective.

The Celebration of the Lord’s Supper by Nigerian Christians

In Nigeria, the Lord‘s Supper as a distinctive structure of the Christian worship is celebrated daily, or weekly or monthly by various Christian congregations. This is based on the various doctrinal positions of the churches. In the Methodist Church for instance, participation in the Supper is a constitutional right for the members which the minister must ensure he fulfils it.²⁴⁷ In spite of the diversity in the practice by the various church traditions, there is remarkable consistency in the form the sacrament takes. All church traditions affirm allegiance to observing how the authors of the New Testament interpreted the words, actions and intentions of Jesus at the Last Supper. It therefore serves as the background against which the Supper is observed. In view of this, it is seen to be the most distinctive form of Christian worship bearing the authority of direct connection with Christ himself.²⁴⁸

The celebration of this sacrament has been a central and identifying characteristic of the Christian worship.²⁴⁹ In Nigeria, most Eucharistic liturgies have the first section which deals with the ministry of the word and preparatory service for the Supper. This is in view of the relationship that exists between the sacrament and proclamation. This also accounts for the reason why S. W. Sykes argued that sacraments without narratives are exceedingly precarious because they could be easily distorted and misinterpreted.²⁵⁰ Though some churches do not have written down liturgy for the celebration, the aspect of service of the word is never left out because it forms the first part of the Eucharistic service. David S. Kirkwood expressed the notion that contemporary celebration of the Supper should be eaten as a full meal because the rite has its roots in the Passover meal which was part of a full meal and the early church did observe it as such.

CHAPTER FOUR

SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

Summary

In summary, this research establishes that the evidence from the Greek New Testament, the characters, setting and change of subject matter for discussion in the text justifies why the passage forms a unit that could be studied together. In it the Lucan Jesus was not passive in the events that was climaxed in his crucifixion but rather was very active. From 7, he was always taking initiatives in the activities to be carried out and initiated most of the discourses as Fitzmyer indicates. Even at the meal, though he knew what awaited him, he functioned as the head with much desire and invited the disciples to the Supper in which he enacted the new covenant.

The imperfect tense ἐδεη in verse 7 affirms the statutory nature of the day for the sacrifice and so the lamb had to be prepared, hence Peter and John were sent to carry out this responsibility. They were given an absolute command from the participial usage in v.8 which also supports the importance that was attached to the eating of the Passover. They were given an explicit command from the use of the aorist imperative of ἀθνινπζέω (v.10) when the man to help them identify the house was found. Verse 14 is affirmed to serve as good introduction to the eating of the Passover because of the differences in the time for preparation and actual eating of the meal. Creed and Fitzmyer in their interpretation of Jesus‘ desire for the supper expressed that the dative cognate now ἐπηζπκίᾳ strengthens the verb ἐπεζύκεζα which is used to express strong desires as Jesus had for the supper, together with the adjective ηνύην making it to be of special significance to Jesus.

The chapter also reveals that though Luke presents two cups in the words of institution, it was only one cup that was shared in the enactment of the new covenant. The word δηακέξηδω in v.19 portrays the contradiction between the sharing of that same cup instead of the individual cups in the Passover. The cup shared is seen to be the third cup in the Passover observance, but the phrase ἐλ ηῲ αἵκαηη gives the inclination that the Lucan Jesus was making reference to the content of the cup which is interpreted to be his blood (v.20).

Recommendation

From the foregoing discussion, I would like to make these few recommendations for future study or research on the subject of the Lord‘s Supper in Luke. It has been made clear in the third chapter that the Lord‘s Supper was instituted for disciples and so it is required that those who partake in the supper must submit to the teaching of Jesus and actualize the gospel narrative in their bid to remember him. There are polygamous families in the church who are not allowed to partake of the supper though they see themselves as disciples of Christ. If the Eucharist is bread for the broken, then why are the broken denied accesses to it? A study to investigate why this is occurring among Christians would be very relevant.

From the background of Luke‘s gospel, it can be seen that the author presents an orderly account dwelling on the available materials. He therefore wrote a narrative that has great precision regarding its literary form. With his gentile readers in mind, he composed his gospel to address the purpose of God in saving the whole of humanity which includes a mission to the gentiles; a new covenant relationship which he enacted through his blood. It would therefore be interesting to have a comparative study of the institution accounts of Luke and John because of the philosophical nature of John‘s gospel and also as one that stands unique from the synoptic traditions. This study could help readers to see how the understanding of these accounts informs the celebration of the supper in the church today.

CHAPTER FIVE

Conclusion

It can be seen from this study that throughout Luke‘s work there is a sense of a divine plan being put into effect, prophesied in the scriptures and involving Jesus‘ obedience to a destiny that he must fulfil.³⁰⁸ In view of this his account of the Lord‘s Supper differs from that of Matthew and Mark in three main respects. First, Matthew and Mark present that it was the disciples of Jesus who asked Jesus about the place where he would like to eat the Passover in order for preparations to be made. This differs from that of Luke where Jesus took the initiative in sending Peter and John to prepare the Passover. This shows that he was working out the plans towards the fulfilment of the divine plan of God. In view of this he ensured that he enacted the new covenant through the institution of the Lord‘s Supper, which the other synoptist indicated it was just a covenant but in reality, it was a new covenant. The adjective θαίλε Luke used to qualify the covenant points to this distinction.

Second, there is the double saying before the sharing of the two breads and the cup in which Jesus states that he will not drink again until the Passover finds fulfilment in the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God comes. These sayings presuppose that the kingdom of God is not yet present and it is debated whether Jesus is referring to a new state of affairs brought about after his death or to some fulfilment in the kingdom. However, from the understanding of the Supper as something to start a new relationship between God and humanity under the new covenant, it presupposes that Jesus was referring to the new state of life which was required of the people he had come to save as people of the inaugurated kingdom, which was also to find its climax in the final fulfilment in the kingdom at the eschatological banquette.

Third, there is rather lengthy set of statements after the meal by Jesus (Lk. 22:1-38) that is concerned largely with the status of the disciples: they are not to seek greatness but to be content with humble service and yet they are promised that in the coming kingdom of Jesus they will sit at his table and judge the tribes of Israel.³⁰⁹ Luke adds these sayings perhaps to teach his readers of the need to serve as disciples in their participation of the Supper. It was to instruct them to understand how unique they were to live as compared to the known gentile form, so that by this way of life they can get access to the kingdom to judge the tribes of Israel though they were not Jews.

From this study, it can be concluded that Luke presents that Jesus wanted his disciples to live a transformed life through the observance of the Lord‘s Supper. As gentile readers, he wanted them to understand the need to conform to the lifestyle of the family into which they have been incorporated. From the study it can be inferred that key issues that stems from the analysis and synthesis calls believers to a new way of life which is made possible through the sacrifice of Jesus and one consistent with the gospel message as narrated by Christ. Therefore as Christians celebrate the Supper, the various activities they engage in and the lessons that are taught through the Supper aims at ensuring that Christians will live a transformed life. By the Eucharist, they were to be like Christ through the actualization of the gospel.

It is observed from the study also that some Churches in Nigeria uses the Lucan institution narrative in the celebration of the Lord‘s Supper but the distribution of the elements especially the cup differs from the account since instead of sharing the same cup, they use individual cups in distributing the wine.³¹⁰ The research established that this deviation from the Lucan presentation is as a result of contemporary health problems. However, this does not change the significance of the Supper ones all lessons associated with it are taught and lived out among Christians.

The research has again established that it is to be appreciated that the Eucharist transcends the classroom for studies and in the church as a mere ritual but that the Eucharist must always touch the very life of Christians and must be made a living reality. In contemporary times, the supper is to be understood in the context of what is required of the partaker in terms of practical life as taught by Jesus. This implies that contemporary celebration must communicate practical Christian activities which must be carried out in fulfillment of the gospel message. It is hoped that even in the midst of great denial, and disloyalty among believers, in the future through the understanding of the Lord‘s Supper, there will be no more alienation within the community of faith.

REFERENCES

Aland, Kurt, etal (eds), The Greek New Testament, Third Corrected Edition, (Stuttgart: Biblia- Druck GmbH, 1983.)
The Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version with Deuterocanonical Books (New York: Bible Society Resources Limited, 2008).
Abe, Gabriel O., Perspectives in Religious Studies Vol. 1 (N/A: Amazon Print and Publications, 2008).
Achtemeier, P., Joel B. Green and Thompson, Marriane M., (eds), Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001).
Asante, Emmanuel, The Call to Serve: A Theological Reflection on Ministry (Accra: Methodist Book Depot Limited, 2002).
Awedoba, A. K., ‗Mode of Succession in the Upper East Region of Nigeria‘, in Irene K. Odotei and Albert K. Awedoba (eds), Chieftaincy in Nigeria: Culture, Governance and Development (Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2006).
Baker, Nelson B., ‗Lord‘s Supper‘ in Charles F. Pfeiffer, Howard F. Vos, John Rea (eds), Wycliffe Bible Dictionary (London: Continuum International Publishing Group 2000).

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