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The Wine Of The Holy Supper
- A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose -
"And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And He said unto them, This is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many." (Mark 14:23-24)
VERY NEAR THE END OF THE LORD'S LIFE here on earth, on the evening before His crucifixion, He gathered with His disciples in an upper room to celebrate that most holy of all Jewish festivals -- the eating of the Passover. It was during this celebration of the Passover -- during the last supper He would eat before His crucifixion -- that the Lord established and commanded the observance of the Holy Supper. As the eating of the Passover was the most holy act of Jewish worship, so partaking of the Holy Supper would become the most holy act of worship in the Christian Church (AC 10519). The Lord gave bread to His disciples and told them to eat. He told them they were to do this in remembrance of Him (Lk. 22:19). Then He gave them wine and told them to drink. He told them that this was the blood of the New Testament, or New Covenant (Mk.14:24, Lk. 22:20).
It was clear -- from the Lord's words and actions -- that the Holy Supper was an act of worship of fundamental importance. Just what it really meant, though, just why it was so important, was not clear. Just what it is that makes the Holy Supper to be holy is something the Lord did not reveal at that time. As we read in True Christian Religion: "all that is known from the natural sense is that the flesh of Christ is given to eat, and His blood to drink, and that the bread and wine stand for these" (TCR 699).
One of the many things that the Lord was to reveal in the Heavenly Doctrines was the true meaning, the spiritual meaning, of the Holy Supper. In making His Second Advent the Lord established a church truly Christian, a church in which people are to approach the Lord Jesus Christ directly, and to worship Him "as the one only God in whom is the Divine Trinity" (TCR 700). And because the New Church is to enter fully into the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, so also it must enter fully into the meaning of the Holy Supper, for it is in the Holy Supper that we can enter fully into the presence of the Lord Himself. Insofar as we approach the Holy Supper worthily, then the Lord Himself is immediately present with us in His sacrament, and introduces our spirits into association with the angels of heaven (TCR 728, AR 316e).
The Holy Supper is in this sense an actual gateway into heaven (TCR 721). And so we need to understand something about the sacrament. We need to understand, at least to some extent, what the Writings teach about it, so that we can understand better how to approach it, and how to enter more fully into its benefits.
This morning we are going to focus primarily upon some of the teachings of the Writings concerning the wine of the Holy Supper. As most of you are probably aware, the general teaching is that the bread stands for the Lord's good, and the wine stands for His truth. Eating and drinking stand for receiving this good and truth from the Lord within ourselves. So it is that when we take the cup and drink the wine, we are not simply drinking wine. We are doing something which represents and corresponds to the reception of Divine truth from the Lord Himself. But there is more to it than this. We are not simply to drink the wine, and to think within ourselves that this wine stands for Divine truth. The wine of the Holy Supper does not simply stand for Divine truth in an abstract distant sense. The wine is a symbol of the presence of the Lord Himself, the Lord who loves us, and who came down to earth so that He might be with us. It is a universal symbol of His presence, and of His conjunction with us. It is a symbol that has the most unbelievable power to bring about the presence of the Lord within our minds.
Let us return to that upper room where the Lord was gathered with His disciples. They were together in that quiet room, just He and them: so close, and seemingly so safe. But Judas Iscariot had already agreed to betray the Lord to the chief priests. Later that very evening the Lord would be arrested. The next day He would be crucified. And so, when the Lord, in that quiet upper room, takes the wine, and gives it to His disciples, and calls it His blood, blood that would be "shed for many" (Mk.14:24), the wine seems to take on an ominous meaning. The wine of the Holy Supper, you see, is not simply wine, but it is wine which is called the Lord's blood. It is not really surprising, then, that very many people have come to the conclusion that the Holy Supper stands for the crucifixion. When the Lord was crucified -- when He was nailed to the cross -- His blood was indeed shed. He was bleeding. And His suffering upon the cross, is in fact the literal meaning of the Holy Supper. In the natural sense, the bread and wine have the same meaning as flesh and blood, and we are told that "they both mean the passion of the cross" (TCR 704).
There is a great power to be found in this literal sense. The Lord laid down His life for us. He laid down His life for our salvation. As He said in John, "I lay down My life for the sheep" (Jn. 10:15, 17). The Writings suggest that when a simple person, someone who has trouble thinking abstractly, is taking the Holy Supper, he should remember the Lord's passion, the Lord's suffering, and His love for man's salvation (TCR 709). For a simple man, the Holy Supper can be a way of reminding him of the Lord, and of how the Lord loves us so much that He was willing to suffer for us even unto death (cf. TCR 710). Through the Holy Supper the Lord and His love can be present, even in the thoughts of someone very simple.
But for those who are not extremely simple, there needs to be a deeper understanding of what is meant by the Lord's blood. It is one thing to think, in simplicity, that we were somehow saved from damnation by the Lord's suffering on the cross. It is another thing to make this idea into a principle of faith (AE 778:7), for then we fall into the mistake of thinking that the literal shedding of blood by the Lord somehow paid the price for our salvation. This was the falsity involved in that cruel idea that God was harsh enough to demand punishment, and that the crucifixion and the Lord's suffering, was a way of paying the penalty for our sins. But God is not harsh. He doesn't demand punishment. And we are not saved simply by the Lord's suffering and shedding blood upon the cross. When the Word tells us that we are saved by the Lord's blood, we need to understand this in a much deeper sense, and in a far more living way.
All too often blood, as a symbol, is associated with violence, and with death. But this is only the case when there is bloodshed. Within the body, and within itself, blood is not a symbol of death, but a symbol of life. Blood is what makes the body to be alive. It carries oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body. It carries toxic substances away. And it is the blood which plays a critical and fundamental role in protecting the body from disease.
It is life that the Lord was talking about when He established His Holy Supper. When He gave His disciples the cup, and told them that it was His blood, He was talking about life, about spiritual life. The angels who are with a person when he is reading the Word, and when he is taking the Holy Supper -- these angels don't really think of blood at all. They think of Divine truth (AC 9410:6). They think of that living truth which flows in from the Lord.
Now there are many different passages which explain the correspondence of the bread and wine in the Holy Supper, and the correspondence of the flesh and blood which they represent. Sometimes the bread, and the flesh, correspond to Divine good, whereas the wine, and the blood, correspond to Divine truth (AC 4735:1). In another sense, both elements correspond to good, the bread to the good of celestial love and the wine to the good of spiritual love (AC 6377:2). The bread corresponds to celestial things, and the wine to spiritual things (AC 2165:4). There are so many different ways in which the elements of the Holy Supper are explained and may be understood, because the Holy Supper is a universal sacrament. It is said that it "contains all things of the church and all things of heaven both in general and in particular" (TCR 711). The Holy Supper has been given by the Lord to meet all the states -- all genuine states -- of the people of His church. In all cases, though, when people approach the Holy Supper they are in a sense all doing the same thing. They are approaching the Lord to receive spiritual life from Him. And so when, in the Holy Supper, we drink the wine, this wine, which in one sense is truth from the Lord, is to be thought of as living truth, truth filled with love, truth that flows into us and brings us into the living presence of the Lord Himself.
Blood was an ancient sign of a covenant or conjunction. In our first lesson we read of how the Israelites entered into a covenant with Jehovah. Moses read the book of the covenant -- He read the Lord's Word -- in the presence of the people. The people then declared that they would do and obey all that the Lord had said" (Exod. 24:7). Then, as a symbol of the covenant, as a symbol of the special relationship between the Israelites and Jehovah, Moses took blood from the sacrifices, and sprinkled the blood on the people, calling it "the blood of the covenant" (Exod. 24:8).It might sound a crude and messy ritual. But within this ritual was a hidden meaning, a hidden truth, and that is, that it is spiritual blood -- the truth of the Lord's Word -- which joins us to Him.
In the New Testament this same truth is repeated. The Lord told His followers that unless they drank His blood they would have no life in them. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you" (Jn. 6:53). Many of the Lord's followers left Him shortly after He taught them this (Jn. 6:66). They couldn't understand, or they wouldn't understand, what the Lord was really talking about. And what the Lord was talking about was the fact that within every person who follows Him, there is a deep hunger and an urgent thirst. We need the Lord. We need Him to fill our empty spirits with His presence, with His Divine good and His Divine truth.
Return in your mind once more to that upper room. Soon the Lord would leave His disciples, or so it would seem. The Lord would be arrested and crucified. His disciples would, for a time, be scattered. But the Lord would never really leave them. In fact, after He rose from the sepulcher and ascended into heaven, He would be with them for ever and ever. Whosoever wished to, could turn to the Lord to receive His love and be guided by His wisdom. The Lord would still be with people here on earth. This is why He talks about His flesh and His blood. When the Lord talks about His flesh and blood, He means His actual living presence. He means that He Himself in His Divine Human would be with His followers (AC 4735:1).
And so, in that upper room, He gives the disciples the bread, and tells them that it is a symbol of His body, of His love. When the Lord would later rise from the sepulcher, His Human could only be described as Divine love itself in Human form (AC 4735:2). But it is not enough for people simply to turn to the Lord and expect to receive His love. If they are to receive the love He offers them, then they must also receive His truth. And so He also gave His disciples the wine. He told them that it was the blood of the new testament, or new covenant, which was shed for many. He told them He would no longer drink the fruit of the vine "until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God" (Mk. 14:25). The Lord was talking about a new influx of truth. After He rose from the sepulcher He would enlighten people in a way that had not been possible before (cf. AE 376:26). People would have a new insight into the truth, a new understanding of the Lord. They would be able to have a new covenant and a new relationship with Him. Not only would they be able to love the Lord, but they would be able to see -- see in their minds -- what is was that He wanted them to do.
When we take the cup and drink the wine in the Holy Supper, what we are doing is, on one level, a purely physical action. It is just ordinary wine. It is just ordinary drinking. But in our minds, we are thinking of the Lord God Jesus Christ. And as we think of Him, He draws especially close to us. As we drink the wine, He gives us at the same time spiritual wine for our spirits. Deep within we can receive a clearer, a brighter, a more living vision of the Lord Himself. His life, the life of His wisdom, touches our spirits, fills our spirits, and as a result, we can come to know and understand Him better. It might not be obvious to us. We might not even notice a difference. But in some way, deep within ourselves, the Lord has drawn us closer to Himself, and given us to understand His truth in a deeper way.
The Holy Supper will not save us by itself. If we do not learn from the Lord's Word, and do what it teaches, then the Holy Supper becomes an empty ceremony. But if we but make the effort to follow the Lord, and if we want to be strengthened in our desire to follow Him, then in the Holy Supper the Lord's love and wisdom can touch and fill our spirits, and He can draw us closer to Himself in heaven. He draws close to us and feeds us with heavenly bread, with His Divine love. And He shines within our minds. He gives us a living vision of Himself. He gives us to see Him within our minds, so that we can love Him, trust Him, and follow Him along the path of life.
Amen.