Ca – The Problem: The Abuse of the Lord 11: 23-26

The Problem: The Abuse of the Lord
11: 23-26

The problem: the abuse of the Lord DIG: How did the plural “you” in these verses confront the selfish individualism of the Corinthians that Paul was addressing? What are we to look back on? What are we to look forward to? What does it mean to examine ourselves?

REFLECT: What must we do to prepare our hearts for participation in the Lord’s Supper? How can the Lord’s Supper be a means of sharing the Gospel with others? How does observing the Lord’s Supper give a believer confidence in his or her salvation?

The Lord’s Supper is a visible sermon that proclaims the message of the cross.

Some call it Communion, the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist. Call it what you will, it is a reminder of Yeshua’s Last Passover on earth with His apostles (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Kd – The Last Passover in the Upper Room) before His arrest, tails, and execution. He then made clear His intention that the Church should remember His death on the cross with the bread and the wine, thereby remembering His sacrifice for us. From its inception in Acts 2 to the present day, the Body of Messiah around the world have regularly participated in this beautiful memorial. Thus, we can understand how horrifying it must have been for Paul to receive a report that this singularly spiritual memorial had, along with everything else in the church in Corinth, been so corrupted by the believers there.³²⁴

The Lord’s Supper is rooted in history (11:23): For what I received from the Lord is just what I passed on to you (Greek: paradidomi) – that the Lord Yeshua, on the night he was betrayed, He took bread (11:23). The Greek has a wordplay not effectively brought out into English. The word translated betrayed is also a form of paradidomi. Yeshua, on the night he was passed on [to the authorities]. Paul contrasts himself with the Corinthians. What they had received from him was different from what they were then practicing in Corinth. To address the problem, Paul could find no better way than to recall for the Corinthians the actual words of the Lord’s Supper. Paul was not striking out into new ground here; rather, he was simply passing on to them what he had received from the apostles. Because the teaching of the apostles derived from Yeshua Himself, Paul was able to say that ultimately he had received it from the Lord.³²⁵

At Pesach it is traditional for a child to ask his father, “Why is this night different from other nights?” and this would be the signal for that father to recount how ADONAI delivered Isra’el. Paul’s explanation is an effort to remind the Corinthians of the historical roots of the sacred rite they were abusing.³²⁶ Paul now goes to the upper room scene, where Yeshua ate His Last Passover with His apostles on the same night He was passed on [to the authorities].

The Lord’s Supper is about God’s gift (11:24): And after he had made the b’rakhah, which means blessing. One sentence or paragraph of praise to God, usually commencing with the formula Baruch atah, ADONAI (Praise be to you ADONAI, quoting Psalm 119:12), and continuing with a description of the specific reason for praising God at that moment.³²⁷ Yeshua broke it and said: This is my body, which is for you. Do this as a memorial to Me (11:24). The unleavened bread that had represented the Exodus now came to represent the body of Yeshua Messiah. To the Jewish mind, the body represented the whole person, not just the physical body. Yeshua’s body represents the great mystery of His whole incarnate life, His whole teaching, ministry and work – all He was and all He did. But we make a mistake if we interpret His caution to do this as a memorial to Me as a call to remember only His death. We are to remember that His death brings life.³²⁸

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise and thank You for giving Your righteousness to those who love and follow You. He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (Second Corinthians 5:21). Thank You for giving us this special celebration, The Lord’s Supper, to remember and celebrate your surpassing love (Ephesians 3:17-19) in dying and great power in rising (Mt 28).

Praise Your awesome power to completely conquer the ugly enemy of death. Yeshua proved He was God when He brought back to life: Jairus’s 12 yr. old daughter (Luke 8:41-56), the widow of Nain’s son who was being carried out of town in a casket (Luke 7:11-15), and Lazarus who had been dead for three days (John 11). What a comfort it is that we do not have to fear death, but we can look it straight in the eye and declare we are going to live with our Savior forever in His wonderful home in heaven!

Please help us to remember during trying times of problems and trials that this life will be over in a blink and we will spend eternity with You. For I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). We bow before You in love and worship. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

For you, two of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture are given in the middle of a strong rebuke of worldly, selfish and insensitive attitudes and behavior. Yeshua gave His body and His life for us who trust in Him. It was, and is, His gift to us. It’s as if Yeshua is saying, “I became a man for you; I gave the Gospel for you; I suffered for you; and I died for you.” Our gracious loving, generous, merciful God tabernacled among us (John 1:14), not for Himself, but for you. To receive the benefits of Messiah’s gift is an individual choice; but Yeshua made the sacrifice and offers it to everyone (John 3:16). He paid the ransom to set us free.³²⁹

The Lord’s Supper celebrates a New Covenant (11:25): Likewise, also the cup after the meal. This is the cup of blessing, otherwise known as the Cup of Redemption (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Kk – The Third Cup of Redemption). Saying: This cup is the New Covenant (see the commentary on Jeremiah Eo – I Will Make a New Covenant with the People of Isra’el) affected by My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, as a memorial to Me (11:25). The wine was a poignant reminder of Messiah’s blood, without the shedding of which there could be no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22), and through which cleansing a New (relationship) Covenant was made (Hebrews 9:14-15).

Today’s Messianic community tends to widely regard the Lord’s Supper as an annual observance to take place in conjunction with the Passover seder. With the Lord’s Supper, or “communion” in the Christian vernacular, to be more or less a once-in-a-year event, this should highlight its importance for men and women of faith. As in Isra’el’s participation of Pesach, assembled believers are brought to the cross, to allow it once again to reshape our mind-set and our lifestyle. The Lord’s Supper definitely has a Passover theme to it, something which is unfortunately not often seen in many Christian churches, and is decisively lost in communion rituals which involve leavened bread.³³⁰

The Lord’s Supper institutes a new proclamation (11:26): The Lord’s Supper is a visible sermon that proclaims the message of the cross. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes (11:26). Most of us try to forget how those we love died, but Yeshua wants us to remember how He died. Why? Because everything we have as believers centers around His death.³³¹

Using the Pesach Haggadah, Jews all over the world recount the story of the plagues and the Exodus and thus recall the central event on which their peoplehood is founded (5:6-8). Likewise, members of the Messianic Community, Jews and Gentiles alike, are to proclaim the death of the Lord as our exodus from sin and the basis for our existence. Both proclamations look back toward a past redemption from Egypt, and also look forward to a future redemption. Hence, the proclamation until Messiah comes again (see the commentary on Isaiah Kg – The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to Bozrah).³³² This was a needed reminder to all believers, but especially those in Corinth, because when they abused the Body of believers (see Bz – The Problem: The Abuse of the Poor), they were, in reality, abusing the Lord. Paul will soon have an answer to this problem (see Cb – The Answer: Honor the Body).