"Eat as Much as You Want"
Communion - an eternal meal
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Text: I Corinthians 11:23-28
The first time I visited North America was as a fairly young lad in the late 1960s. We visited the United States from Britain and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. In front of many of the restaurants near where we were staying were neon signs with four magic words on them: “All you can eat.” To a boy about to enter his teens, do you know what that looks like? Nirvana. I went into these restaurants and the menus actually said, “Bottomless cups of coffee.” This caused me a little incredulity if I took the phrase literally, but I learned that “bottomless cup” meant it kept on giving. The pièce de résistance was constant refills of soda. I thought, “Oh, Lord, have you put me in the right place.” It was so unlike 1960s Britain, which was still recovering from the rations so you were lucky to have peas and chips. Normally you had one pea on your plate. All you can eat - I'd died and gone to heaven.
I've gotten a little older and wiser since then and I realize that such words are not quite the nirvana that one might think. In fact, I probably agree more with the character of Fantine in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. Fantine was a woman who lived a life of destitution. She had an illegitimate child and ended up living on the streets. Her child was taken away from her and she became dependent upon the gifts of others. It is a tragic tale. In one of her great lines she says, “Indigestion is a charge by God to enforce morality on the stomach.” Over the years I've come to realize that Fantine is probably correct. In fact, gluttony and overeating, some of the great challenges of our time, are killing people. This is made all the more abhorrent in the face of world poverty.
A recent United Nations report suggested very conservatively that one-tenth of the world lives under the constant threat of starvation. So eating in excess - “all you can eat” - is not the greatest virtue in the world. You're probably asking why I titled this sermon, Eat As Much As You Want. “Aren't you leading us all astray, Reverend Stirling? Aren't you making a ridiculous claim?” Of course the answer is, no. Everything depends on what you are eating and the purpose of the meal.
Today's text is from the Book of Corinthians and in it Paul addresses a problem faced by the early church. Corinth was very much like a modern-day New York, Los Angeles, London or Toronto. It was a highly pluralistic metropolis. People came to Corinth from all over the world through the great trade routes. In Paul's time, it's believed some 25 different gods were worshipped in Corinth. Many of them had idols put up in their honour and people brought food to sacrifice to them. A whole industry developed around this, with people selling food for gifts to the idols. Those who bought it made a small contribution to the idol and took the rest home to eat. This food was often expensive and only the rich could afford it. Many of them gorged themselves, became obese and had obscene parties of gluttony and excess. These gifts to idols became a source of social degradation and separation between the rich and the poor.
Paul and the Christian gospel entered into that context with the central meal, the Lord's Supper, as a symbol of Christian faith. People were confused; they didn't know how to treat this new meal. Were they to treat it in the same way as the pagans did with their idols, or should they respond differently? Paul saw the particularly rich Christians were eating in excess, hoarding the food for themselves and engaging in all manner of debauchery and excess. He had to remind them what the Lord's meal really meant.
Most scholars agree that this passage in Corinthians is the first written statement about what Jesus said at the Passover meal, and that this was the first Lord's Supper celebrated. But the gospels came a little later and gave an account of Jesus' actual words. So Paul's words constituted the foundation for the church as to how they should take communion. Paul reminded the Corinthians that the eating of this food was a remembrance of Christ. It was not meant for excess, to exclude the poor or to be a sign of debauchery. Rather, it was a meal in honour of Christ that should be taken in a serious, thoughtful way.
When I say to you this morning, “Eat all you want,” I am talking about that meal. It just so happens that Worldwide Communion Sunday and Thanksgiving come together in our calendar this year. What could be more fitting than to have a meal that is spiritual, that reminds us of what God has done? How, then, should we eat this meal?
First of all, it appears to me that when Paul was writing to the Corinthians he was saying that you need to eat this food wisely. We're told that when we buy food, we should look at the ingredients lists very carefully. Most of the ingredients have nothing to do with things that sprout out of the ground. Most of them end in “enzoate” or something like that. When I go through the list of ingredients it boggles my mind. I'm not sure I'm eating what I think I am, but a careful study of ingredients is important for your health and welfare. You have to look wisely, because not everything is as it might appear on the surface.
It's like the story of a wealthy man from Texas. On special occasions like Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years or a birthday he would buy his father an extravagant gift. He'd buy him skydiving lessons for his birthday, a collection of original recordings by Elvis Presley for Christmas or a first edition book signed by the author in 1650. He was running out of ideas, and he decided to buy his father a magnificent animal for Thanksgiving. He bought this bird with the most incredible plumage that could speak six languages. It was an exotic bird from an island in the South Pacific and it cost him $5,000. He was so excited to give it to his father because he thought no one else would have a bird like it. A few days later he asked his father, “Well, did you enjoy the bird?”
His father said, “Yes - it was the best tasting one I've ever had!”
You need to know what you are eating. So it is with the Lord's Supper. You don't just eat this as a ritual, or out of habit. Paul is clear: You do it to remember the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. When you take of this meal, you're participating and stating your commitment to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Eat it wisely.
You also, in many ways, need to eat it - and read it - responsibly. When you read this passage carefully, you see that Paul is saying something about responsible eating. Paul says, you need to examine yourself as you come to the Lord's Table. You need to examine your heart and your soul. You need to ask yourself if you are worthy of taking the body and blood of Jesus Christ. You need to look at your life and analyze it. I suggest to you today, when you take the bread think for a moment about your worthiness to take it; examine your life.
You see, the Corinthians were treating the Lord's Supper like any old meal. They were full of debauchery, excess, gluttony and immorality. Paul said, “No. when you take the Lord's Supper examine your heart, examine your commitment, make sure that it's not a facile thing that is just readily adopted. There is a need for you to examine your commitment; you need to eat it responsibly. Why? Because, by taking this meal and coming to this table you are proclaiming something; you are saying something about your faith and your life.
I want you to do another thing when you come to the table. When the wine is brought to you, I want you to think of the needs of the world around you. I want you to think of those people who do not have what you have, and what we have collectively. I want our hearts to go out for the people of Burma, to the people of the world who are starving. I want our hearts and minds to go out to the people in our community who need our love and care, who are hungry and thirsty. This is a time to eat responsibly and cast our minds to the needs of the world around us. But most of all, I want you to eat thankfully. I'm not putting a wet blanket on this meal or on the day ahead. On the contrary, today is a day to celebrate; today is a day to enjoy.
When Jesus had the first Lord's Supper, the first cup given was the cup of thanksgiving. And what were they thankful for? They were thankful for the exodus, the liberation of their land, God's covenant and the fact that God keeps that covenant. Paul recorded Jesus' words: “This now is the new covenant in my blood.” This is another reason to be thankful: God's covenantal relationship with his people. It is Christ's self-giving sacrifice of love and grace. And so we receive this meal with thankful hearts, for we know that Christ's love and grace have made this meal possible in the same way God's love and grace made possible the exodus and survival of the people of Israel.
There is an ancient tradition among the Masai from West Africa. When somebody has been very kind to them and they want to show their thankfulness, they kneel before that person, place their head on the ground and say, “My head is in the dirt.” For the Masai, this is a symbol of thankfulness, humility and grace.
We need to take this meal with that same sense of reverence and humility. Don't just take it and eat it as if it is ordinary. Take it and eat it as if it is extraordinary, and take it humbly with a thankful heart.
I also want you to eat this in an extravagant way. In an earthly sense, the tradition of the Thanksgiving meal involves thanking God for the harvest and the gift of creation. That is the intention of the family meal and the gathered community, and I hope you will enjoy it to the max. But I also want you to enjoy this meal today in this church. Even though it is only symbolic, it is magnificent in stature and glorious in its grace. Why? Because the meal is free; it has already been paid for.
This summer I had a marvellous experience. I went to the drive-thru at my normal coffee shop, and ordered my usual “double” (it's now just a “double,” not a “double-double.”) When I went to pay for it, the owner of the shop (who knows me very well) said, “Father, you don't have to pay for it today.”
I said, “This is great! Does that mean that all coffees today are free? If that's the case, I'll be back at three, five and seven o'clock.”
She said, “You would get the wrong end of the stick, wouldn't you? No, the person in front of you knows you and paid for it for you.”
I don't know who it was, but that was the best cup of coffee I've had in years. I sipped that thing so slowly to get every ounce of joy and pleasure out of it because it was a gift. It was free and it meant more to me than any other coffee I've had. Why? Because the price was paid, making it all the greater. The meal we are about to have has been paid for. It is free; it is a gift. It is something that has been given by Jesus himself: “This is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, shed for you.” We eat it then, in an extravagant way. We eat it in a glorious way because it is an eternal meal. “It's a meal,” says Paul, “that we have and proclaim until Christ comes again.” It is a meal that reflects that heavenly banquet and eternity. It is a free gift of grace, and it never ends. Like a bottomless cup of coffee, it just keeps giving. My friends, if that is the case, then you can eat all that you want because you eat it in faith. Amen.
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.