Communion

~I Corinthians 11.17-34

This passage is familiar to anyone who was raised in a traditional church. Christ giving his life, his physical body and blood, for the salvation of mankind is the foundation of Christianity. This giving is symbolically remembered to this day. How? By the sacrament of Communion: we are privileged to take in the bread of his body and the wine of his blood. This is how he shows his profound love and sacrifice. The symbolic eating and drinking is how we receive it.

Ron Sider in his 1977 Christian Century article "Sharing the Wealth: The Church as Biblical Model for Public Policy" further expounds these verses:

"In Christ there is one new person, one new body of believers. When the brothers and sisters share the one bread and the common cup in the Lord’s Supper, they symbolize and actualize their participation in the one body of Christ. That is why the class divisions at Corinth so horrified Paul. Wealthy Christians, apparently, were feasting at the eucharistic celebrations while poor believers went hungry. Paul angrily denied that they were eating the Lord’s body and blood because they did not discern his body (vv. 27-29). By this Paul meant that they failed to realize that their membership in the one body of Christ was infinitely more important than the class or ethnic differences which divided them. One brings judgment on oneself if one does not perceive that eucharistic fellowship with Christ is totally incompatible with living a practical denial of that unity of all believers in his body. As long as one Christian anywhere in the world is hungry, the eucharistic celebration of all Christians everywhere is incomplete."

(As I side note, I do wonder why Paul refers to eating the bread and drinking the cup. Why not eating the dish and drinking the cup, or even better, eating the bread and drinking the wine?)

Eat for God's Glory

~I Corinthians 10:3-5, 6-7, 15-22, 25-31

~25-26 So you may eat any meat that is sold in the marketplace without raising questions of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”

~31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

In this chapter Paul covers several food-related topics (see labels), but there is nothing specific about a particular food. I print only the key verses 25-26 and 31.

Another interesting point here is the connection between idols and demons. Surely it's possible to make an idol of food. Be careful, Ruthie!

Don't muzzle the ox, Mom!

~I Corinthians 9.3-4, 7-10

This is my answer to those who question my authority. Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals? . . . . What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing? For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.

~I Corinthians 9.11-14

Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? . . . . Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it.

~I Timothy 5.17-19

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” (Deuteronomy 25.4) and “The worker deserves his wages” (Luke 10.7)

~II Timothy 2.6

And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor.

Our kids loved to remind me of this ox when they were mixing up a batch of cookies or biscuits as a reason for helping themselves to the dough. It's a reasonable point. Paul uses it twice. :-]

Considering Others

~I Corinthians 8.9-10, 13 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? . . . . So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.

~I Corinthians 10.14-31 expansion of same subject

This passage uses dietary choices as one arena for showing respect to brothers and sisters in the faith. I need to lovingly consider the beliefs of people I eat with so that I encourage and rather than discourage their journey of faith.

"God doesn't grade us on our diet."

~I Corinthians 8.1,4, 7-8

The question keeps coming up regarding meat that has been offered up to an idol: Should you attend meals where such meat is served, or not? . . . . Some people say, quite rightly, that idols have no actual existence, . . . [that] there is only one God the Father, that everything comes from him, and that he wants us to live for him.

In strict logic, then, nothing happened to the meat when it was offered up to an idol. It's just like any other meat. . . .

verse 8 The Message

But fortunately God doesn't grade us on our diet. We're neither commended when we clean our plate nor reprimanded when we just can't stomach it.

~verse 8 NIV

But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

~verse 8 Good News Translation

Food, however, will not improve our relation with God; we shall not lose anything if we do not eat, nor shall we gain anything if we do eat.

~verse 8 Amplified Bible

Now food [itself] will not cause our acceptance by God nor commend us to Him. Eating [food offered to idols] gives us no advantage; neither do we come short or become any worse if we do not eat [it].

~verse 8 New Living Translation

It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.

Eating meat that's been offered to an idol isn't really an issue for twenty-first century Americans. The important point for me here is in verse eight. But how do I balance this verse, which seems to say (at least in the Message Translation) that anything goes and God doesn't give a hoot about what we eat, with the teaching in chapter six that our bodies should be cared for as God's temples? Maybe the Amplified Bible gets closest to the heart of it saying that anything goes as far as meat offered to idols. That wouldn't necessarily extend to other things we choose to ingest.

I will keep plugging along through these mysteries. :-]

God cares about our bodies.

~I Corinthians 6.13 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies.

I want to take good care of this body God has given me responsibility for. Part of that is fueling it wisely.

Jesus, the Passover Lamb

~I Corinthians 5.7b-8 For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

John 2.29 and 36 also refer to Jesus as the Lamb of God, that is the lamb sacrificed for the Passover meal. Why lamb? I expect to look at this more when I get to Exodus.

Is unleavened bread better?

~I Corinthians 5.6-8

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Here's another use of the spreading capabilities of yeast. Here Paul implies that in keeping the Passover, in remembering the sacrifice of Christ, unleavened bread is more appropriate.

I'll ponder the Passover lamb next time.

Hungry in sharing the gospel

~I Corinthians 4.10-13

We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.

Paul uses irony to get readers to see their pride and stop being so judgmental of each other. He speaks of the literal hunger and thirst experienced in his mission "not to shame [them], but to warn [them] as . . . beloved children."