Proclaiming the Lord's Death to the Next Generation

For as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. I Corinthians 11:26.

What an interesting verse! I, for one, find it easy to overlook the very jarring concept of a dead man coming simply due to the passage’s familiarity and its easy explanation that Jesus has died for our sins. Therefore, we declare his death and resurrection and our justification until he comes again. This is the common understanding of the commentaries. The commentaries on I Corinthians typically conclude that there must be some sermon associated with the Lord’s Supper. I think there is more here.

A careful reading of I Corinthians 11:17-34 impresses one with the prevalence of legal terms in the passage. Words such as “covenant” and “judgment” are significant. In addition, this passage describes a “new covenant.” Further, “remembrance” of a covenant in old testament parlance indicated something more than mere intellectual reflection. It entailed a reconfirmation and affirmation through action of the covenantal obligations. N.T. Wright, in his book Jesus and the Victory of God, has hypothesized that Jesus, in the Gospels, is portayed as taking to himself the symbols of the temple and the Sabbath. This passage would seem to support that hypothesis.

I have previously opined that the fourth and fifth commandment set forth a dance between generations. The fourth and the fifth commandments are unique in that they are cast as the only two commandments with positive obligations. I don’t deny that all of the commandments hang on the positive obligations to love Yahweh and love your neighbor, but the other eight commandments are cast as prohibitions. Not only are the fourth and fifth commandments obligatory, they are also reciprocal. The fourth obliges the older generation to live out the cycle of labor and rest before the younger generation. The fifth commandment obliges the younger generation to obey the older generation as it does so.

As the history of the covenant progresses, this dance becomes more explicit. It is highlighted beautifully in Hosea 4. In this passage, it almost appears as if the fifth commandment takes on a new principle, no longer just a commandment to be obeyed, but a principle of life. It is almost as if there is an unalterable truth that the younger generation will follow after the older generation. Because the older generation commits idolatry, the younger generation will do likewise. Because the older generation commits adultery, the younger generation will do likewise.

Without pushing too hard, there is a sense of this in Romans 1. Because men exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles, God gave them over to impure lusts and dishonorable passions. While there is no explicit generational reference here, there is certainly an implicit understanding of a progression over time. There is an old adage that a church is only two generations away from apostocy. A true church can become cold in one generation and nonexistent in the next.

What Paul “received” and “delivered” (two more legal terms) to the Corinthians was the covenantal act of remembrance Jesus called his disciples to practice. He called them to enter into the dance of the generations through his body and blood. Just as the old covenant paradigmatic worship service in Exodus 24 ended in feasting before Yahweh, his disciples are to culminate their worship service in feasting on his body and blood. Just as the older generation was to remember the Sabbath before the younger generation, so the older generation is now to remember the body and blood of the Lord before the younger generation. By doing so, they are proclaiming or inculcating the feast of the Lord before the younger generation.

There is a principle of life aspect to this passage as well. The worthy participation in the sacrament has consequences. Life and health are the blessings of the sacrament. Sickness and death are the curses of the failure to observe the sacrament. And it is the failure to observe the sacrament that is the focus, because Paul makes very clear that they are not observing the sacrament at all in their feast.

The act of the participation in the body and blood of the Lord is a proclamation to our children of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the primary means of discipleship of our children. Yes, there are other things that flow from our communion with Christ, such as educating our children in the nurture of the Lord. But it starts at the dinner table with Christ. No, this is not an automatic, magical event. It is better. It is conduct in a relationship with a faithful God, who always keeps his promises to His covenant people. God is faithful to his covenant promises. He wants us to be faithful to the covenant as well. He will remember us as we remember him.