That title might seem a bit provocative, and it is certainly at least a bit of an exaggeration. After all, the real center of the Gospel is the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ for us and our salvation. Everything else gains theological value by how it is related to that center. What I mean is that I have become increasingly convinced that the practice of Holy Communion is vitally important.
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus famously predicts his own death three times. It was an unwelcome message to hear for those who were following him, at least partially hoping that he would step into earthly power and they would join Him in that power (Mark 10:37). As a general rule, the disciples said less and less each time this topic came up.
Even if the disciples totally failed to understand that Jesus was going to die, it was a repeated theme in His teaching. The disciples could not have possibly known what his death would mean because they had not yet seen and understood the resurrection.
The place where Jesus explained what His death would mean, that it was not merely a death but a death for us (Luke 22:19), that His blood was being poured out to establish the new covenant and to forgive sins (Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20), was at His Last Supper.
This is something that we practice so often in the church that we can lose sight of how powerful it is. In commemorating the events of the Last Supper, of remembering the bread, the cup, and the words, we rehearse the moment when Jesus Himself interpreted His death for His disciples. It might not be too strong to say that the reason we understand the death of Jesus at all is because of these words at the Last Supper. How beautiful that this key insight, central to the Gospel, or at least our understanding of it, is not merely taught but lived, and repeated among God’s people!
It is at the center of the Gospel in another way as well. Jesus called folks to follow Him from every walk of life. In particular, I want to highlight the fact that He called Matthew, the tax collector, a person whose very livelihood was seen as an unholy collaboration with the occupying Roman force. He also called Simon, not Peter, but one known as a “zealot.” The Zealots were so committed to the restoration of the Israelite nation that they were prepared to engage in acts of violence and revolution to overthrow those same Romans.
In order to follow Jesus, they had to lay down their differences, at least enough to put Jesus first. I am sure there is no way for those two to see eye to eye on many things, but they were together in Christ. Jesus sets the table for us and calls us to come and share that moment with our Lord and everyone else that He invites. We won’t see eye to eye on everything, but we see how radical the call to follow Jesus is at the Table.
There is a third way in which we see the center of the Gospel at the Lord’s Table. Two others that were invited to eat were the more famous Simon, Simon Peter, the man who was about to walk out the door and deny his Lord three times; and also Judas, the man who was about to walk out the door and betray his Lord to His death. Jesus was not ignorant of what these men would do, and yet He invited them anyway. No matter what we have done, no matter who we have been, we are called to the Table. Yes, there is a challenge for those who come, and who continue to come, but it is not required to have met the challenge before coming.
When I was a new Christian, I had this sense of awe at the Table and I couldn’t understand why. I only began to grasp how beautiful and powerful Holy Communion was when I began to study the Bible and when I began to deal with people who disagreed with me and who did not see eye to eye with me.
The Lord’s Supper is not just some thing that we do in the church, it is not merely an empty tradition. It is not something to do if we feel like doing it, but we could just as easily leave it aside if we don’t feel like doing it. It is something we have been told to do in remembrance of Him. Whether we always remember the power of the bread and cup shared in the company of Christ’s body, the Church, may we always come forward to receive what God has to give, for that is always what we need.
