Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14; Luke 24:1-32; Colossians 1: 9-29
If you want to experience this chapter, read Luke 24 in its entirety. For McLaren this week relives that passage, tells it again as if one of the disciples. The experience of the resurrection by the women, the disciples and then the two on the road to Emmaus. These experiences and how those two disciples may have viewed the meal of communion thereafter form the content of the chapter. In wondering how the two disciples may have unpacked their experience of recognizing Jesus in the broken bread, McLaren writes,
“We recall Jesus’ words from Thursday night about his body and blood. We remember what happened on Friday when his body and his blood were separated from one another on the cross. That’s what crucifixion is, we realize: the slow, excruciating, public separation of body and blood. So, we wonder, could it be that in the holy meal, when we remember Jesus, we are making space for his body and blood to be reunited and reconstituted in us? Could our remembering him actually re-member and resurrect him in our hearts, our bodies, our lives? Could his body and blood be reunited in us, so that we become his new embodiment? Is that why we saw him and then didn’t see him --because the place he most wants to be seen is in our bodies, among us, in us?” (p. 169-170).
How do you respond to this kind of idea around the meal of communion, that it is transforming us into a community of resurrection?
I live this reality. I believe that communion is just such a holy reality, a beautiful meal, a gift. It is the taking into ourselves the reality of Jesus’ work on our behalf. It does re-member us to His holy person, and re-attaches us to his might gift. This is what I experience. It is not just memorial. It is real presence. Come to the table and meet Jesus. Receive God’s kiss. There is powerful transformation available in the meal. Come and sup.