Expert: Marilyn - 8/26/2006

Question
Protestant vs. Catholic perspectives   How can Protestant churches say they believe the Bible literally most of the time (Jesus walking on
water, multiplication of loaves, healing people) and then when Jesus says in no uncertain terms "This is my body" it isn't considered literal any more?  The Catholics say it is His Body and they have been saying that
exact same thing for 2,000 years.

Answer
Randall;

Ok, I'm a little slow, I guess, I finally realized I failed to actually answer your question, specifically, though I sort of did.  Duh, I got wrapped up in explaining Communion.

Jesus never intended a literal interpretation.  He offered them unleavened bread, which would have been part of the Passover feast.  A feast the men themselves prepared or hired catered.  He didn't take a knife and cut Himself, if He had then things would have been different, nobody would assume He meant the bread and wine as symbols.  

If He had served Himself up, the problem would be that, after the Apostles, nobody else could ever partake of Communion.  They didn't have petri dishes where they could clone Jesus' cells.  The Christian religion would have lost one of its primary sacraments, but more likely would never have come into existence.  The significance of communion is linked to Passover, had to be, it's a Jewish-rooted religion whose leader and first practitioners were Jewish. It's really all about Jesus as the Passover Lamb more than anything else.  It's when Communion is divorced from its roots in Passover that confusion starts.

I suppose Catholics will argue that Jesus took the bread and transformed it into His own Human/God Flesh.  And priests, because they're ordained, can do that every time they serve Communion.  But the Bible doesn't say Jesus transformed the bread into flesh--I'm sure if Jesus had done that, the Bible would have mentioned it!  That's just too important of an item.  

But that returns me to an earlier point--if Jesus had served up His own flesh, then the whole point would have been lost and Christianity wouldn't have come into existence.  

Language loses some of its depth if it can never be used figuratively and religion loses some of its meaning if symbolism isn't allowed.  Sometimes, a symbol explains things better than any long, drawn out, boring exposition ever could.  The bread as the body and the wine as the blood speak more to what Jesus was driving as symbols than literal, cannabilistic consumption ever could.

During the 1300's John Wycliffe, a Bible translator, got into serious hot water with Catholics because he argued for a symbolic interpretation of Communion.  This isn't a new fight, but it's one Catholics and Protestants have agreed to disagree on.    

I hope you get this follow-up.  Sorry about getting side tracked.

Marilyn


Greetings;

I assume you’re referring to bread used in communion.  Protestants believe the bread used in communion is symbolic for the body of the Lord.  However, the way I view a literal interpretation of the body of the Lord, I see the Word as His body.  John chapter one says Jesus is the “Word made flesh.”  To truly consume the body of the Lord, one must consume His Word.  The Word would include the Old and New Testaments because both testify about Him and He shows up in both.  The Word of God as a Person of God is a difficult concept for the human mind to comprehend.  

In Genesis 1, “and God said,” appears seven times.  Anything repeated in the Bible is important.  Normally biblical text is bare bones with few if any repetitions, especially so close together.  The book of Hebrews says Jesus created the universe, therefore the seven “and God said” phrases in Genesis 1 are there to emphasize the active part Jesus the Word took in the creation of the universe. They also show us the role of faith coupled with the Word, for God used His Faith to empower the Word to do what He commanded.

We do not view our words as having much import, unless we make an ugly remark and hurt someone, but as god-class beings—that is, creatures created in the Image of God—our words have great power when coupled with faith, see Mark 11:20-24.  Jesus taught, we believers can operate in the earth just as God has operated, by speaking what we believe and receiving it

Jesus Words also had great power, they did whatever they were assigned to do, heal, end storms, whatever.  And His Words still have that power, whenever a human speaker believes he receives them accomplished by faith.  Peter said to the ailing man, “Gold or silver I have none, but what I have, I give thee, rise up and walk.”  Peter spoke it and it came to pass—that’s the God-power available to every believer, the same God-power God employs through His Son, the Word.

I don’t see any problem with taking the Bread of Life literally—the true Bread of Life is the Word of God and to consume it is the true sacrament.  Jesus said He spoke only the Words His Father told Him to say and that He came to reveal the Father to us. The Word is vastly important.  Bread made from wheat and water is only a symbol.  Like the manna the Israelites consumed in the desert, it gave life by supplying food, but also symbolized the Lord Jesus and His miraculous, life giving power. We consume the Word, it energizes us and gives us life, just as bread energizes us and gives our bodies life.

Regarding the blood, Peter says he will follow the Lord no matter what.  Jesus points out he cannot drink the cup He will drink.  To me, a literal drinking the blood of the Lord is a more difficult question.  

Passages in the Old Testament speak of the wine press of the Lord wherein wickedness is mashed out and the Person mashing the grapes has stained feet and garment hems, see Isaiah 63:2-6.  On one level He’s speaking of human beings literally pressed during the Tribulation, and it’s His Feet stained with blood.  But on another level, there is the wine press of suffering Jesus endured upon the cross.  He took the punishment meant for us, His blood was spilled in the course of it. And it is this suffering that is symbolized in the drinking of the wine.  

As the Bible says in Isaiah 53, "...the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him..."  Symbolically we take part in His suffering on the cross, drinking the wine of God's wrath with Him, dying to ourselves so that we might live for Him.  And when we drink the wine, we in essence agree to partake in Jesus’ suffering here on earth, enduring whatever pain we might receive in His cause for His glory, just as He endured suffering for the cause of our redemption.   

There’s another level to this question most Christians, Protestants and Catholics alike, overlook.  Jesus was Jewish and He and the disciples were celebrating the Passover.  The Passover is all about Jesus, about how because of the blood of the Lamb on the doorposts of our hearts, the death angel will pass-over us.  

The cup Jesus might have offered His disciples is one of three cups of wine Passover participants drink in the course of the Passover meal.  The bread is unleavened bread, pierced for our transgressions and burned in the suffering of the cross.  It is broken into three pieces symbolizing God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  The second piece, God the Son, is placed in a napkin and hidden for a time, just as Jesus was broken and placed in a tomb.  When it is removed, it is shared amongst the participants.

This second piece is the piece Jesus offered to His disciples when He said, "Here is My Body broken for you."  The significance of this piece of bread must have struck them like a sledgehammer.  All their lives they'd celebrated Passover and now, it was being fulfilled in their presence.  First, symbolically in that moment and later, when the Lamb of God, was pierced, broken and laid in a tomb.  

Zola Levitt, who recently went home to be with the Lord, was a Jewish believer who produced an excellent video of the Passover which explains all of this better than I can. The link below is for the page in which the video I’ve just mentioned is offered for sale.

http://store.levitt.com/cgi-bin/perlshop.cgi?ACTION=thispage&thispage=video-feas...

Here’s the main link:  http://www.levitt.com/

Another point to be noted regarding communion is the historical Jewish marriage proposal.  When a young man found a woman he wanted to marry he went to her home with some bread and wine.  He would spend time talking to the parents and set the bread and wine where his future bride might see it and partake of it.  If she did partake of it, it meant she agreed to marry him.  After that, he returned home and started construction on the house he would share with her.  

To the Apostles, especially after Jesus' death and resurrection His saying, "in My Father’s House are many mansions, I go there to prepare a place for you," John 14:2, took on special meaning when coupled with His actions during the final Passover meal they shared.  When the groom’s father decided the house was ready, the young man returned at any time, day or night, to retrieve his bride.  He came with his friends, blowing trumpets and banging pots and pans.  The bride had to be ready at any moment for his return.  

Jesus warns us He will return like a thief in the night, without warning.  And we will be caught up to meet Him in the air, to be with Him in Heaven forever.  This all happens when the Father says our mansions are ready.  

Every time a believer receives communion, that believer is agreeing to wed the Lord.  The Apostle Paul produced extensive writings on how the church is the bride of Christ, how Jesus will return for a spotless bride and how it’s by His Blood we are made pure.

Communion is a multi-level sacrament and can be taken literally in several ways.  The Lord makes it all interesting, the deeper we dig, the more fascinating He and His Word and Ways are.  

Sincerely,

Marilyn