Disposable Jesus
By Chris Streeper
The doctrine of the Real Presence asserts that in the consecrated elements of the Eucharist, Jesus is truly and actually present, in body, blood, and full divinity. This teaching is based upon a number of passages from Scripture, including 1 Cor. 10:16-17 & 11:23-29, and especially John 6:32-71. Many of the Church Fathers interpreted these passages in this way including Ignatius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Tertullian & Justin Martyr. Clement of Alexandria wrote the following on the topic; “Eat my flesh,” [Jesus] says, “and drink my blood.” The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, he delivers over his flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of his children. [Instructor of Children 1:6 (c. A.D. 197)]. Since its inception the Church has regarded the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar in this way.
During the Reformation, Luther found no disagreement with this concept, and because of this Article X of the Augsburg Confession states the following; [1] Our churches teach that the body and blood of Christ are truly present and distributed to those who eat the Lord’s Supper, [2] They reject those who teach otherwise. Where Confessional Lutherans differ from Rome & the Orthodox is on what I affectionately refer to as “the magic in the mouth.” Rome calls it transubstantiation while the Orthodox call it metabole, or simply “the change.” Outside of this however, we are in agreement that Christ is truly and actually present in the elements.
To be clear on the matter, this mystical mastication does not discount the validity of the verba, or the reception of the properly consecrated elements of bread and wine, but it proposes something else entirely; that is they cease being bread and wine and are transformed into something else. Transubstantiation suggests that God is playing tricks with our minds and senses; the “magic in the mouth” being that He simply fools us into thinking we see and taste bread and wine, or that he somehow divinely abracadabra’s them into being the flesh and blood of Christ. This is not what Lutherans believe, teach and confess, and is certainly not the understanding of the Lord’s Supper described in the Large Catechism by Luther.
[10] It is the Word (I say) which makes and distinguishes this Sacrament, so that it is not mere bread and wine, but is, and is called, the body and blood of Christ. For it is said: Accedat verbum ad elementum, et fit sacramentum. If the Word be joined to the element, it becomes a Sacrament. This saying of St. Augustine is so properly and so well put that he has scarcely said anything better. The Word must make a Sacrament of the element, else it remains a mere element. [11] Now, it is not the word or ordinance of a prince or emperor, but of the sublime Majesty, at whose feet all creatures should fall, and affirm it is as He says, and accept it with all reverence, fear, and humility.
I make this distinction specifically so I may not be accused of attacking our Roman and Eastern brothers of making an improper consecration, because I am not. I, like our Reformation forefathers as well as St. Augustine, am merely pointing out what is added to the reception of the consecrated elements… that is to say that our Roman brothers take the incorrect position that once received, the cease being bread and wine. This would be akin to saying that by some mystical intervention, the Word attached to the water of Holy Baptism somehow changes it into the actual waters of the Jordan River that were present circa year 30, when Christ himself was baptized. The Reformation critique of the Supper was never that it the elements were improperly consecrated, but that the plain words of Christ were mysticized to change the reception of them into something else entirely.
That being said, there is another view regarding the Lord’s Supper which arose from Reformation piggy backers Calvin & Zwingli. Calvin believed that there was a spiritual presence that was real, but not physical. Zwingli’s idea of the Supper was that it was memorial in nature and merely symbolic. This Reformed view on the Lord’s Supper is derived from the belief that “the finite does not possess capacity for the infinite” (finitum non capax infiniti). They argued because Christ’s humanity was finite and since He was now physically located in heaven, he could not be omnipresent in the elements on earth. This is where we find the historical root for regarding Communion as an Ordinance of the Church, which is what is practiced by most Evangelical traditions today.
While I didn’t grow up in the Church, I did attend frequently with friends when I was younger, so I was not unfamiliar with Communion. When I eventually came to faith at the age of 31, I found myself attending a very large, non-denominational church near where I lived in Texas. We took Communion out of these little disposable cups which contained a bit of grape juice and a wafer smaller than a Tic-Tac. When I moved to Ohio a few years later, this church also practiced communion in a similar way. Sometimes we’d come up to the stage near the front of the Sanctuary and take plastic cups from a tray, but usually we used the little pre-packaged cups. Nothing really felt strange about it until I was ordained into the ministry and began attending Seminary. (It was there I learned much of the information shared above.)
Reading Scripture a bit deeper, reading the Church Fathers, and learning about the differences between Sacraments and Ordinances; I began to wonder… “Is there something more to Communion?” I asked the question, “Is Communion an Ordinance, or is it something else… is it actually, a Sacrament?” I began to feel uneasy as I heard the cellophane pulling back from the top of the cup. I felt squeamish as I watched people crumble the empty cups in their hands and toss them into the trash. When I brought these concerns and questions to my lead pastor, I was told that I was over thinking things… “It’s an ordinance,” he told me… “It doesn’t mean anything, it’s just symbolic.” My reply of, “But Scripture says…” was met with a politely phrased ultimatum to either stop asking questions or find somewhere else to worship.
My family moved to the Baptist church across town, and after a few months in attendance we took our first communion. I was saddened when the ushers passed around a basket full of the little “Jesus jiggers” as I’d come to call them. Needless to say, my feelings surrounding Communion had changed, but I didn’t fully understand how or why. Flash forward a couple years and my wife & I were going through Adult Confirmation at the LCMS parish where I serve now. It had been three years since I’d had Communion. I understood what it was now. I knew I needed it. I desired it. I could almost taste it each time I went up to the altar rail and received the blessing from the pastor.
When the day of my confirmation arrived, I knelt before the altar and received the host from the pastors’ hands before sipping wine from the chalice. And when I received the Sacrament for the first time as a confirmed Lutheran, I cried. (Sometimes I still tear up when I receive it.) Imagine my confusion when I learned that other congregations within our Synod practiced the Sacrament differently. No altar. No reverence. No concise verba.
Imagine my confusion when I saw a pastor at one of our churches, dressed in street clothes, sitting on a couch up on a stage, lift up an empty chalice as a prop, only to pull from it those little disposable cups. (I’ve seen numerous other congregations utilize those little cups as well, albeit less egregiously.) As a newly made Lutheran I thought Synod meant that we “walked together” in doctrine and practice. But what I saw was the physical display of the words spoken by my former pastor… “It doesn’t mean anything, it’s just symbolic.” At least, that is how I understood it.
As I’ve entered into ministry within the LCMS through my role as an SMP pastor, I’ve learned all sorts of things… and one of those things is the term, “adiaphora.” This seemingly profane distribution of the elements I was told was simply a matter of adiaphora. While it contained a bit of Evangelical style, it retained the Lutheran substance, and that was alright. But I’m not entirely sure… I’ll set aside for a moment the comfy couch setting of that particular “divine service,” and I’ll not make too much an issue that they contain grape juice and not wine (an issue the CTCR has already handled), so that I can focus simply on these little disposable, single use, prepackaged communion cups. What does their usage teach and confess regarding what we believe about the Sacrament?
There are at least two accounts of Luther expressing such concern over spilled wine during the Supper that he reportedly fell to his knees to lick it from the ground. This action confessed the extreme reverence he held for the consecrated wine and the Real Presence of Christ’s blood within it. Many of our parishes take great care to properly dispose of “leftover” elements. Pastors often drink the last few sips from the chalice. The altar guilds carefully wash out the cups. They don’t pour consecrated wine back into the bottle, and when necessary, they pour it directly onto the ground and returning it to the earth. Why? Because we believe that Christ’s blood is truly present in the wine, and we treat it reverently. By how are these prepacked elements disposed of? From what I’ve witnessed, most often they are tossed into the trash. How scandalous!
Those who utilize them usually justify their usage for expediency’s sake, meaning that it speeds up distribution for their large congregations. (Far be it for anyone to have to wait patiently for a couple minutes and be given time to reflect on their sins or the nature of the Sacrament.) They will incorrectly call the mode of distribution a matter of adiaphora. But what it confesses is that they regard the Lord’s Supper not as sacramental in nature, but as an ordinance. It confesses that they do not believe Christ is truly present in the sacred elements of Holy Communion, but that He is a disposable Jesus, who can simply be tossed into the trash when they are finished with him. What a calamity this is!
I would contend that there is no room for the usage of these prepackaged communion cups within a church body that confesses the Real Presence of Christ in the elements of Holy Communion. Not only is the usage of such things frivolous, but it also profanes everything about the Sacrament we hold dear as Confessional Lutherans. Evangelicals use the “Jesus jiggers” because they believe incorrectly about the Sacraments. We, however, believe, teach and confess the same things about the Sacraments which have been held for nearly two thousand years. It is important that we remain vigilant regarding this practice, so as not to give the impression that we are in agreement with the ordinances of the Evangelicals. If “is” truly means “is,” then this is not a matter of adiaphora! This I believe is a matter of confessional unity & practice. Christ’s body and blood never belong in a trash can… ever! Oh Lord, have mercy on us.
Where are these single serving disposable cups being utilized within our Synod you might ask? They are exclusively used at congregations which have abandoned the liturgical services and jettisoned the hymnals in favor of “Contemporary worship.” The usual suspects are discussed on this blog frequently, so I need not name them… but suffice it to say, along with many other Evangelical elements, it seems they’ve also imported the Evangelical understanding of Holy Communion being merely a symbolic ordinance. This disposable Jesus pairs quite well with the non-therapeutic, moral, self-help life coach Jesus that is preached in their weekly inspiring hope filled messages. They will tell you that they uphold the Lutheran Confessions, and they believe in the Real Presence, but their actions speak louder than their words. The Sunday services at these congregations are indistinguishable from nationally televised megachurches like Steven Furtick’s Elevation Church or even the local “Community Church” of undercover Baptists. As the theologians say, Lex Orandi Lex Credendi.
The disposable Jesus found in these little cups is only a symptom of the larger problem; the bigger issue is having a disposable Confessional doctrine & Lutheran identity.