When Jesus was assembled with His disciples at their last meal together, He identified the one who was to betray Him with a sop of bread. When He gave the bread to Judas, Satan entered into him, and Jesus said, “That thou doest, do quickly.”
The Lord’s Supper is a sign and a seal of the new covenant. But as a sign it does what every sign always does – and this includes words, sacraments, symbols, and anything else that carries meaning. In this fallen world, before anything communicates, it first divides. As a sign from God, it does its work sovereignly. Every sign, every word, every symbol is in the first place an identifier of loyalty, love, and affection. The cognitive aspect of every sign comes in the second place, after love. Anselm once said credo ut intelligam – “I believe that I might understand.” This is wonderful, but let us edit it just a bit – amo ut intelligam. “I love that I might understand.”
The Lord offers this bread and wine to you. If you refuse it, this is not a sign of humility, but rather of hatred. If you take it, and go off into the night to follow your rebellions, as Judas did, then this is a sign of an even deeper hatred. But if you receive it, as you are invited and commanded to do, asking God to have His way with you, and you take the bread and wine – despite whatever scruples, anxieties, worries, or troubles you may have – you are receiving His gift with affection, humility, love and an appropriate combination of worth and unworth. God knew we were sinners when He established this meal for us. Is He dismayed when we sinners come as we are told?