This Table embodies one of the central realities of the Christian life, which is the glory of my life for yours.
Of course, it doesn’t seem that way. It is designed to seem different than it is, so that we can walk by faith, and not by sight. How can breaking bread make it whole? How can drinking the wine keep the blood of Christ from disappearing? How can giving things away, your own life especially, ensure that you keep it all?
This is gospel logic. One kind of worldling says that you must keep it to keep it. Another kind of worldling says that you must give it away because God doesn’t want you to have it. But the way of the cross is that you must give it away because God wants you to have it forever.
In this meal, Jesus gives Himself to us, and God has therefore given Him the name that is above every name. We receive what He gives, and along with this is the privilege of imitating Him. And when we offer our own bodies and our own blood for one another, in imitation of this, God sees. And when God sees what He delights in, He honors it.
So some, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.