This ritual meal is not demeaned through being a ritual. We do not say that it is merely ritual. After all, through rituals many remarkable things happen. A bachelor becomes a husband; a daughter becomes a wife. Through ritual, a civilian becomes a soldier. Through ritual, an Englishman becomes an American, or an American becomes and Englishman. Through ritual, a layman becomes a minister and pastor. Rituals are potent, and it is no different here.
But they can also be a potent source of confusion if the Word does not accompany it, as the Word must accompany the sacrament. We do not observe the Lord’s Supper on Holy Friday—for we are not, through ritual, playing the part of cannibals. We are never commanded to feed on a dead Christ. He has risen, and He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and by faith, we are invited to partake of Him. But we do not partake of Him on Friday, the day of His death, but rather on Sunday, the day of His resurrection. He is alive forevermore; death no more has dominion over Him. This is the Christ who invites us to partake of Him.
The water from the Rock was living water. The bread from heaven in the wilderness was living bread. The wine in the cup is living wine. The bread before us is living bread. And what is the animating agent? How is this life that we partake of life to us, and not death?
This too is the gift of God, lest any should boast. The animating agent is the faith that is imparted to us through the living and active Spirit of God in our hearts. And since faith comes from the living Spirit, it is necessarily living faith. And so in this ritual, through faith, we partake of the Living One, seated at the head of the Table, present here with us. Only an evangelical faith can see this. What are we eating? We are eating life itself. What are we drinking? We are drinking life itself. He is risen.