This is the place where we glory in Christ, and we glory in what He has given us. We do not glory in the fact that He has everything and we have nothing. Rather, we glory in the fact that we had nothing, He had everything, He came and sacrificed everything, so that He might give us everything.
“Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:21–23).
The kingdoms and commonwealths of man are all built on the foundation of ingratitude. In the gospel, in the death, burial and resurrection of the Christ, God has sent an earthquake designed to shake everything temporal. His design is to replace it all with that which cannot be shaken. This Table, and the proclaimed gospel it is based on, is therefore the epicenter of His eucharistic commonwealth. All ingratitude must topple, and it must be replaced with countless forgiven sinners, all of them giving thanks.
The thanksgiving is based on the fact that we are invited in, we are asked to partake, we are members of Christ. In Christ, everything is now ours—the world and all it contains. Christ owns the world—for He purchased it with His blood—and we are in Christ. We are saying many things here when we partake, but that is one of them.
If there is no gratitude, it is because there is unrepented iniquity. The two displace each other. And those who live in iniquity will not inherit the kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:21)—they will not inherit the wealth of the commonwealth. Who will not inherit? The envious, the malicious, fornicators, adulterers, sodomites, drunkards, partiers, and the like. When you walk away from that, you are walking away from the poverty of death. So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.
what is said to those crazy few who think ‘communion’ is an actual meal which people gather together for?