One of the ways we diminish our understanding of the Lord’s Supper is through saying that it is just a metaphor. In the first place, the world is more mysterious than that and there is no such thing as “just” a metaphor. God created the cosmos by speaking, and words are not impotent little labels. But even using the common language of metaphor, the Lord’s Supper would be a complex metaphor, not a simple one. There are many things going on here—thanksgiving, proclamation, longing for the day of redemption, and more.
One of those elements is underscored by our practice of celebrating this Supper weekly. What this accomplishes—among other things—is the creation of a household. Households eat together. Companions are those who share bread together—the word panis, bread, helps to form the word companion.
Because we observe this Supper weekly, this means that, with the exception of your immediate family, in many instances you eat and drink together here more often than you eat and drink with anyone else. This has the decided practical effect of shaping you into a household. That is what we are, right? The Bible describes us as the household of faith (Gal. 6:10). We belong to the household of God (Eph. 2:19). And what do households do? They eat and drink together. The prodigal son wanted to return to his father’s household, where there was enough to eat. The Lord Jesus, in His Upper Room discourse, told us how He was going to His Father’s house (John 14:2), in order to prepare many rooms.
A key element of the potency of this Supper has to do with your companions. It is not just you and the elements—the elements represent the body, and that Body is seated all around you. That Body is the household of God—the household of faith, hope, and love.
So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.