Communion and Eucharist
I recently read Union With Christ: The New Finnish Interpretation of Luther (edited by Carl Braaten and Robert Jenson; Eerdmans Publishing, 1998.) If I understand correctly what Tuomo Mannermaa and his colleagues are saying, then Lutherans have been misunderstanding Luther for nearly 500 years. In a nutshell, these Finnish scholars are saying that Luther defines the term "faith" as the indwelling of Christ. I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Christ Jesus my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy, and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith.
This is significant for a fuller understanding of the Lutheran doctrine of justification: we are justified by grace through faith for Christ's sake apart from works of the law. If "through faith" is understood as "through Christ dwelling within us", then the Lutheran doctrine of forensic (imputed) justification takes on a new dynamic. We are justified extra nos, by God's grace from beyond ourselves as Lutherans have said all along; and we are simultaneously justified intra nos, by God's grace within us driving us beyond ourselves to God and one another.
In this sense, justification is more in line with Eastern Orthodoxy's doctrine of theosis. Being God's heirs with Christ means that we participate in the Trinitarian life through him. The indwelling of Christ's presence thrusts us into communion with God and all creation -- shalom.
That eschatalogical shalom, that very communion with God and all creation, is already made manifest in our world through Christ's presence in the Eucharist. When we partake in the foretaste of the feast to come with the bread and wine, it's not a cheap imitation. It's the real deal training our palates to discern the finer delicacies of shalom's vintage communion.
So when we speak of the Lord's table, we must mean precisely that the Lord is the host of the meal inviting us to the divine communion of shalom; that the Lord is the meal that is the divine communion of shalom; and -- if we take Mannermaa's discovery seriously -- we may now confess that the Lord is also the chauffeur driving us to the festive gala of shalom's divine communion. Christ's indwelling within us is our participation in the triune life. God knows us in communion, because God knows God-within-us. So, we don't come to the table of our own volition to get our piece of Jesus to take back with us; Jesus comes to the table within us to unite us with the fulfilled reality of the triune God.
This is why we may practice a truly open and welcoming Eucharist. If it is Jesus who comes to the table in people, how can the table-waiters (presider/priest) possibly exclude anyone from the meal? Even if people are not cognitively aware of Christ-within-them to confess him, if they show up at the table they do so only because Christ walked them up there. They have "faith". Or rather, "faith" has them. Read again Luther's explanation to the third article of the apostle's creed in his Small Catechism:
Yes, we may still affirm with our tradition that the Eucharist is the meal for the church. But let us realize who the church is. The church is not the group of people who get it, who pass the theology test, who "believe" correctly. The church is everyone who comes to the table by Christ's invitation and through Christ's presence within each of us driving us beyond ourselves into shalom made manifest in Christ's meal. If Jesus-within-an-unbaptized-person shows up at his own table, I as his table-waiter am not about to tell him "Sorry Jesus but you cannot participate in the Trinitarian life of God with just anyone you like. Please go sit down."
Would you like to tell him?
2 comments:
Hey Kevan,
I couldn't agree more with this interpretation of the Eucharist. In fact, I would add that even in Lutheran doctrine of faith as we have understood it previously, there is room for this interpretation. Even if we did not understand "faith" as "christ within us," but more broadly "trust in God and God's promises," is it not the Holy Spirit that gives birth to such trust, and thus, are we not also turning the Holy Spirit away when we turn away anyone who has had the faith to approach the table?
And if having such trust can be described also as being "in Christ" as well as having Christ be "in us," then Paul's statement, that anyone who is "in Christ" has become a "New Creation," is also edifying. This is only one of several ways in which God the Creating Father is "walking us up" to the table.
My point in all this is to ask: is it not the fullness of the Trinity that draws us to the communion table?
Very interesting post. I highly enjoyed reading it.
I completely concur with the comment above from "anonymous." It is the fullness of the Trinity that draws us to communion. In fact, normally I would be more inclined to speak of Holy Spirit in this role (as Luther's explanation to the 3rd article suggests). In this case, however, I was playing a riff off of current scholarship to make new inroads into my argument. Thank you for this insightful comment.
Shalom
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