Every night around the world in billions of homes, you will
find families gathered around the table to share in a ritual that has been
passed on through thousands of years.
Eating supper together is a tradition that has gone back since the
beginning of time. It's been a moment
where people can share not just food for life giving sustenance but also to
share each other’s companionship. It is
a time for support and binding together emotionally. It is the time to share events of the day and
the concerns of the day and to talk together on a range of subjects, everything
from politics and religion to hobbies and sports, the weather or the local
gossip.
It's quite common to invite friends over to share in the
supper and dinner experience with the same effect of deepening the friendship. One remarkable experience is to receive an
invitation to join a group in a dinner where you previously where unacquainted
with any of the participants. You go to
that event not knowing anybody but then by the end of the evening, you find
yourself walking out of the door having created new friendships that can
potentially last for years.
It's no coincidence that just prior to Jesus Christ
crucifixion he gathered his apostles together for one last supper. As they were eating, Christ initiated
something called the Sacrament.
We can read about it in the JST Matthew 26, verse 22 through
27:
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and brake it, and
blessed it, and gave to his disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is in remembrance
of my body which I give a ransom for you. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave
it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. For this is in remembrance of my blood
of the new testament, which is shed for as many as shall believe on my name, for
the remission of their sins. And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall
observe to do the things which ye have seen me do, and bear record of me even
unto the end. But I say unto you, I will
not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall
come and drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into
the Mount of Olives.”
Christ used the symbol of the bread and of the wine to
create a ceremony by which his disciples could remember him. He did that for the purpose of joining them
together with him as a family.
Again, quite often the sharing of supper creates a binding
experience that moves the hearts of strangers into a place of friendship, and
moves the hearts of friends into a place of family. Could this be one purpose for which Christ
gave the Sacrament? Could it be a
practice through which we can be included into the family of God?
We can see this in the record of John 14:18-23.
“I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a
little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me; because I live, ye
shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in
me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that
loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love
him, and will manifest myself to him.
Judas saith unto him, (not Iscariot,)
Lord, how is it thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words; and
my Father will love him, and we will
come unto him, and make our abode
with him. “
John 14:24-27
“He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings; and the word
which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I
spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
It's clear from the from the references in John that by
keeping the Commandments of Christ his Spirit dwells in us and by keeping those
commandments we are made one with the Father and the Father loves these and will
come and make his abode with those who keep those commandments. To make an abode with someone is an
indication of a family relationship. I
suppose that the custom of referring to God as a Father would further be an
indication of a family relationship, wouldn’t it?
Judas the disciple asked how that was possible.
Christ, being eternal in nature and still alive even through
resurrection, can make his presence known to anyone. Certainly any sincere person who seeks for
him and seeks to keep his commandments.
It has been said that this is merely figurative and not meant to be
taken literally. Some have even gone so
far as to say that it is unnecessary (Oaks, Boise Rescue, 2015). When Christ
said I will love him and will manifest myself to him, did he mean that he would
literally manifest himself to the individual? Somebody else had the same
question and received an answer to that question. They asked the Lord and reported
receiving a revelation and wrote it down.
Here it is in Doctrine and Covenants Section 130: 1-3.
“When the Savior shall appear we shall see him as he
is. We shall see that he is a man like ourselves. And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there,
only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy. John
14:23—The appearing of the Father and the Son, in that verse, is a personal appearance; and the idea
that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion,
and is false.
We first notice that the subject matter of this revelation
is the Savior and that he is a man like ourselves. That is to say, a very human looking person
with a personality that we can interact with.
And notice that the same sociality which exists among us here with that
subject (Christ) will exist among us there.
It gives us pause for a moment to consider that if I do not know the
Savior here, will that be the same sociality which will exist in the
hereafter? If I know the Savior here as
if he were family, will I know the Savior as family in the eternal world? Surely these things cannot be taken too
seriously and it must mean only that I know the Savior because his spirit
dwells in my heart by the power of the Holy Ghost. But wait a second, just to clarify, we see
that such a notion is false in the very next stanza. It is referring to a personal
appearance! And the idea of God “dwelling
in your soul through the Holy Ghost as a sufficient means to establish a family
relationship with God” is in fact a false idea.
It’s a Sectarian notion and is opposed to the scriptural promise.
So we see from the revelation provided by Joseph Smith that
the reading in John is meant to be taken literally. We can expect that if we are sincere in our
efforts to obey the commandments of Jesus Christ, he will appear to us. This is symbolized in the sacrament in which
Christ gathered his family of disciples together and broke the bread and poured
the wine and shared it with them.
When we partake of the sacrament that is ultimately what we are really meant to
remember. We're meant to turn inward, to
examine our hearts and pray to the Father.
How can we keep those commandments which would please God and bring us
into his family? We turn our hearts back to review the past and turn our minds forward
to that time when we can sit down to the supper table with Jesus Christ as part
of the family of God.
It could be valuable to review how to conduct and how to
partake of the sacrament in a way that draws out that true meaning of the
Lord’s Supper.
In Moroni Chapter 4 we receive the instructions on how to
conduct the sacrament:
“The manner of their elders and priests
administering the flesh and blood of Christ unto the church; and they
administered it according to the commandments of Christ; wherefore we know the
manner to be true; and the elder or priest did minister it— And they did kneel
down with the church, and pray to the Father in the name of Christ, saying: O
God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to
bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that
they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O
God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of
thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given
them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.”
There's a few things to note from this.
The elders of the church, the elders or the priests, administer
the sacrament. This symbolizes that they
are meant to be servants, waiters if you will. Any priestly office is a call to service. It is not a call to preside and manage, nor
even to conduct. It is not a call to be
in charge or to be the leader. It is a
call to be the servant. As it is written “But he that is greatest among you
shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased of
him; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted of him“(JST Mathew
23:8-9). The purpose of the servant is to administer or rather to serve others.
A Priest is a servant.
In Verse Two we see something interesting. “And they did kneel down with the church.” That is to
say that the administering servants knelt down to pray with the church, meaning the congregation also was in the act of
kneeling. Everybody knelt. Everybody participated in this prayer. This was not a stage performance. It was a true prayer for every individual and
they did join them in the congregation. Everybody who partakes of the sacrament
should kneel for the prayer, because they too are offering up the prayer as
participants.
Of course we're familiar with the prayer itself. Their example showed that they were praying to
the Father in the name of the son, Jesus Christ. The bread represented the body of the Son. That body which was broken for us and so likewise,
the priests take whole bread (not cut) and break the bread in remembrance of
Christ’s physical suffering. They break
the bread to show that Christ’s body was broken for us.
The prayer for the bread contains a covenant with God. God’s part of the covenant was to offer his
Son as a sacrifice for our sins. That is
His part and in the prayer for the wine, we receive the symbol of that
sacrifice, the blood. However, in the
prayer for the bread, there are three parts that we concern ourselves with
because these constitute our portion of the covenant. God’s part was to make the sacrifice for us,
but what is our part?
As we eat in remembrance of the body of the son we witness
to God that we are:
1. Willing
to take upon us the name of the Son.
2. Always
remember Him.
3. Keep his commandments which he has
given us
Those are the three things which we covenant to do and to
keep.
To take upon the name of the Son is to take upon ourselves
the same work that the Son took upon him. He told us that his only purpose on
the earth was to do nothing save it was the will of the Father. In like manner, we make that sacrifice of
self-will to keep the will of God. God
makes known his will for each individual on a personal level. He may speak through many sources, but it
will always be His own voice which we can learn to recognize. Following that voice of God, in whatever
language He may choose to speak to you personally is how you may follow God’s
will.
Likewise, we are
meant to remember him. We are always to
keep him in our mind and always do that which he would do if he were in our current
situation.
To keep the third item: to keep his commandments, requires
that we have some kind of communication from God. It's not possible to keep his commandments unless
we have an open dialogue with the Lord.
What is it that God gives us if we can keep these three promises?
We may always have his spirit to be with us. Always. We have to ask, how often do we fail to live
up to these things? Do we always
remember the Savior? Do we always keep his commandments? Do we always take upon
ourselves the name of the Son?
No, quite often we do not.
In our bodies, we quite often fail. God provided a means for us to renew the
covenant even if we should fail. That is
given in the second representation of the sacrament ordinance, the ordinance of
the wine. The administration of the wine
symbolizes the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
The Atonement is the price paid for our sins. The price paid in blood is represented by the
wine which is red in color.
Notice the changes in the prayer for the wine in comparison
to the bread. There are significant
meanings behind those changes.
“The manner of administering the wine—Behold, they took the
cup, and said: O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee, in the name of thy
Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those
who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son,
which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal
Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be
with them. Amen.” (Moroni 5)
This prayer portrays the covenants imposed upon us as we
drink the wine. We remember the blood of the Son because it was shed for us. Why was it shed for us? To cover for our sins. To pay the price that we owe. However, despite our sincerity in complying
with the commandments of God, we still fail to meet the requirements of the
Will of God. Now these are not the
requirements that are necessarily taught by men from the pulpit. These are the commandments spoken to the
individual from the mouth of God.
Likewise, these commandments are not necessarily the ones that we think
we are failing at. As it is written, God
gives us weaknesses that we may be humble and turn to Him. If it so be that we are humble and have trust
in God, He will make weak things become strong unto us. Our purpose in partaking of the wine of the
sacrament is to renew ourselves before God and the conditions given to
accommodate this renewal is that the price of our sins are payed for already by
the very God that gave the commandments.
By acknowledging that we have faltered and turning back to that God for
guidance, He covers the price and allows us further opportunity to continue in
His service.
The wine represents that blood that was paid for the price
of justice. It is red in color to
represent the blood. And further, wine
is bitter to the taste representing the bitter cup which the Savior drank from
in submitting his will to the Father.
From within, wine burns somewhat like a refiner’s fire reminiscent of
the Holy Ghost and the Baptism of Fire.
Notice that the covenant of the wine is simplified in
comparison to the bread. Our covenantal
part is that we will remember him. And
the promised return is that we may have
his spirit to be with us. It does not
say “always have his spirit” as the
prayer for the bread does. It says only
that they may have his spirit to be with them.
Notice that it does not state anything about keeping commandments. Nor does this prayer mention taking upon
ourselves the name of the Son. That is because it is an acknowledgement that we
have failed to keep the commandments and the atonement is applied on our behalf
to rectify that failure. It begins and
ends with the simplest act of obedience which could be imposed upon us which is
“to remember”. To remember him and in
remembering him it is enough to provide his spirit to work in us again and begin
to guide us back to him. If we will head
his voice. That is the part that the
Lord will provide if we can but keep that one act of remembrance.
But for the bread, we are given the promise God’s Spirit will always be with us
as we commit ourselves in taking the name of the Son upon us and remembering
Him always and keeping his commandments.
Through the Atonement of blood represented by the wine, we can renew
that commitment after having previously failed by initiating the return through
remembering him. In the remembering, he
can bring us back to the place where we can always have his spirit to be with
us once again as promised in the first covenant.
It's important that we remember the symbolic aspects of the sacrament.
For example, why is wine administered?
For one thing, it's administered because of
the color.
The color is red symbolizing
the blood of Jesus Christ.
For another,
it is bitter to the taste.
This brings
to mind the words of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane:
Christ “Saying, Father, if thou be willing,
remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” (Luke
22:42).
This calls to mind the
difficulty of the trials that Christ undertook and the bitterness of the
suffering that he endured.
“Which suffering caused
myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed
at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink— Nevertheless,
glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the
children of men.” (D&C 19:18–19.)
It also calls to mind that we are to share in the trials of Christ to a
certain extent if we are to receive some amount of the glory of God.
We see this in the following: “
And she said unto him, Grant
that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy
left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered
and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall
drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say
unto him, We are able. And he said unto
them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup,
and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on my
right hand, and on my left, is for whom it is prepared of my Father, but not
mine to give. And when the ten heard this, they were moved with indignation
against the two brethren.” (JST Matthew 20:22)
Our suffering is
tempered by the sacrifice of God if we will repent. “Behold, I, God, have
suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would
repent.” (D&C 19:16.) This too is brought to mind as we drink the
bitter cup of sacramental wine. The bitterness of a cup of wine is an
appropriate symbol for the blood of Jesus Christ.
We can learn even more about the sacrament. See the examples Christ gave when he
administered it to the Nephites as recorded in third Nephi chapter 20: 1-9.
“And it came to pass that he commanded the multitude
that they should cease to pray, and also his disciples. And he commanded them
that they should not cease to pray in
their hearts. And he commanded them that they should arise and stand
up upon their feet. And they arose up and stood upon their feet. And it
came to pass that he brake bread again and blessed it, and gave to the
disciples to eat. And when they had eaten he commanded them that they should
break bread, and give unto the multitude. And when they had given unto the
multitude he also gave them wine to drink, and commanded them that they should
give unto the multitude. Now, there had been no bread, neither wine, brought by
the disciples, neither by the multitude;
But he truly gave unto them bread to eat, and also wine to drink. And he
said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he
that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall
never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled. Now, when the multitude had all
eaten and drunk, behold, they were filled with the Spirit; and they did cry out
with one voice, and gave glory to Jesus, whom they both saw and heard.”
“And it came to pass that when they had all
given glory unto Jesus, he said unto them: Behold now I finish the commandment
which the Father hath commanded me concerning this people, who are a remnant of
the house of Israel. Ye remember that I spake unto you, and said that when the
words of Isaiah should be fulfilled—behold they are written, ye have them
before you, therefore search them—And verily, verily, I say unto you, that when
they shall be fulfilled then is the fulfilling
of the covenant which the Father hath made unto his people, O house of Israel. And then shall the remnants, which shall be
scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the west, and from the south and
from the north; and they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Lord their
God, who hath redeemed them.” (3 Nephi 20:10-13)
So some points to be understood as we read this. First
Christ provided the bread and the wine. Why is that significant? When Christ
provides bread and wine he provides enough to fill the people and we see that
in the miraculous feeding of the 5000 in the New Testament. In that story there was enough and plenty
left over for everybody. They could eat their
fill and still have some remaining. Again
that's another aspect to consider when we conduct the sacrament. When we feed the people, they should be able to
eat to their satisfaction the amount of bread and wine which they desire to partake
of.
Second point which is again demonstrating that wine was used
by Jesus Christ and not water.
By removing the nutrient from the supper or denying the use
of nutritious foods and replacing it with a crumb and a sip, what are we
symbolizing? Are we not symbolizing that
the ordinances which we are conducting do not provide the spiritual nutrition
that the soul needs? A little morsel of
white bread and a thimble cup of water; this does not satisfy your thirst nor
does it provide nutrition in any degree.
So the symbol can be lost. Recall
the manner that Christ fed the people.
He provided bread baskets that were remained full after the people where
filled. He promised that whosoever drank
of that which he would give should never thirst again. Allowing the people to partake of as much of
the bread as they desire would be more in keeping with the example that Christ
showed as he conducted the sacrament. So too the wine has more nutrition than
the water, which provides the bitter taste and a reminder that his blood was spilt
for us.
Also in third Nephi chapter 20 it is significant that
immediately upon conducting the sacrament, he (Christ) begins to talk about the
promises given to the house of Israel. What
was the house of Israel? Ultimately, the house of Israel was and is a family.
Here again Christ calls to mind that the act of the supper is the attempt to
draw the people into one family through that binding experience. This is the intention that Christ has as he
conducts the sacrament with his disciples and that should not be lost on us as
we conduct this same ordinance.
Another important point to recognize from third Nephi
chapter 20 is that after the people have partaken they were filled with the
spirit, the recognizable presence of God's Spirit. And this is the way we can recognize if we
are conducting the ordinance properly. By
conducting an ordinance properly, I don't mean to measure it by our outward performances. I certainly don't mean to be overly focused
on the symbolism of all the actions taken to conduct the sacrament. Rather it is in the heart of the participant
that is most important and in remembering him and in taking his name upon us
and keeping his commandments. That is
the true meaning of the sacrament. By
doing these things with that purpose we may always have his spirit to be with
us.
Lastly, for Mormons there's a bit of a conflict that we need
to discuss. That is the meaning of Section
89 in Doctrine and Covenants. During the
years of Prohibition in the United States of America, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints adopted the government’s stance against
alcohol. The government quickly
recognized this folly and retracted its mandates. The church on the other hand, cannot reverse
course so easily and the prohibition remained, not as a commandment, not as a
revelation but as a cultural norm.
Reviewing Section 89 which is held as revelation by all members of this
church will be useful regarding this subject manner. This scripture will be
known by all Mormons as the Word of Wisdom. It is a revelation given to Joseph
Smith the Prophet in Kirkland in 1833.
So briefly in section 89 it says:
“1. A Word of Wisdom,
for the benefit of the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, and the
church, and also the saints in Zion—
2 To be sent by greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation
and the word of wisdom, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal
salvation of all saints in the last days—
3 Given for a principle with
promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who
are or can be called saints.”
The first thing we want to recognize is that this is given “not
by commandment nor by constraint.” That is put in there for a reason and the
reason is that when it comes to the temporal care of the body, there's a lot of
variation for individuals and not everybody needs the same thing at the same
time. We don't all need to eat the same
amount of food nor drink the same amount of beverage. Sometimes we need nutrients of one kind or
another. A woman may need more Iron, a
man may need more Zinc, a child may need more carbohydrates. So we can’t prescribe the same amount of Iron
for everybody nor the same amount of Zinc, nor the same amount of snack foods.
It really depends on the needs of the individual. Likewise, we don’t all need the same amount
of sleep, some may need 10 hours a night and another may need only 7. The Word of Wisdom Section 89 provides
flexibility and is not a strict commandment that someone could use to draft a
list of do’s and do not’s. In other
words, you cannot give strict dietary guidelines to others that are going to apply
to all people, at all times. Individuals must turn to God and prayerfully
select for themselves that which is most appropriate for them. Of course if God gives a guideline, His
advice is more powerful than any man's wisdom.
So we are going to take His words seriously. We are going to consider them carefully and
go to Him directly to learn how to apply them in our particular situation. That's what it means when it says to be sent
by greeting not by commandment nor constraint.
“3 Given for a principle with promise, adapted to
the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be
called saints.
4 Behold, verily, thus saith the
Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in
the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn
you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—
5 That inasmuch as any man drinketh
wine or strong drink among you, behold it
is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments
before him.
6 And, behold, this should be wine,
yea, pure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make.”
Remarkably this is very forward thinking in the 1830s that
Joseph Smith would have the idea that there would be evils and designs which
would exist in the hearts of men that would somehow be related to consumption
of food and beverages. This extends well
beyond tobacco and even alcohol. This
goes into even the food industry and especially into the pharmaceuticals. We will not discuss in any detail here the
role that politics and business have played in coercing the diets of citizens
into unhealthy patterns. However,
there's plenty of information available to you if you want to do the reading and
the research that can show you just how much politics has influenced the nutrition
made available to you. We can see where
that influence has sometimes been beneficial and yet more often overreached its
bounds in the interest of monetary gain. Ultimately it is up to you on a personal level
to determine how much of that influence you would like to learn about or remain
ignorant of. I suppose the same could
even be said of the role of politics and business in influencing the religion
you choose to adopt. For now, the, main point
is that care must be taken regarding what we put into our bodies physically and
it's okay for us to make decisions regarding this for ourselves by careful
research, by careful prayer and with the intent to take care of the gift of
life which God has given us.
On a personal note, there was an evening at home in which I
recognized a need to prepare and partake of the Sacrament to assist me in my
own personal desire to connect with God again.
At the time I had a sinus infection that inflamed the inner ear and was
mildly painful. I blessed the bread and
wine and served my wife and then partook as well. Within twenty minutes of drinking three quarter’s
cup of wine, I felt a noticeable reduction in the pain within my ear. By the end of the evening, it had fully
healed. What had been a three day
illness had been cured by the medicine of the Sacrament. There are scientific explanations for the use
of a moderate application of mild alcohol as medicine. Nevertheless, here is a personal example that
I would like to emphasis had as much spiritual medicine as it did
temporal.
This section does not deal solely with the temporal body and
the care of the body. It ultimately
deals with a spiritual connection and the spiritual connection in relation to
the care of the physical body.
“5 That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not
good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments
before him.
6 And, behold, this should be wine, yea, pure wine of the grape of the vine, of your
own make.
7 And, again, strong drinks are not
for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies.”
So there it is clearly spelled out. Section 89 started out saying it is not a
strict commandment. It doesn't say there is a list of things you can or cannot
partake of. It gives
recommendations. Among those
recommendations is a warning to avoid wine and strong drinks, with an
exception. The exception is that wine is
to be used “when assembling your selves together to offer up your sacraments
before him.” Likewise, it should be pure
wine of the grapevine of your own making. Again emphasizing that wine is the
appropriate symbol of the Sacrament. Oddly enough, if we were to reinterpret
Section 89 as a strict commandment, which it clearly says it is not, but yet if
we were to interpret section 89 as a strict commandment then we would
necessarily recognize that it is a commandment to drink wine as part of the Sacrament
and not water. However, it is not a strict commandment,
rather it is a guideline. So there is
some flexibility there and some individual discretion is required. We are necessarily going to need to counsel
with the Lord personally. Nevertheless the use of wine is not only
appropriate to use but was the method established by Christ in an ordinance
meant to remember Him, the Christ. That should set your minds at ease regarding
the use of wine in Sacrament if you are a Mormon, especially a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.
The Sacrament is an ordinance that provides a covenant with
God. As we keep that covenant, it
provides a surety of the promises God has given us that a day will come when we
may sit with Him at the supper table as a part of the family of God.