The body and blood of Christ? Really?

 

At the Last Supper Jesus said, “Take and eat; this is my body”. (Matthew 26:26).

In the Gospel of John we read a long passage which says, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If you eat this bread, you will live forever. The bread that I will give you is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live." This started an angry argument among them. "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" they asked. Jesus said to them, "I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in yourselves. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. The living Father sent me, and because of Him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me. This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever." (John 6:51 onwards).

As a result of what He said, a number of Christ's followers could not take this teaching and got up and left. Jesus did not call them back. He did not say it was all a metaphor, a figure of speech. He stuck to what He said and let them go. He then asked His disciples, "How about you? Do you want to go as well?"

As ever, Peter was first to answer, "To whom shall we go?" he asked. "We're in this for the duration, all the way, to the end". Or words to that effect, signifying the he trusted Jesus without question.

The Catholic Church, (and others), teaches that during Mass at the moment of transubstantiation, when the bread is changed into Christ's body, not only His body is present, but Christ as a whole is present ("the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity"). The corporeal presence of Christ is in the Eucharist. 

In Paul's letter to the Corinthians we read, "For I received from the Lord the teaching that I passed on to you ... ... ... This means that every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. It follows that if one of you eats the Lord's bread or drinks from His cup in a way that dishonours Him, you are guilty of sin against the Lord's body and blood. (1 Corinthians 11:23 onwards).

Today, the Catholic Church invites its members to believe that at Communion they are receiving the body and blood of Christ. But many do not believe this, including some priests. Many believe this is only symbolism despite it being Church doctrine.

Now this leaves me a bit puzzled. There seems to be an inconsistency here.

As Christians we believe that through the power of the Holy Spirit a virgin can conceive the Son of God. Yet we have difficulty believing that through the power of the same Holy Spirit a tiny wafer becomes truly the sacred body and blood, soul and divinity of this very same Jesus Christ the Son of God.

But then, what do I know?

Paul's Letter to the Thessalonians

 

In his first letter to the Thessalonians Paul says:

"Rejoice at all times. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus". 

1 Thessalonians 5:17 onwards.

Let us examine what he says further.

Rejoice at all times: I see so many people in church on their knees praying yet their faces look like a mile of bad road. It is as if they are carrying the whole world on their shoulders. Being charitable for a moment, I know that life is not always a bed of roses and that sometimes we all go through bad times. Yet, having said this, I see too many Christian people with sad faces all the time. Is this really a good advert for our faith? Is this what we would like others to think of Christianity when they see us? 

Pray without ceasing: I don't think Paul is suggesting that we pray 24/7 from the moment we wake up. Life is not meant to be spent on our knees and when we get to meet Peter at the Pearly Gates I doubt that he will check if we have callous knees like a camel's. Life is to be enjoyed and it is not an endurance test in preparation for the next. Remember "Rejoice at all times".

Paul is reminding us here to be in constant communication with God. We wake up in the morning and thank Him for another day and that we survived the night. When we're preparing breakfast we thank Him that we have enough to meet our daily needs and that of our family. As we travel to work, or wherever, we thank Him and ask Him to keep us safe. When we meet someone who tells us of their difficulties and problems we say a silent prayer for that person.

That's what Paul means by praying without ceasing. To be in constant contact with God throughout the day. And to be receptive when He speaks to us.

Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus: Whatever happens in life, no matter how bad and difficult the situation, we should thank and praise God for it. We are not thanking and praising Him for the bad situation itself, but we are doing so because we acknowledge that He is still in control. Whatever the situation, we thank Him for being in control.

By doing so, we somehow open a channel whereby God turns the bad situation to the good; for us or for someone else. Maybe someone sees how we tackle the bad situation and somehow our example brings them closer to God. Perhaps our situation changes us for the better in some way. When we praise God for being in control of every situation He will often turn it to the good. I have seen this many times.

Face to face with Paul ... and Thomas

 

It just happened so quickly. Unexpected. One minute I was OK and the next I was at the Pearly Gate. Hoping to enter Heaven. An Angel there checked my identity and then led me to an interview room. It was empty apart from a computer on a desk. The Angel said that St Peter was busy and someone else would soon attend to me.

Moments later two men came in. They looked like from the New Testament by the way they dressed and by their beards. They introduced themselves as Paul and Thomas. I smiled feebly.

They tried in vain to get the computer to work. Paul slapped it hard on the side but nothing happened. It would not start. They lamented the old days when they had large tomes and everything was written on it in indelible ink. 

They searched in an old shoebox for any notes which Saint Peter had left about me. 

"Ah ... here's something," said Thomas, "let me see. It says here you're a regular sinner. Wobbly faith. And ..."

They both read the note quietly and then Paul asked, "Why do you want to get into Heaven?"

"To be with God for eternity," I replied eagerly.

"And what makes you think He wants to be with you for eternity?" asked Thomas.

It was like a double act. Abbott and Costello. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Laurel and Hardy. They looked at each other. Threw my notes away and started the interview.

"It said in your notes that you have a wobbly faith. Whenever things go wrong, you hesitate and doubt. What do you say about that?" asked Thomas.

I hesitated. I did not want to remind him of his nom-de-plume being Doubting Thomas in case that ruined my chances to enter Heaven.

"See ... you're hesitating right now," said Paul, "you must be direct. Act forthrightly ... with determination!"

Again, I kept quiet. I remember reading that before he fell off his horse on the way to Damascus he was forthright enough at persecuting Christians. I did not want to say anything because he was bigger than me.

"Let's give you a chance," said Thomas, "you can throw a dice ... here it is ... if you get any number from 1 to 5 you're not entering Heaven. You're going down with no parachute!" 

My lips trembled. I did not like the odds. I mumbled ..."what if I throw a 6?" I asked.

"You get to throw the dice again," said Paul.

It was obvious they had rehearsed this routine before. I felt a cold sweat on my brow.

That's when they turned serious.

"Look ..." said Paul gently, "God's invitation is open to everyone. He loves us all and He wishes we all love Him back, obey His Commandments and accept Jesus His Son as our Saviour. We are all sinners. I more than most. This is all we have to do to enter Heaven!"

I smiled weakly.

"We have all sinned in our life," continued Thomas still in the double act mode yet seriously this time, "God understands our weakness. He forgives time and again. Just like Jesus forgives time and again since He walked on earth, and now every day when He sees the wounds on His body which He suffered for us."

He stopped for a second or two then said, "God will forgive, as long as we repent honestly and want to be forgiven. Ask Peter about that when you meet him!"

I smiled again at this hint of a good outcome for me.

"Now wake up from your dream and tell everyone about it," said Paul.

Peter Paul and ... Me

  

The other day I noticed that the shower was dripping, even though I had turned it right off. I turned it on again and got totally wet. Luckily I was in the shower at the time, so it didn't matter. I turned the shower off and it continued dripping.

I decided to phone Peter the Plumber. That's what it said in the advert in the local newspaper. "Phone Peter the Plumber - No job is too small or too big!" 

"Great," I thought, "whilst he's here he can also change a light bulb in the garage which has just died. That's a small job, isn't it?"

So I got dressed first, before phoning Peter. I'd read somewhere that some people use the phone whilst naked. Can you imagine? You phone your friends and they answer the phone without any clothes on?  

After I got dressed, I tried testing the shower one more time to make sure, and I got wet all over again. So I changed once more and phoned Peter the Plumber. He said he'd be round in thirty minutes. He did not say what shape he'd be after that.

Well ... it took over forty-five minutes before a white van arrived outside our house. The man that came out of the van was round all right. So I assumed he was Peter who had retained his shape from a few minutes beforehand.

"Are you Peter the Plumber?" I asked.

"No ... I am Paul the Painter!" he replied.

"Where is Peter the Plumber?" I asked.

"He is at my home painting the ceiling," he replied.

"Why did he not turn up here?" I asked.

"He didn't want to stop half-way through a job, so he sent me instead," he replied.

"But ... can you fix the shower," I asked, "and change the light bulb in the garage?"

"I can try," he said, "Peter said he'll talk me through it on the phone. A bit like landing a plane when the man on the ground talks you through it ... you know, like in the movies!"

He looked at the shower. Turned it on and got his clothes wet. I did not offer him a change of clothing. He was round ... and I am not.

Talking on his cell phone he used a wrench and undid a nut somewhere. There was water bursting everywhere. He asked me to turn off the stop-cock. That is a mains handle type thing that turns off the water in the whole house when repairs are to be done. I knew the mains cut off handle is in the garage; just where the main water pipe enters the house.

I rushed to the garage but could not get the lights on. The bulb had died previously the day before this one, but I did not change it myself preferring to get an electrician who also had a no job is too small policy. Instead we got Paul the Painter to replace Peter the Plumber.

I tripped in the dark. Stubbed my toe against something or other. The pain shot right up my leg. I took off my shoe to rub my foot. Walked a few more paces and stepped on a Lego brick that the children must have dropped and started dancing in pain and curses on all plumbers, painters and electricians too for good measure.

Eventually, with the water turned off, and Paul on the phone to Peter he tried fixing the dripping shower.

He made small conversation with me whilst talking to Peter. Why do workmen insist on making small talk? Plumbers, painters, electricians, taxi drivers, hairdressers ... they all make small talk whilst working.

"Have you been on holiday yet?" they ask. 

"What's it to you? You nosey so and so ... just get on with your work. I have hired you to fix the shower not start a conversation whilst flooding my house like happened at the time of Noah!"

In this particular case, I was making small talk conversation with Paul the Painter in my bathroom, and Peter the Plumber on the cell phone in Paul's house painting his ceiling. A three-way conversation with two tradesmen doing one job ... for me that is. I hope they don't charge me for painting Paul's ceiling as well!

Anyway, Paul the Painter told me that he was a Christian. He told me his conversion story.

He used to be a cheat and a scoundrel. He used to thin the paint with turpentine to make it go further, and he charged his customers full price for the paint.

One day he was painting the outside of a church. As he was up on the scaffolding, painting away, the job nearly completed, there was suddenly a horrendous clap of thunder, the sky opened, and the rain poured down washing the thinned paint from all over the church walls, and knocking him clear off the scaffold to land on the lawn among the gravestones, surrounded by tell-tale puddles of the thinned and useless paint.

He realised that this was a judgement from above …

He got on his knees and cried:

“Oh God … oh God … help me … what should I do?”

And just then a thunderous voice replied:

“Repaint !!! Repaint !!! And thin no more !!!”

Understanding Paul's letter to the Corinthians

I entered the house after delivering another load of tents to the local Outdoor Pursuits Shop.

Paul was sitting at the table writing on another pile of parchment papers.

“Hello” I said, “would you like a hot drink?”

“What have you to offer?” he asked without looking up.

“Hot boiled fish water sweetened with honey …” I replied casually.

“The same old brew …” he mumbled in disgust, “when will someone discover coffee, or tea or hot chocolate drink?”

“There’s also hot milk and honey from the Promised Land!” I said encouragingly; but he did not answer.

I asked him what he was writing.

“It’s a letter to the people of Corinth …” he said, “I have to finish it today and send it before postage costs go up yet again …

“They’ve asked me for advice on how to live … just basic advice. I mean … can’t these people think for themselves. Here, have a read” he continued, as he passed me some bits of parchment which smelled like old goat skins.

I read … “Chapter 7 - Verse 1”

For some reason Paul always wrote his letters by numbering every chapter and every verse. I don’t know why he did that. Must be some affectation of some kind I suppose. He wrote:

“A man does well not to marry.”

“Hein?” I thought, “what’s he on about?” I kept on reading what seemed to be rather personal advice to these Corinthian people; albeit good advice I must say, and then again, at Verse 7 he wrote:

“Actually, I would prefer if all of you were single as I am …You single people and widows, it is better if you continue to live alone; just as I do …”

I stopped and looked at him writing there. I wondered why he’d never got married. Perhaps having met my mother-in-law he got frightened out of matrimony altogether.

But his advice made no sense. How can he possibly say a man should not marry, and in fact he’d prefer all of them to remain single and live alone?

I asked him “How would people multiply if they followed your advice?”

“What’s Mathematics to do with it?” he replied without looking up, “they can learn their multiplication tables like every one else!”

“No …” I said hesitantly, “I mean … you know … doing it … having babies …”

“Oh … I gave them a let out clause in Verse 9” Paul continued nonchalantly, “I told them if they can’t control themselves they’d better get married anyway.

“I really can’t understand those people … why can’t they distract themselves by playing card games, or Monopoly or similar board games. The shops are full of them!”

I kept on reading and I must admit I got a bit embarrassed at the personal advice which followed. He meant well, I suppose, and maybe those Corinthians were a little slow on the up-take and needed very detailed advice on how to live as early Christians.

Then at Verse 26 he repeated his opinions again.

“If a man is unmarried he should stay this way. If he is married he should not get rid of his wife!”

“Charming” I thought, “no doubt he’s considered the costs of divorce and alimony when giving this advice.

But then his letter continued:

“Are you unmarried? Then don't look for a wife ... I would rather spare you the everyday troubles that married people will have.”

Well, my mother-in-law certainly has had an influence on him; I thought.

I got out of the house somewhat more confused than those Corinthians will be when they receive this letter.

I was met by my wife and mother-in-law coming home from a shopping trip. Before I had time to welcome them mom-in-law said:

“What are you doing lazing in the sun? Have you no work to do?”