Speaking of the body, as Paul stresses
the importance of the movement of the whole of the church body---with individual
practice subsumed to its relevance to the strengthening of the church body
(highlighted in chapter twelve) as that body attempts to exist as a microcosm
of the kingdom of heaven (the will and rule of the Creator God expressed vicariously
on earth through a community of covenant people) while also being an
ambassadorial light to the world that speaks boldly of the reign of the Creator
God and the coming together of heaven and earth that is accomplished through
the death and resurrection of Jesus (which is what is stressed at the communion
table)---and though the topic is different than that which is addressed in the
fifth and sixth chapters, a move to the tenth chapter sees Paul again taking up
and operating within the motif of the meal.
There, Paul again stresses the significance
of the body of believers that comprises the church community (eyeing this in
the light of the mention of the need for a careful regard for the body in
11:29) when he writes “Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in
the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body
of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for
we all share the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).
Perhaps the peculiar, subversive, absolute,
and expected equality expressed at the Christian meal table, with all partaking
equally in the same food and drink without succumbing to the cultural pressures
of honor and shame, is what is here in Paul’s mind when he speaks of the
breaking of bread and sharing in the body of Christ, as the members of the
covenant community are tasked with continuing the mission of the Christ by being
His ongoing physical presence in and for the world, with this powerfully
symbolized by the way in which the meal is shared? With the importance placed on the meal table
in that time and place as a reflector and shaper of culture (or the reinforcer
of its norms), the church’s meal table becomes a transformative force for its
participants, with that transformation making its way outside the “four walls”
of the church.
Additionally, one does not overlook the
Abrahamic covenant pretensions that are present with the mention of blessing in
conjunction with the sharing of the cup and the breaking of the bread. All talk of “blessing,” when on the lips (or
the pen) of the covenant people, is provided context by that covenant. Consequently, one must affirm that there is
something of grand importance in the breaking of the bread that speaks to the
body of Christ---the church---and its role to be a blessing for the
world. This role is powerfully communicated to an on-looking world
through meal practice.
In moving beyond the
eleventh chapter, further evidence that Paul’s “careful regard for the body”
(11:29) when participating in the Lord’s Supper is encountered, demonstrating
that this “careful regard for the body” has little to nothing to do with that
which occupies the thoughts of the participants as they consume the bread and
the wine. Rather, even greater weight is lent to the idea that Paul has
in mind the environment and setting that has been created by the group that is
attempting to celebrate that which they are calling the Lord’s Supper, and to
the idea that he is calling specific attention to the social constructs that
were so important in delineating those that cast their allegiance with King
Jesus.
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