475th Anniversary of the Large and Small Catechism, No. 9

"You have to eat!" So says the desperate parent to the stubborn toddler or the loving caregiver to the terminally ill patient whose body is shutting down and any appetite for food is disappearing. Without daily bread our bodies grow weak and become susceptible to various diseases. Delinquent members who deprive themselves of the blessings of Holy Communion will hear a similar plea from their pastors and fellow members.

Trying to convince those who have eating disorders requires repeated presentations of the benefits of a proper diet. So it is with this holy food given to us by our Lord Jesus. Luther puts it this way in the Large Catechism: "The Lord's Supper is given as a daily food and sustenance so that our faith may refresh and strengthen itself and not weaken in the struggle but grow continually stronger." 

Just as we speak of the waters of our baptism having the power to drown the old sinful nature, so we might also observe that the Lord's true body and blood serve as poison to our sinful natures. Our old man of sin is proud and seeks to find sufficient righteousness in itself, so that he might be acceptable before God. However, every time Christians eat and drink Christ's holy food, they proclaim the Lord's atoning death and therefore the sufficiency of Christ's blood and righteousness alone. Even the manner in which we receive this supper underscores our humble position. We communicants often kneel, with heads up-mouths open like baby birds in the nest; our Lord feeds us through the hands of His called servant.

This food for our souls is not prepared by us. Our crucified and risen Lord Jesus provides the food, sets the table, and serves it to us most willingly. It is the very body He gave and the very blood He shed for the forgiveness of all our sins. By placing these gifts into our mouths our Lord most intimately comes to us declaring that He is ours and we are His. Our faith lays hold of these gifts and is strengthened as it continues to trust in Jesus' merits alone for salvation.

After Jesus fed the five thousand, He challenged the shortsightedness of those who were looking for more food for their bellies. He spoke of how the Gospel in Word and Sacrament is the only food of life for the sinner: "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him" (John 6:54-56). In this passage Jesus means that the eating is faith.

  The Lutheran understands the Lord's Supper to strengthen his or her "personal relationship with Jesus Christ." It is a real uniting of body and soul with the Savior in the here and now. The devil, the unbelieving world, and our own sinful flesh would have us shake our heads and clamp our lips together refusing to eat what Jesus freely offers us. "You have to eat!", Jesus tells us. If you find yourself suffering from this kind of eating disorder, read the Fifth Part of Luther's Large Catechism and be reminded how important this holy food for your soul really is.

Glenn Obenberger is the Senior Pastor of Parkland Lutheran Church, Tacoma, Washington and the Vice President of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.