Still Pondering Communion

The question that came up was what does it mean to partake of the body and blood of Christ in an "unworthy" manner? If you didn't go back to read Subversive Influence, here are the passages of scripture that leave some of us asking that question but start with Jesus and His disciples and what He said about the meal. Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-38. Interesting that John chooses to focus on other things.

The "unworthy" passage is from I Cor 11: 26-28 (NIV)

"26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Apparently Paul considered it more than remembering, he described it as "proclaiming". Interesting. Kids can do that, can't they? 27 "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup."

Years ago, we were among a group of people who were going back to the scriptures instead of taking sacraments, traditions, and rituals for granted. We were often warned not to partake of the body and blood of Christ in an unworthy manner and about "examining ourselves."

According to my Young's Concordance, the only other place a form of that Gk word for "unworthy" is used is in 1 Cor. 6:2 (NIV)

In context: 1 "If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? (KJV) "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?"

So what is it in both of these passages that gives this word "unworthy" its meaning? I'm hearing a vote of confidence here. If God deems you competent to judge something, consider yourself competent! Have confidence before God. Examine yourself but don't consider yourself unworthy of a task if God considers you worthy. It's worth reading the rest of the passage in context.

Sometimes children have more confidence before God than we do.