1 Corinthians 11:17-34
The Lord's Supper
17In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. 20When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
27Therefore, 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. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.
St. Paul was aware of many of the sayings and history of Jesus...Here, St. Paul discusses the Lord's Supper...In Corinth early Christians were eating together...In there eating together, the Corinthians had a diverse group...It appears the people of wealth or at least the people who were bringing most of the food were eating first...Paul tells us that some were eating and drinking and others were going hungry...This was, of course, causing divisions in the church...They simply were not sharing...Even though the people who were bringing the food and probably eating first, before sharing it with others, Paul tells them this is not the way of the LORD's supper...
St. Paul tells them that eating and giving thanks to the LORD for your food was part of His Last Supper...We eat the food and drink our drink in memory and remembrance of Him...When we are eating and drinking from the plate and the cup of the LORD we are not to do it in an unworthy manner...To use the church supper to divide the church is not what Jesus taught...Jesus taught to love God and to love our neighbors...In these two great commands He is asking us to share...Although, not always easy, this is what we must do and what He teaches...Paul wants us to do, when eating together, we must do it in a worthy manner and share and eat together at the same time...One group eating first and not saving food and drink for others contradicted what Jesus taught...
Paul closes this section on the Last Supper, telling us when we are very hungry getting together and eating it is not what the LORD's supper is about...If one is hungry, eat at home or somewhere else...Their eating together (and the church eating together) is intended to draw people together, to love and to share, not to satisfy our appetites or get our hunger under control...
St. Paul knew a lot about the LORD's supper...The Twelve disciples were the one's that had ate with their Master, the night before His arrest...Paul would have probably learned about this when he met with Peter for fifteen days (Galatians 1:18)...Paul and Luke were friends...So he may have learned it from St. Luke, when he writes about it in Luke 22...However, we are not told this in Galatians, Luke, Acts, in the Corinthians or any other of his letters, but Paul was knowledgeable in the Last Supper...Paul knew much about Jesus and learned about Him, through Luke, Peter, and James and the others he met who knew Jesus...Paul's great knowledge helped bring the Christian Gentile Churches together...
The Last Supper was one of the final teachings of our Master...He was not specifically teaching about hunger, appetite, and food...Jesus was teaching us to remember Him, when we eat and do this believing in God and in love for our LORD and the love for our neighbors...
St. John in his gospel tells us about the Bread of Life...I AM the bread of life...He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and He who believes in Me will never be thirsty...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 is real food and My blood is real drink...Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him...Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me...This is the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:35, 6:53-58)...