Body of Christ, the Bread, the Wine

as found in Holy Communion

Word Meanings

ver. : 22 February 2008

Body of Christ, bread, the wine.

(return to churchly word index)

the Body of Christ

the Body of Christ: Firstly, it refers to the body Christ had when He walked the earth. From that, over the years, believers have turned to this term to describe what his followers are, taken together, and what they do:

(A) The Church, a social organism (Colossians 1:18-24). Hence also "member", originally meaning a body part (that use continues today in the word 'dismember'). Thus, to say you are a 'church member' is to say you are a Body part.

The description cuts two ways :

1. the body as an organism with parts that each make it possible for the whole to live ( 1 Corinthians 12:12-25). We can live without having all our body parts working or even present, but it is difficult, because each body part has a function, without which the body is not as healthy or functional. The same is true of the church without you.
2. the 'marital oneness' of that organism with Christ as being Christ's Bride (Revelation 21; also used of Israel in Ezekiel and, through allegory, Song of Songs). 

For those who fling (A) around carelessly, please remember what happened to the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth, the Chosen One : it was flogged, beaten, stripped, nailed to an instrument of execution, and killed. To say that you are part of the Body of Christ means you are part of this death -- and a living witness that this death was not the end.

(B) The term also refers to something the church eats together, the bread in the Eucharist or Communion. This goes back to Matthew's description of Jesus' last meal before his execution, where he said, "Take, eat; this is my body".

Thus, holy communion is the living Body of Christ on earth eating the Body of Christ executed for all, with each member of Body (A) having the Body (B) coursing through their small-b bodily systems.

Bread

1. The bread of Jesus' last meal before his execution, and thus one of the two menu items of the Eucharist or Holy Communion. See also what John reports about how Jesus used the term, and how this is linked to the manna in the wilderness of the Exodus.
   
2. Also, bread was, and still is, the main food of the human species, a gift from God. Not only are Christians out to feed the spiritual hunger of those who do not draw their spiritual nutrition from Jesus the Bread , but also the material hunger of those who lack material bread (that is, proper physical nourishment). Thus, there has been and continues to be a strong thrust among Christians to end starvation and malnutrition, and the poverty, greed, ineptitude, and prejudices that cause it. Many Christians believe that hunger can be ended as a widespread problem, because God wants it to end and has granted us both the land and the technology to do it. But all of us humans just won't allow it.

Communion wine

Wine, the : the drink used in the sacrament of Eucharist or communion. The word is used even when (as with many Methodists and Baptists) the wine is really grape juice, and even when it is watered down. (Watering down the wine is an ancient practice, dating back to Justin Martyr, but the reasons for it strike me as very weak.) Unused consecrated (ceremonially set apart) communion wine is traditionally to be drunk by the presiding minister, which some of those ministers got to really love doing. Hopefully there has been some changes in practice. The phrase "the Bread and the Wine" hearkens back to why Christians use bread and wine in holy communion, namely, the body and blood of the executed Jesus, which was linked with bread and wine at the Last Supper by Jesus.