1 Corinthians 10:16-17: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.
For centuries in the Western church, this meal was an iconic moment in the liturgy. The high point of the medieval mass was not the common meal but the elevation of the consecrated host. Someone would ring a bell, and everyone would strain for a glimpse of Jesus, bread transformed into the body of God. The consecrated Host was an object of veneration and devotion.
The Reformers denounced these practices, rightly, as idolatrous violations of the First and Second Commandments. We are not to bow to any image constructed by our hands, and bread is a human product.
But that did not prevent the Reformers from viewing the Lord’s Supper as an iconic moment. They simply relocated the icon. Instead of seeing the image of God in a wafer, they insisted that we should look for God’s face in the consecrated saints that gathered at the table.
For Zwingli and Calvin, the image of God was visible in the poor, and homage to the image of God did not take the form of genuflecting to the Host but of hospitality and charity: “If you have done this to the least of these My brothers, You have done it to me.” Zwingli described the poor as living images of God. Calvin said that as images of God human beings are mirrors in which God sees Himself, so that when He sees human beings treated with cruelty, He takes it personally.
Practically, this is one of the reasons the Reformers stripped the churches of statues and pictures. They were appalled that huge amounts of money went to making and maintaining dead icons, while living icons went unfed. There is a place for adornments in churches, but the Reformers had their priorities straight: Adorn the living images of God first, then attend to the rest.
So today: As you pass the bread and wine, you extend God’s hospitality to one another. As you feed Christ to one another, you honor the image of God. As you share this meal, you perform the kind of icon veneration that God approves.
Dear Reader,
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