Today’s reading is Hebrews 9.
Yesterday, we recognized Jesus offered Himself once for all. Very clearly, Hebrews 9:25-26 says Jesus doesn’t offer Himself repeatedly. Today, I want to springboard off of that to talk about one of the regulations of worship we need to recognize in our time.
Before Jesus died, He instituted a memorial of His death. We might call it communion or the Lord’s Supper. Some call it the Eucharist which comes from the Greek word that means simply “thanksgiving.” Though the New Testament never calls it this, this designation has come from the fact that when Jesus established the supper He gave thanks. Others call it the Mass. Except, we must not be confused. Mass is actually very different from the Lord’s Supper.
When churches hold Mass, they are not partaking in a memorial intended to remind them of the body of Jesus that hung on the cross and the blood He shed to remit our sins and provide atonement. Mass is intended to be an offering of Jesus again just as He offered Himself on Calvary. Though Mass is considered an unbloody offering, it is nevertheless sacrificing or offering Jesus again and again and again. Thus, it is seen in that approach not merely as a memorial but as a sacrament. A sacrament is a means by which people receive grace. Thus, the idea is when people participate in Mass, Jesus is offering Himself again and they are receiving grace in the participation.
However, the whole system of Mass is demonstrated false by Hebrews 9. Jesus offered Himself once. He does not offer Himself again and again and again. The point in Hebrews 9 is not that Jesus offered Himself in a bloody offering once but then offers Himself again and again and again without blood. The point is He offered Himself once, period. There is no other offering, no other kind of offering. There is no visible versus invisible offering. There is no transubstantiation in which the bread and juice mystically become the literal body and blood of the Lord offered on the altar or consubstantiation in which the bread and juice literally coexist with the body and blood of the Lord. Rather, we have reminders of the body and blood of the Lord in the bread and the fruit of the vine.
In the Lord’s Supper we proclaim Jesus has died (see 1 Corinthians 11:26) even though He now lives until the time when He returns. However, He does not die again and again and again. He is not offered again and again and again. He is not sacrificed again and again and again. Jesus died, was sacrificed, offered Himself only once.
As we worship God, may we remember His death with the Lord’s Supper, eating the bread which represents His body and drinking the fruit of the vine which reminds us of His blood. Let us proclaim our faith in His death though He is alive evermore. Let us continue to do so until He returns. And let us praise the Lord because He did die, but He will return.
Tomorrow’s reading is Hebrews 9.
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Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family
- What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
- Why do you think it is important to understand we aren’t sacrificing Jesus and He is not offering Himself again and again and again?
- Why is it important for us to participate in the Lord’s Supper as a memorial again and again and again?
- How do you think the Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of the Lord’s death until He comes?
- What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?
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