The Real Presence (a sermon for June 28, 2020)

I recently finished Eric Metaxas’ massive biography of Martin Luther. In addition to some new insights and anecdotes—as well as his casting doubt on some beloved but untrue legends—one of the things I liked best in the book was being reminded just how reasonable and, dare I say it, right Luther was about Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist!

With radicals screaming on either side, Luther bravely steered a middle course.

On one side was the Catholic Church. While they also believed in Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist, Catholics tied that belief to what I still think is the weak argument of transubstantiation. In brief, transubstantiation argues that, at a specific point in the liturgy—when a bell is rung—what one moment before was bread and wine, was now, really—as in scientifically—something else.

Now, it was really—as in, scientifically—Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. What may look like bread or wine is mere appearance. It isn’t bread and wine. It’s actually Christ’s body and blood.

That’s one extreme. The other extreme was within Protestantism itself. Ulrich Zwingli and others insisted that what once was bread and wine was still bread and wine. Obviously! Christ could not really be present in the elements of communion. After all, they argued, wasn’t Christ now seated at the right hand of God in heaven? He can’t be two places at once, can he?

Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, therefore, is as a memorial, a reminder of Christ’s presence in our lives! And their “proof” were Christ’s words, “Do this in remembrance of me!” Christ isn’t present in the Eucharist, they said. The idea of Christ is present in the Eucharist.

Between these two extremes, Luther steered a middle course. A middle course I still admire and respect! Take Christ at his word, Luther insisted. When Jesus says, “This is my Body … This is my Blood,” is means is! Christ says he really is present in the bread and wine of communion!

So take Christ at his word! You may not be able to explain it. But, you don’t need to explain it, do you? You need to receive it! Is means is!

OK! So much for that. But, you may be wondering, why am I talking about that now? Today’s readings certainly don’t have an obvious eucharistic theme to them, do they?

They don’t. But they do have something that, in all my years, I never noticed before! They have this: “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,” Jesus says, “and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

Do you hear it? Do you get it?

Take Jesus at his word! Me means me! Or, to be precise, me means Jesus! The real presence of Jesus!

For the last couple of weeks we’ve been hearing Jesus commission us to say what he says and do what he does in our world.

While acknowledging that doing so is controversial—just like Jesus is controversial—we’ve said that we are to enact the Kingdom of Heaven through healing, helping, cleansing, and—especially—eradicating the demonic powers that cripple people’s lives.

Today, then, Jesus completes this pep talk by talking about the real presence! And, in doing so, first notice what Jesus does not say! He does not say that when people "receive you” it’s like they’re receiving the living presence of Jesus! Nor is Jesus is saying, “when they welcome you it’s as if they’re welcoming me."

No! Me means me!

How would Luther put it? Trust Jesus’ words! When Jesus says, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me,” meaning, of course, God!

We are the real presence of the risen Lord Jesus in the world.

This is actually a message that we heard—even in quarantine—during the Easter season. On several Sundays we talked about how when Jesus breathes on us—when he gives us his Spirit—we, the Church, are literally his Body on Earth!

But, speaking for myself, I hadn’t expected to find that same message here in Matthew’s gospel well before Jesus’ death and resurrection!

But, there it is! And, then, once you notice that, you begin to notice other places where Jesus makes the same point!

We’ll confine ourselves just to Matthew’s gospel. Here’s a saying of Jesus’ that I bet you’re already familiar with. In chapter 18, Jesus promises us, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

You know that, right? But have you really appreciated what Jesus is saying? He isn’t saying, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, it’s like or as if I’m right there with them!”

No! Jesus is again promising his real presence in our lives! “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them”!

Then there’s the famous parable of the sheep and goats, found only in Matthew’s gospel. You’re probably familiar with this, too.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and is seated on his throne he will separate people like sheep from goats. When questioned as to why which nation ends up in which group, the Son of Man replies, “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

Shocked, they ask when they did all this to and for him. You know what he says! “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

Again, note. He doesn’t say, “It’s as if you did it to me.” No, Jesus consistently speaks about his real presence in our world!  “As you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it [or did not do it!] to me”!

Earlier this week, I came across a video from one of my favorite professors. In it, he simply points out that the word frequently translated in English as righteousness is the word that, in Greek, also means justice. Thus, in the Sermon on the Mount, what we frequently translate as “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” can—and perhaps should—also be translated as “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice”!

Five times in today’s reading from Romans, our translation exclusively used the word righteousness.We’re no longer slaves of sin, Paul says. We have been brought by God from death to life so that we may now be slaves and instruments of righteousness.

Without dropping that understanding and translation of Paul’s words, I dare us all to imagine that, by bringing us from death to life, God has also made us into slaves and instruments of God’s justice!

After all, it isn’t that we simply can or should be the real presence of Christ in our world! As we do with communion, let us dare to trust Jesus’ words. We are the real presence of Christ today in our world!

In Jesus' name. Amen.