Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 13:1-18; Acts 23:12-35
What is the Sacrament of the Altar? It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink. (Small Catechism, the Sacrament of the Altar)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Catechism gives us a great explanation of the Lord's Super. Jesus doesn't merely die for our sins, He makes sure we receive that forgiveness by giving us His body and blood to eat so that He might live in us and we in Him and then He will raise us on the Last Day.
What is the Sacrament? Not a symbol. Not something that makes us remember something else. It IS the body and blood of Christ. It is Christ Himself present among us.
Where is it? Christ's body isn't just up in heaven somewhere. It's right here, in His church, where the bread and wine are consecrated with His words. That bread and that cup with His Words give us this life-giving gift.
Who gave it? Pastor didn't make this up. The church didn't invent it. It doesn't come from somebody's imagination. No, this gift is given by Christ Himself as His last will and testament. It is the Lord's Words which institute this sacrament and tell us what it gives—the forgiveness of sins.
What do we do with it? This is very simple. Our Lord tells us. We eat and drink it. This saving gift comes to us not as a magic amulet to hang around our neck or some kind of idol on a pedestal or some other superstitious thing. No, it is a meal―body to eat and blood to drink. Just as the Passover lamb was killed and eaten, so the Lamb of God is killed and eaten for our salvation, protecting us from the Angel of Death.
What a precious gift! What a holy treasure! What a joyous meal! What a wonderful work of delivering what He won for us on the cross. The Lord's Supper is His gift to you, in which He gives to you all that He won for you. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
As His pledge of love undying, He, this precious food supplying, Gives His body with the bread, And with the wine the blood He shed. (LSB 627:2)