{"id":21849,"date":"2015-07-22T06:00:41","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T10:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=21849"},"modified":"2015-07-21T20:27:39","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T00:27:39","slug":"offering-our-body-and-blood-to-our-neighbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/07\/offering-our-body-and-blood-to-our-neighbor\/","title":{"rendered":"Offering our body and blood to our neighbor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Thanks to Steve Bauer, who, in commenting on our earlier post<\/a> on the connection Luther saw between receiving Holy Communion and loving our neighbor, quoted this remarkable passage from A Sermon on Confession and the Lord\u2019s Supper<\/a>, in which Luther says that after we hear Christ\u2019s words, \u201cTake, eat, this is my body. . ..this is my blood,\u201d we should turn to our neighbor and offer him our<\/em> body and blood.\u00a0 Read the passage, which is more eloquent than I can paraphrase, after the jump.<\/p>\n

From Martin Luther, A Sermon on Confession and the Lord\u2019s Supper:<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Now when you receive the Lord\u2019s Supper, go forth and exercise your faith. The sacrament serves to the end that you may be able to say, I have the public declaration that my sins are forgiven; besides my mouth has received the public symbol, this I can testify, as also I have testified before the devil and all the world. When death now and an evil conscience assail you, you can rely on this and defy the devil and sin, and thus strengthen your faith and gladden your conscience towards God, and amend your life day by day, where otherwise you would be slothful and cold, and the longer you remained away the more unfit you would be. But if you feel that you are unfit, weak and lacking, where will you obtain strength here? Do you mean to wait until you have grown pure and strong, then indeed you will never come and you will never obtain any benefit from the holy communion\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

But the second thought springing from the first is Christian love, and this also deserves attention. It is our duty to let the benefit and fruit of the Lord\u2019s Supper become manifest, and we ought to show that we have received it with profit. We at present see it received throughout all the world in so many celebrations of the mass, but where do you see the least fruit following from it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Now this is the fruit, that even as we have eaten and drunk the body and blood of Christ the Lord, we in turn permit ourselves to be eaten and drunk, and say the same words to our neighbor, Take, eat and drink; and this by no means in jest, but in all seriousness, meaning to offer yourself with all your life, even as Christ did with all that he had, in the sacramental words. As if to say, Here am I myself, given for you, and this treasure do I give to you; what I have you shall have; when you are in want, then will I also be in want; here, take my righteousness, life, and salvation, that neither sin, nor death, nor hell, nor any sorrow may overcome you; as long as I am righteous and alive, so long shall you also be righteous and alive.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These are the words he speaks to us; these we must take, and repeat them to our neighbor, not by the mouth alone, but by our actions, saying, Behold, my dear brother, I have received my Lord; he is mine, and I have more than enough and great abundance. Now you take what I have, it shall be yours, and I place it at your disposal. Is it necessary for me to die for you, I will even do that. The goal placed before us in the Lord\u2019s Supper is that the attainment of such conduct toward our neighbor may appear in us.<\/em><\/p>\n

(II:193-214 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House,Grand Rapids, MI)<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Steve Bauer, who, in commenting on our earlier post on the connection Luther saw between receiving Holy Communion and loving our neighbor, quoted this remarkable passage from A Sermon on Confession and the Lord\u2019s Supper, in which Luther says that after we hear Christ\u2019s words, \u201cTake, eat, this is my body. . ..this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[1031,2480,1386],"class_list":["post-21849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology","tag-holy-communion","tag-love-of-neighbor","tag-martin-luther"],"yoast_head":"\nOffering our body and blood to our neighbor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thanks to Steve Bauer, who, in commenting on our earlier post on the connection Luther saw between receiving Holy Communion and loving our neighbor,\" 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