It was good homemade, fiber-rich, deep-dark flatbread. I was given a fairly healthy chunk, and I knew it would be tasty. But the little bit of wine soaked up in intinction barely dampened the thumb-size piece, and, savory as it was, a fair amount of chewing was required. To put it simply, it was a bit hard to swallow.
This participation in Holy Communion prodded me to think about how hard it is to swallow the proposition that the body and blood of Jesus Christ is somehow in, with and under the earthly elements of bread and wine. The issue, it would seem, is that the matter is incomprehensible.
Yes.
While scholars over the ages, wise and unwise, have dogmatized on the subject and sometimes theologically decapitated others who come to different conclusions, who really understands? Consub-stantiation, receptionism, memorialism, real presence, et al aside, what is happening in that tidbit of a meal Christ gave to us, presumably for some good purpose? Who really grasps the particulars and depth of its meaning?
Answer: No one.
It might seem hard to swallow until the light dawns that we don’t have to swallow it. Meaning, we don’t have to convince ourselves that we fathom and can rationally explain what is happening in the Eucharistic event no more than one can fathom or give a proper scientific explanation for a lover’s love, be it for spouse, child or friend.
But I did see one person in particular one day who appeared to really get it.
She was maybe 3 years old and could have been one like Jesus singled out to illustrate to whom belongs the kingdom of God (Luke 18). Flaxen-haired and eyes gleaming, she received the morsel without first consulting the result of the late-’60s Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue on the Eucharist. And with no thought of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics, she dipped the hunk of bread in the wine. She dipped it deep and seemed to look at it contemplatively before popping it into her mouth.
Walking back with her parents to their seats, she unabashedly licked off her wine-red fingers.
By my lights, the whole affair for this little child of God looked to be natural, unquestioned and joyful. However one might analyze my observations, for her Holy Communion didn’t seem hard to swallow at all.
Hard to swallow or finger-licking good? Both.
