The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 546

Inducing aeplrit or watchrulnees. 1. We need to 'be on our guard again8t unfaithfulnes11 The danger comes when it is least expected. He who is anxious lest he shall betray hie Master will be the first to detect the temptation that points the way of treason. 2. Ohriat can keep hi8 people faithful. We are not left to be the victims of chance, nor are we entirely committed to the charge of our own wayward wills. Christ will cot keep any from falling by force, apart from the concurrence of their own will. But he can and he does preserve those who seek his grace and trust his aid. He is able to keep such from falling (Judo 24).-W. F. A. Vere. 26-29.-The Lord's Supper. We must never forget that this central ordi- nance of our Christian worship was instituted by our Lord himself. It is an indication of his foresight and forbearance; for it shows first that he 11aw we should need to be repeatedly reminded of what he is to ue, and then that he condescended to help the infirmity of our wandering natures by providing the most impressive means for con- tinually presenting the great central facts of his work before our minds and hearts. He enlists the services of the three senses of eight, taste, and touch, to aid the sense of hearing in bringing before ue the vital truths of bis gospel. I. THE CHRISTIAN FEEDS UPON CHBIST. 1. Christ himself. These elements do not represent abstract doctrines or moral precepts; the theory of redemption or the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount. They represent Jesus. He is our Life. 2. ahrist received asfood. We eat the bread and drink the wine. Christ is the Bread of life. We must personally participate in Christ, and receive him into our lives, in order to profit by hie grace. 3. ahrist as every-day food. Jesus chose the common bread and wine of the country, such as were always at hand. He does not wish to be a rare luxury for wedding feasts and kings' banquets. He will be the poor man's bread, and his daily bread. Yet this is what is most essential. Some people look for rare deli- cacies in Christ, but they will not make him their daily Bread. Then they will starve. We must live upon Christ. II. CHBIST BECOMES AS FOOD TO OUR SOULS IN HIS INOaRNA'tION. These elements do not represent the soul of Jesus. They stand for hie body and his blood. Strange speculations have risen around this fact, and some have imagined that the properties of the spiritual, of the Divine nature itself, were transferred to the body of our Lord. It is straining the words of Jesus, and putting an unnatnral meaning on his language, to suppose any such miraculous transformation of his body to have taken place. In a simpler way we may understand that it is through his incarnation that he becomes our food. Food must be in some way like what feeds on it in order that it may be fully assimilated and absorbed. Christ becomes one with us in his incarna- tion. We can come near to him in his earthly life. We can touch him, and sym- pathize with him, and understand him in some degree. Thus we feed on his body and blood, and so receive him. III. CHRIST GIVES IIIMSELF TO us IN ms DEATH. The bread is broken; the wine is poured out; and these two elements are taken separately. Thus our Lord sets before us the thought of hie death. He could not be our Life if he had not given up his own life. It is not the body of Christ in his earthly ministry, it is the body on the cross, that feeds us. It is not the blood in the veins, it is the blood shed, that saves us. The Lord's Supper was instituted on the night before Jesus was betrayed. It pointed on to the cross. It is now the great memorial of Christ in his sacrifice for us. In conclusion, let us consider how we may approach this sacred feast. We cannot eat and drink "worthily" if we are to be worthy of Christ or free from all sin before we come. This is impossible, and it is not required of us; for Christ is himself the Saviour from sin. What we want is to recognize him as our Life, to trust in him as our Saviour, to surrender to him as our Lord. Then we can come to his table at his own invitation, and refresh our souls with his grace.-W. F. A. Ver. 28.-" The blood of the new CO'llffiant." This verse is intensely interesting, because it contains one of our Lord's r11re sayings about the purpose of his death. ~'or the most part the New Testament teachings on that great theme come from the apostles, who reflected on the event after it had passed into history, and with the light of the Resur- rection upon it, Still, it is not just to say that the apostles originated the doctrine of the 652 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTilEW. [en. uv1, 1-76'