Communion Meditation, 05.17.26

Well, I think it’s a safe to say that maybe a few of us have not yet connected the sacrament of communion to the act of sneezing. Sneezing? Yes, go with me here…

In our culture it’s still polite to say after someone Sneezes, “God bless you” or “Bless you”. And we’re told that this expression originated in the middle ages during the Bubonic plague when one of the main symptoms of the plague was sneezing. And so to say, “bless you” was to utter a prayer of protection. It was to wish someone well—”May this curse be turned away from you! May you be spared from this plague, this judgment.” And even if you prefer to say the more jovial “Gazuntite”, you know what that means? It’s a German word that means “to your health”. It’s saying the same thing—may you be spared.

In 1 Corinthians 10:16, Paul calls the cup that we drink in communion, the cup of blessing. Or you might just call it the cup of protection. You see, to come under God’s blessing is to come under his divine protection, his divine safety. In communion, we drink the cup of blessing in remembrance of Jesus because on the cross Jesus drank the cup of judgment to rescue us. And so this act is not a prayer for protection; it’s proclamation of protection. When you take this cup you’re proclaiming “I have been spared”. It is a sign of our spiritual health. When we drink this cup, we are saying “Because Jesus took the curse of the law for me, I am eternally safe, I am already blessed in the most important sense of that word and it is well with my soul.” In administering this sacrament, I am not saying “God bless you”, but rather take and drink, for God has blessed you!