The Common Cup
This week I want to begin with “Weekly Paragraphs for the Holy Sacrament” by Austin Farrer in THE CROWN OF THE YEAR, Dacre Press, Westminster:
TRINITY ix
"WHEN we exchange between us the words of the sursum corda, the lifting of our hearts to the Lord will be more than a pious aspiration, it will be a divine fact. The sacrament is the presence of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is in heaven. He stoops to us in this Sacrament, as he does through his whole incarnation; but he stoops to lift us to himself. In a true mystery, not in edifying fancy, we are with him in that divine place. There is the whole Church of God; there are the saints who pray for us in their glory, and there by the power of hope are the souls, for whom we pray that they may speedily be joined with the saints. The saints, the souls departed and the Church on earth in every place are one life and one prayer through Christ their high priest. The effort, in mutual communion, of each spirit living or departed is requisite for the perfection of the Body of Christ. All are the support of each, and the whole hangs upon heaven in a point which is the Lord Jesus."
I recently had a conversation with someone about the use of the common cup at Communion. The conversation reminded me that it is important for us to understand why we use a common cup. Of course, there are concerns about germs; however, remarkably, mystically, no disease attributed to the shared communion cup has ever been reported. Too often, this is where the conversation stops: “There is no good reason not to use it, so we use it.” Fair, but we miss the deeper scriptural and theological implications if we stop here.
We use a common cup because that is what Christ instituted in the Last Supper; they drank from one cup. When the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, He took the cup, gave thanks, and offered it to his disciples, saying, "Drink from it, all of you" (Matthew 26:27). This instruction is striking. It stresses that the disciples must drink together from the one cup. Apparently, that drinking together from the same cup is part of Christ's command. In that light, we need to understand what Mark mentions, "and they all drank from it" (Mark 14:23). The one cup coincides with the one bread and expresses the oneness that is central to the meal (1 Corinthians 10:16,17). The apostle Paul also speaks of "the cup of the Lord." (1 Corinthians 10:21; 11:25-27).
In a world where individuality is so stressed, we can forget that our relationship with God, while personal, is also corporate, as we are the one Body of Christ. When we come to Communion, something is lost if there is no concept of communing together, as the Body. Just as Rev. Farrer points out, in the Body of Christ we share in the mutual and mystical communion of the church militant and the church triumphant; those in heaven and those on earth. As we are united with Christ, we share in his one death. This is the hope for all Christians, both on earth and those in heaven. Christ asks the disciples, "Can you drink from the cup that I am going to drink?" Or again, in Gesthemene, Christ prays, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." So as we come and receive the chalice, we receive the means of grace given to us in the death of Christ. The one chalice points to Christ's once and for all sacrifice for the world. Our identity is together, just as our hope of salvation comes from one source, Jesus Christ.
So, as we come to Holy Communion, we come as one Body; we lift our hearts as one; and we come and share in the one Cup, which is the sacramental Blood of Christ shed for us. Christianity isn’t an individualistic faith; we need one another, for together we are the Body of Christ.
God’s Peace,
Fr. Aaron