Editorial

Showing the Lord's Death until He Comes by Ken Ryland

This is a special time of the year for most Christians. It's hard not to reflect on the life and sacrifice of Jesus during that last week leading up to Passover nearly 2000 years ago. For a large number of Sabbath-keeping Christians, this is the one time during the year that they commemorate the Lord's death by taking the Lord's Supper, or Communion as it is often called. I fear that too often we allow our disagreements over which is the "correct" day for this observance to overshadow its profound and far-reaching significance. My only comment on this matter is that it should be obvious to every Christian that it is better to take the Lord's Supper than not to take it, for by taking it we "show the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). After all, that's why our Lord asked us to do it in the first place.

I am one of those who holds to this most ancient of Church traditions, the observance of the Lord's Supper in alignment with the Passover. Those who followed this tradition in the early Church were called "Quartodecimens" by the bishop of Rome. While the Western Church under the influence of Rome pulled away from the traditions of the apostles, eventually substituting Easter for the Lord's Supper/Passover observance, most Christians in the Levant and in peripheral areas of the Roman Empire (such as Britain) clung to the apostolic tradition of observing the Lord's Supper on the 14th day for the first Hebrew month (hence the term "quartodecimen," meaning the fourteenth).

I would encourage any Christian to read up on the Quartodecimen Controversy. It was truly a watershed event in the early Church. The conflict over when to observe the Lord's Supper begins with the trip of Polycarp (disciple of the apostle John and bishop of Smyrna) to Rome to meet with Anicetus, bishop of Rome (160-162 A.D.). Polycarp, in his eighties at the time, was unable to convince Anicetus to return to the tradition of the apostles. Although they parted amicably, there was no peace between the Roman Church and the Eastern Church until Rome finally crushed the tradition of the 14th and substituted Easter in its place. For the Church in Rome, the traditions of the Eastern Church (including seventh-day Sabbath observance) were too Jewish to be retained.

But, I must repeat that, in spite of my own reasons for adhering to the Quartodecimen tradition, I believe that God would much rather see Christians observe the Lord's Supper than not, even if the shape of their practices does not align with my own. It is indeed the substance of what we are observing that matters most—that we are observing the Lord's death until He comes, that we are commemorating the shedding of His blood to blot out our sins, that we can now approach the Throne of Grace and be welcomed as sons and daughters of the One True God. This is the New Covenant in His blood that He spoke of (Luke 22:20).

Last year at this time many of us saw "The Passion of the Christ." It is not a picture that I wish to see a second time; it's brutal and very honest about the suffering that Jesus took in my place. I think it was an eye-opener for many people who always looked at the Crucifixion in philosophical terms. After seeing the movie, it's impossible to think of Jesus' crucifixion as anything but a real, brutal murder. Yet, He knew it was coming and submitted to it willingly—all that so that I could approach the Throne of Grace and enjoy a relationship with Him and the Father that was not possible before that time.

I also believe that this season of the year not only brings us closer to God, but to each other. It's hard to go through our annual personal self-examination without a sense of community with others who are doing the same (1 Corinthians 11:28: "A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup." And, 2 Corinthians 13:5: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-unless, of course, you fail the test?"—NKJV).

As we once again remind ourselves of our own weaknesses, our failings and tendency to sin, we should also be reminded that we are all equal in our inability to save ourselves. As we once stood side by side before the Judge of all creation, we now stand as equals before our Savior and King. There is no better time than this. We should relish it in fellowship with all who have been saved by His Grace.

—Kenneth Ryland

TSS

March - April 2005 The Sabbath Sentinel