Thoughts on the Divine Service
23. The Words of Our Lord
Dear friends,
Following the Lord’s Prayer in the Service of the Sacrament, the pastor says “The Words of Our Lord.” Other hymnals call them “The Words of Institution.” Both terms are correct: Jesus spoke these words to institute the Lord’s Supper, but “The Words of Our Lord” remind us that Jesus is divine and that His Word accomplishes what He says (Is. 55:11). The Lord spoke and so created the heavens and the earth. He spoke and summoned Lazarus back to life and out of the tomb. He speaks, and His body and blood are in, with and under bread and wine.
Here’s a question: when the pastor says The Words of Our Lord, who is he talking to? Who are the words for? There are, I think, three options.
One option is that the words are for God. If the pastor is speaking to God, then the words are a prayer, and a prayer is something we offer. In other words, a prayer is a sacrifice, like “a sacrifice of praise” (Hebrews 13:15). That would make the Words of Our Lord into our work done in obedience to God. If this sounds hair-splitting, it’s not meant to be. In a Roman Catholic liturgy, the Words of Our Lord are included within a prayer because Catholicism teaches that we re-offer Jesus’ body and blood to the Father in the Holy Communion, receiving forgiveness because of this “bloodless (or unbloody) sacrifice.” But we are saved by grace, not by works; and such a sacrifice would be a work.
Another option is that the words are for the bread and wine. This could imply that the pastor considers the words to be a magical incantation that, when spoken, changes the bread and wine to include Christ’s body and blood—like, say, a sorcerer in a fairy tale might speak some spell to turn a child into a toad. Anytime you’re comparing the Lord’s gracious works and ways to sorcery, you’re on the wrong track.
The third, and correct, option is that these words are for you. The pastor is proclaiming what Jesus has done to the congregation. In these words for you, you hear that Jesus has given His body “for you” and that He has shed His blood “for you.” By these words of the Lord, that same body and blood are present in bread and wine for you, for the forgiveness of sins. In a profound observation, Luther says that the Supper is the gospel: it is the same Jesus, the same body and blood, that died and rose again for you.
By His holy Word, then, Jesus is present with His people in His Supper. Throughout the Divine Service, the liturgy is full of Scripture that is rich with grace and life; but at the same time, the entire service is building up to this—the Savior visiting His people, complete with His body and blood that were offered on the cross, then raised again on the third day. Christ the Bridegroom comes to visit His bride, the Church, as they await the Last Day and the marriage feast of the Lamb in heaven. Christ comes to visit you, to strengthen your body and soul with His body and blood unto life everlasting.
How can this be? Because He says so. These are the Words of the Lord. (Thanks be to God!)
One nerdy note…. You’ve probably noticed that there are two options for speaking the Words of Our Lord in Divine Service 1 (page 162), and I always opt for the right-hand column. This is intentional: the left-hand column has the Words of Our Lord surrounded by prayers, which could mistakenly indicate that they are a prayer too. If our altar was freestanding away from the wall, I’d be happy to use the left-hand column. I’d pray facing the front of the sanctuary with the congregation, walk to the other side to speak the Words of Our Lord to the people, then walk around and face the front of the church before continuing with the next prayer. Given the traditional position of our altar against the wall, I face directly forward to pray; and for the Words of Our Lord, I stand sort of sideways in order to speak to you while directing your attention to the elements on the altar.