Rumor Has It (Joshua 22)

First Scripture Reading: Joshua 22:1-20

Second Scripture Reading: Joshua 22:21-34

Sermon Text: Joshua 22:1-34

This Sunday we will celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. This sacrament is one of the means God uses to strengthen our faith. As we prepare to partake of the sacrament, consider these words from John Calvin as he explains how we truly commune with the whole Christ in this meal:

But though it seems an incredible thing that the flesh of Christ, while at such a distance from us in respect of place, should be food to us, let us remember how far the secret virtue of the Spirit passes all our conceptions and how foolish it is to wish to measure its immensity by our feeble capacity. Therefore what our mind does not comprehend let faith conceive—namely that the Spirit truly unites things separated by space. The sacred communion of the flesh and blood by which Christ transfuses his life into us, just as if it penetrated our bones and marrow, he testifies and seals in the Supper, and that not by presenting a vain or empty sign, but by here exerting an efficacy of the Spirit by which he fulfills the promises. And truly the thing there signified he exhibits and offers to all who sit down at that spiritual feast, although believers only who receive this great benefit with true faith and heartfelt gratitude beneficially receive it. For this reason the apostle said, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (Institutes, 4.17.10)