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The Victory Feast
Beowulf is one of the greatest medieval epic poems. It's set in Scandinavia. And towards the start of the poem, Beowulf sails to land of Danes, to rescue them from Grendel - a man-eating monster. The Danes have been terrorised by Grendel, and are completely helpless. But Beowulf comes and kills Grendel in hand-to-hand combat.
After his great victory, the poem describes the Danes' celebration in the Mead Hall. It's a scene full of singing, and drinking - a rowdy, rawcous, joyful celebration.
And it's a wonderful picture of what the Lord's Supper should be.
Heb. 2:14f says, 'Since the children share in flesh and blood, [God's Son] likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.'
Like the Danes, we were helpless before our enemy the devil. But like Beowulf, Jesus came as a champion to deliver us.
God's Son took on flesh and blood - he remained fully and perfectly divine, but also became fully and perfectly human. And he did it to destroy our enemy, the devil, and to deliver us from slavery to the fear of death. As a man, on the cross, God's Son went into hand-to-hand combat with Satan. And he won.
Now, like the Danes, we celebrate our chamption's victory by eating a feast.
Just as Jesus took on flesh and blood, so we now feed on his flesh and blood.
And like the Danes's feast, this should be an occasion of great and uninhibited rejoicing -
- celebrating Jesus our champion
- celebrating our deliverance from the devil
- celebrating because now we enjoy the security and safety to feast together without fear
So the setting and the atmosphere of the Lord's Supper isn't that of a funeral. It's not a time of quiet introspection.
The setting and atmosphere of the Lord's Supper is that of a victory banquet, a mead hall, complete with loud, exhuberant, joyful singing and celebration.
So, as the bread and wine come round, we'll remain seated, and sing. As we do so, look at each other, smile, enjoy the sounds, the tastes, the company. And rejoice!
Comments
Beowulf
Beowulf is truely great but I'm not so sure the feast in the Mead Hall should be seen as a model for the Lord's Supper. The truth is the celebration is actually still surrounded by fear. Although Grendal - who represents the fear of the unknown in darkness breaking into the security of the Mead Hall - is dealt with his mother isn't. Beowulf deals with the three great fears of the early medieval world. The fear of the unknown in darkness (Grendal), the fear of deep water and what might be there (Grendal's mother) and the fear of death (the dragon in the graveyard). When Beowulf has conquered the latter he can die himself. It is interesting that the only allusions to the Biblical text are both from the Old Testament but the theme of conquering in Beowulf reflects in many ways the conquering of Christ.
What appears to be more Eucharistic is the meeting with Christ on the road to Emmaus. They do not recognise him until the breaking of the bread and then they proclaim the gospel to the others. Our celebration of the Lord's Supper should be a celebration but only so we can go out and share the joy of the Gospel not the fears of the Saxon world.