15. The Eucharist

We are not changing topics; this remains a discussion of the breaking of the seals from off of Christ written upon the hearts of His Church. Nonetheless, when we combine the meaning of the Eucharist with the picture of this scroll taken by the Lamb from the One seated upon the throne, we are blown quite out of our sensibilities.

But before opening up the meaning of eu-charis further than we have seen before, I had this wondrous thought as I was finishing the last letter on the scroll.

Having been written from within and from behind (Revelation 5:1). A scroll, as you know, is a long piece of vellum, maybe a foot and a half high, but many feet long. To read something in a scroll, one must unroll it out onto a table until you come to the part you want to read. I think that typically a scroll is written only on the inside, though I’m not actually sure.

This scroll John sees, however, is definitely written on both sides. Now, in the last letter, I compared what is written on the outside as the outer form of the Bible. However, I also realized that much of what is written on the “outside” is rolled up and pressed together against what is written on the “inside” all the way through. Only a small part of what is written on the outside is visible to everyone, as the Bible is, able to become mental ideas in people’s minds.

Keep this picture in your minds, then, for we will come back to it, this picture of words that are your own human story and words that are all the good-speaking of Christ, all rolled together into one seamless story that unfolds as the life you and Jesus live together as the revelation of Father. In other words, picture the bulk of this scroll as one more way to see symmorphy and, especially, John 14:20 (the picture of concentric circles with us sandwiched in the middle).

Then we see these contrasting words.

And they are singing a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain and You bought to God inside Your blood [people] out of every tribe and language… (Revelation 5:9) – versus – And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living thing saying, “Come!” And I looked and behold a black horse and the one sitting upon it having a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the midst of the four living things saying, “A measure…” (Revelation 6:5-6).

This is the issue of the Day of Atonement “The Lamb is worthy” versus “the sacrifice of Christ is not enough. God is not speaking of you.”

Again, keep this action of Jesus, as He breaks away the seal of unbelief regarding the sufficiency of Christ, in the back of your mind as we turn, now, to the Eucharist.

Here are three accounts of what is called “the eucharist” because that is the word used by Paul regarding Jesus’ speaking just before the “last supper.” I have translated eu-charis directly that is, speaking good grace. The regular translation, “give thanks,” is also of great weight.

Having spoken good grace, He broke [the bread] and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me, in bringing Me into your mind. Likewise also the cup, having eaten, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood; this do, as often as you might drink, in remembrance of Me, in bringing Me into your mind” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:26-28).

My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. The one eating My flesh and drinking My blood lives and abides inside of Me and I inside of him.

As the living Father sent Me, and I live through the Father, so also the one feeding on Me, even he will live through Me (John 6:55-57).

I am convinced that John did not think in terms of what he wrote here in John 6 all the while he was walking with the other disciples in Jerusalem. None of Jesus’ disciples knew anything except regarding an external gospel, that Jesus did something wonderful for us. It was only while sitting inside the thinking of Paul’s gospel in Ephesus for more than two decades that John began to consider things Jesus said that none of the disciples had ever understood and thus had never shared with the Church.

Jesus’ words in John 6, then, are the interpretation and application of the words He spoke to His disciples at the “last supper.”

Let’s rehearse the two “interpretations” given to Jesus’ instructions to us regarding “the Eucharist,” which the Catholics call “the Mass” and the Protestants call, “the communion service.”

By drawing from John 6, the Catholics turned Jesus’ instructions into an external ritual and placed that ritual as the most important practice for salvation. Because their definition of “transubstantiation” is so true in its essence, there is some heart in the Catholic approach. Of course, in application, their definition of “transubstantiation” is of the contract between Adam and the serpent.

In its application, the “Mass” is ruled by the “holiness of God” as it is defined by seeing God through the serpent merged with the arrogant contempt Adam chose in order to dominate all lesser humans. If the definition of “transubstantiation” were applied to the humans partaking of Christ himself, that they become the body and life of Christ, literally and actually, then the Catholics would not have been Jezebel. And the priest would have been on his knees before the recipient, deeply honored to serve Jesus Himself, rather than the other way around.

The Protestants, on the other hand, threw out the part of the ritual that is transubstantiation, keeping only the form. They threw out John 6, because they had no idea what it meant, and defined the communion service as nothing more than bringing ideas into the intellect concerning something that happened long, long ago. Because the Protestants made the gospel the province of intellectual reasoning only, there was no heart left inside their practice.

Yet look at what Jesus places right in the center of what He means by eating of His flesh and drinking His blood – you live inside of Me and I live inside of you.

Symmorphy – two persons sharing the same form, the same spiritual form and the same physical form, that is, the same body and the same spirit.

So, if my body is Jesus’ body, our shared expression together, and my spirit is Jesus’ Spirit, our perfect union together, where do we intermingle? Where do we find Jesus and us together in sweet communion?

We find the communion inside our souls.

The merging of body and Body is one flesh. The merging of spirit and Spirit is also one. The merging of soul with soul is two in continuous and intimate communion together.

Fellowship is the Hheart of God. Koinonia is the center of symmorphy.

We are talking about something NOT found in either the Catholic/Orthodox version or the Protestant/Charismatic version, although it is hinted at in the Catholic even while being placed utterly into the contract Adam made with the serpent.

(I just finished writing of Adam’s crime in the garden in Set My People Free, and this has all become so simple and clear to us.)

Now, I said earlier that we are not leaving the larger topic of this series. Nonetheless, I want to forget about everything else and focus on the real meaning for us of the Eucharist in our lives. And – I just looked up what “Mass” was in Latin – it is “mis” as in “mission,” that is, a sending or a sent one, which is “apostle” in Greek, or, for us, knowing Jesus Sent into us.

Symmorphy – you inside of Me and I inside of you – so clearly the heart and meaning of Paul’s gospel and of John’s gospel – is not a concept that is well-known or considered in most definitions of being a human in this world.

And, of course, Jesus’ words in John 6 – except you eat My flesh and drink My blood – were against everything the Jewish mind held to be “of God.” Look at Jesus’ words. – The one eating My flesh and drinking My blood lives and abides inside of Me and I inside of Him. These are almost pagan words. And to understand and live by their reality, we must consider a concept found more in fairy tale than in most conceptions of what being a human is all about.

Remember, when Jesus said these words, He experienced a massive loss of followers. Multitudes “unsubscribed” from His “emails.” Only eleven very confused young men continued hanging around Him, along with a psychopath who still hoped to gain some advantage.

In fairy-tale, there are sometimes humans who have the ability to enter into the soul of an animal and thus see out of that animal’s eyes and share with the animal everything it is seeing, doing, feeling, and thinking. And we see this concept included in many modern-day “fantasy” stories. I have referred to two such instances in my letters, that is, the connection taking place between a Navi and an animal in Avatar and the communion of soul inside of soul that Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, shared together in Paolini’s epic creation, The Inheritance Cycle.

Christopher Paolini created two primary characters, a young man, Eragon, and a dragon, Saphira, who was a sentient being sharing full personal consciousness even greater than that known by the humans in that “world.” The young man and the dragon were united soul with soul, not all the time, but whenever they chose to connect together. When the two were united, each could share the other’s thoughts and feelings and experience seeing out through one another’s eyes. The fellowship of soul with soul the two shared inside of one another gives us the best picture I know regarding how Jesus and we share our souls together. Nonetheless, in that story, the two did not share the same body.

The thing about Eragon and Saphira’s relationship of soul inside of soul in that story is that it appears to the reader as utterly REAL. Yet they do not share bodies or spirits, but only souls together. Our relationship with Jesus is far more intense, far more intimate, and far more together. Our relationship with Jesus is one body shared, one spirit shared, and two souls intermingled together as one.

Reading the Bible with a “Christian” mind NEVER makes these things REAL. The Christian is so accustomed to separation, to a Jesus and a salvation far away, that the reality of God here and God now inside of their persons never penetrates their psyches.

Now, I am not suggesting that symmorphy with an animal is anything but vile and contrary to God, any more than Jesus would have suggested that eating His flesh and drinking His blood, in any outward cannibalistic way, would have been anything but vile and contrary to God.

What I want is REAL. And I have found that characters in a story I am reading make my own relationship with Jesus, in the way God actually describes it, to come alive to me as REAL.

Think of this – you have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2), and – Let this same mind be inside of you (Philippians 2). I do not take this to mean that my brain, all by itself, is a “Christed” mind. My position is clear; I NEED a Savior and my Savior is NOT me.

Rather, I take it to mean, specifically, the intermingling of Jesus’ own mind, Jesus alive in my heart, in sweet fellowship with my own thoughts, and mine with His, mind inside of Mind and Mind inside of mind. Thus when I say, “See through Jesus’ eyes,” I am IN NO WAY speaking figuratively, but entirely literally.

In this feature of fairy-tale, the two souls begin to take on the characteristics of each other. As they know one another, so they become more and more like one another in thinking and expression. When they are not together, they still carry elements of each other’s soul in their own souls.

Now, I am heading towards a very definite point, and that point is eu-charis, and specifically that practice of giving thanks in and for all things.

The picture I would like us to have in our minds, however, is from James Cameron’s movie, Avatar. It’s an awesomely great story, so long as you see the Navi through the eyes of Christian practice, joining together in one spirit, hand upon shoulder, in personal and vital connection with the tree of life, with the Spirit who alone gives life.

And that concept is very much part of symmorphy, the koinonia part, our fellowship together, but it is not part of this present topic.

Instead, I want you to consider the joining of mind with mind taking place between the Navi, in this case, Jake in his Navi body, and the “horse” or “dragon” creatures on which he rode. A Navi body has “hair” in the form of one long, sort of flexible “braid,” with a large tuft of fine hair at its end. The animal also has “horns” which are slightly flexible and long, and which also have a large tuft of fine hair at the end. In order to connect with the animal to direct it, Jake must take his “braid” in one hand and the animal’s “horn” in the other hand and touch the two tufts of fine hair together. The moment they touch, the two tufts of hair intermingle together, that is, seize upon each other.

As the two tufts intermingle together, instantly, Jake finds himself connected directly with the mind of the animal. This is only a partial connection, however, as their souls do not fully intermingle. In this way, Jake is able to direct the animal, mind inside of mind.

If you were to watch Avatar, you would have this picture, of tuft intermingling with tuft resulting in soul inside of soul, clearly in your mind. That is the picture I want you to have.

That picture IS the action of giving thanks.

As Adam refused to give thanks for his weak and vile form and his narrow and “boring” circumstances, so he rejected any possibility of symmorphy with the Lord Jesus Christ.
God planted His Seed of giving thanks inside of my heart when I was fifteen years old. Thus, all through the years of my experiences inside the various expressions of Christian worship and fellowship, that Seed simply grew inside of me without a lot of input from elsewhere. I never thought of “giving thanks” as a good idea or as a doctrinal position. All I knew was that it lived inside my heart and, regardless of any and all of my frustration, anger, and stupidity, it was always there, I always returned to it, and it always grew.

I now know what it is.

When I give thanks, I am taking my “braid” in one hand and Jesus’ “braid” in the other, so to speak, and I am placing the two tufts of fine hairs together so that they might intermingle. Now Jesus is free to be Himself inside of all of my own soul, and I am free to be myself inside of all of His soul.

And when I say that it is giving thanks that does this wondrous thing, I am referring to something much greater than faith, that is, much greater than speaking the same words that Jesus is speaking. – Let me explain.

Having spoken good grace, He broke [the bread] and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this to bring Me into your mind. Likewise also the cup, having eaten, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood; this do, as often as you might drink, to bring Me into your mind.”

Jesus is speaking literally, that is, regarding His Mind, Himself in Person, entering into our minds and our minds, ourselves in person, entering into His Mind.

In eating of the bread, I acknowledge that Jesus and I share the same physical body. And yes, I’m talking about this tired and overweight thing between my eyes and my toes. And in drinking of the cup, I acknowledge that Jesus and I share the same living Spirit. And yes, I am talking about the Holy Spirit, now my spirit as much as His Spirit.

Then, inside that absolute acknowledgement, Jesus’ own Soul intermingles together with my human and personal soul, mind, emotions, and desires. And my own personal human soul intermingles together with Jesus’ Soul, mind, emotions, and desires. As we share such wondrous and sweet communion together, inside of each other, so we take on each other’s soul characteristics. I become like Him and He becomes like me (a key element of meaning in the word “abide”).

Is this not the gospel? Is this not what both Paul and John said at the heart of their message?

Yet with Jesus in the last supper, and with us in every present moment, the thing that makes this connection happen is giving thanks.

Let me explain. It is so very simple, actually.

God is All Here Now and Personal in every tiny point of space and in every brief moment of our time. Thus, it is impossible for any particle of creation not to be filled with all the fulness of God. God-All is just normal and all. The problem, of course, is knowing.

Being filled with all the fullness of God imparts no life to anyone.

Knowing God by knowing Jesus Sent into us is the only thing that is life. And this “knowing” is a quality of our shared Holy Spirit.

So – God is always utterly with me, filling every particle of my being with ALL that He is, God Himself in Person. But hey, I don’t know that at all.

So, every time my raging frustration lost its steam and my head bowed quietly in surrender and giving thanks in and for all things arose from my heart into my mind, what was happening?

I was simply acknowledging that God, my God, is utterly together with me, that we together share all these things together. No, I did not know that with my “Christian” mind, but I sure did know it in my heart.

If I grumble about my lowly form or complain about circumstances I don’t like, that is, if I curse myself and my way, I am disconnecting my knowing from Jesus’ knowing. Now we are not together at all, that is, in the imagination of my mind. Father seems far away from me, almost non-existent, and I am all alone. Jesus is not inside my mind.

But when I give thanks that my lowly and vile form reveals God and that my circumstances, good, bad, and boring, are shared by Father and me together, speaking good grace into all, turning everything that cannot know God into the knowledge of God and of goodness, then the simplest reality of soul with Soul is taking place.

Me inside of God and God inside of me. My soul intermingled with Jesus’ soul, and Jesus’ Soul intermingled with my soul.

Let me share a brief example of being together that just happened as I was recording this letter into audio. I had written more on the concept of symmorphy between humans and animals, including further examples, etc. As I was reading aloud that section, then, I began to feel disturbed. Finally, at a certain point, my sense of disturbance became too great. I resolved to reduce and re-write this section on examples from “fairy-tale,” which I have done.

Nonetheless, as I considered this experience, the temptation to see this as “God correcting me” was there, although it was not strong, and I did not give it heed. Rather, I saw that it was Father and I together who had, together, decided that some of the things I had shared, while meaningful to us – because we knew what we were talking about – would likely be a stumbling block to many good readers. Therefore, the decision to remove those things was one made by Father and me together.

Now, I am quick to realize that one can easily determine that I am bordering on “insanity.” In fact, I just watched a video on the mentally ill, many of whom are convinced that they are “the Messiah,” etc. To believe that Father and I share souls together through the Lord Jesus Christ is defined by most as madness.

But we have a problem and our problem is – Abide inside of Me and I inside of you.

Christianity has reduced this down to one thing only – an external relationship of hear and obey – Jesus, separate from me, commands and I do what He says. I have never known such a belief to produce anything real, but only psychotic pretending and the hardness of anointed foreheads.

I prefer real, that is, life, the tree of life, and life is symmorphy, the complete sharing of Soul with soul between Jesus and me and through Jesus, the Father.

Jesus was being 100% literal when He said, As the living Father sent Me, and I live through the Father, so also the one feeding on Me, even he will live through Me. If we take His words from the verse before, we also hear Him say, “And I will live through you.”

Jesus does not “replace” us, and we do not “replace” Him. It is a complete intermingling of soul with Soul, distinct and together, but taking on each other’s personal characteristics more and more over time.

It is the Eucharist. It is, very simply, the gospel.

And, it is tithemi psuche, setting forth our souls for one another.