Ebola and the Communion. Where is your faith? Week 35, 2014

The call came in the early hours of the morning. It was some minutes before 5a.m. when my telephone rang. It was a friend inquiring about the efficacy of a salt-water bath in preventing Ebola fever. I assured her it had no basis. Then my wife got a call on the same issue. It turned out instructions to take a saline bath and drink salt water (no concentration or volume prescribed) had gone viral in the country. Several people from literate to unschooled, government officials and lowly placed, health workers and even church workers succumbed to the strange instructions and applied salty water on their bodies and drank brine. The result was predictable: many became sick and some died.

The order of Holy Communion in many a Christian denomination involves a greeting of peace during which a handshake (or an embrace) is offered. In some there is one cup shared among all communicants. So as to avoid Ebola transmission it was recommended by some that during the sign of peace no handshakes or embracing be done. I also heard there was talk of abolishing (even if temporarily) the shared cup. And this recommendation was not for an Ebola isolation ward, but for symptomless people. Now I am no apologetic of techniques in the Holy Communion, and am quite at home (having participated worship-fully) with differing denominational communion orders. However I ask, “Why do people readily succumb to an unlicensed practice coming from unknown sources but are ready to drop elements of the Holy Communion?” “Lack of faith” was the answer a lady gave me. I agree. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? Mk 4:40(KJV) 

Do we really believe the communion is a means of grace, a spiritual feast where the Lord Himself is present? When the minister says, “Draw near with faith: receive the body and blood of the Lord...” is it mere talk? Is there power in the blood of Jesus Christ or is this mere ritual? They who risk getting sick after taking the Holy Communion are those who take it unworthily. If you eat and drink without paying attention to those who are the Lord's body, your eating and drinking will cause you to be judged guilty. That is why many in your group are sick and weak, and many have died1Cor 11:29, 30(ERV). All who come to the communion trusting in the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice should expect grace. I have personally been healed of an arthritic condition after the communion for over ten years now. And I am not alone. Was it the technique of the communion? By no means. It is his name—that is, by faith in his name—that has healed this man whom you see and know. Yes, the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you Act 3:16(ISV). The communion is not for those who lack faith in the shed blood of Jesus. We expose them to grave danger when they come in unrepentant sin (not Ebola threats). Let all who come to the Lord’s Table trust He will meet them with grace and in power. Let all who see the cup of the Lord as a health risk repent.