Sacrament Symbolism - Does This Have Any Reference At All?

[JLHPROF]

I recently had a conversation with someone and I started talking about the symbolism of the sacramental table and my friend quite rightly pointed out the me that they had never seen it written anywhere.  I did a bit of research and was unable to find any source for these connections.

So I am wondering - did I make this stuff up in my head, of has anyone actually seen reference on this:

 

Sacramental table - represents the Saviors' tomb and the division between heaven and earth

Sacramental linens - represents the linens that wrapped the Saviors body in the tomb and the veil

Those administering represent the angels that revealed the resurrected Christ and those who reveal Christ from heaven to us

Bread & Water we know represent Christ's body but also the word of Christ being taken to all mankind.

 

So the sacrament shows the death, burial, resurrection and announcement of Christ.  And more for us it shows the Gospel (word of Christ) being revealed from the other side of the veil and taken to all mankind.

 

Did I make this up, or has anyone actually seen references to this effect, because I don't remember where I got it.

[Calm]

When one also uses the original wine symbol with what happens with grapes to turn them into wine, this can add another dimension.

 

Also the location of the Garden where he suffered---Gethsamane...meaning oilpress and what that implies is happening.

 

Sorry can't find or remember anything on this.

Edited October 12, 2013 by calmoriah

[rongo]

I am not aware of any references for these, but they are all legitimate symbols and interpretations. I believe the most powerful symbols are not "nailed down" and standardized (i.e., temple), and legitimately vary between individuals.

[Flyonthewall]

I would not disagree with any of those. However, the original symbolism was simply Christ's body that was broken, and His blood that was shed for us.

Other than that, were items added for the symbolism, or were symbolism added later?

[JLHPROF]

I would not disagree with any of those. However, the original symbolism was simply Christ's body that was broken, and His blood that was shed for us.

Other than that, were items added for the symbolism, or were symbolism added later?

That's really my question - my conversation with my friend said that the linens weren't necessary (say, if you are having the sacrament at home).

[rongo]

It's not authoritative, but for what it's worth, when I bring the sacrament to invalids or shut-ins, I cover the bread/water with a white handkerchief ---- in my case, specifically to embody the tomb linens. I take one slice of bread and rip it in half (so the bread was "broken"), but offer the whole slice (two pieces) to the person, if wanted.

 

None of which is required, just a personal preference. I think that the principle would be similar to D&C on what is used: it doesn't matter as long as it's done with the right authority and the right spirit.

 

The prayers have to be word perfect, though . . .

[danieldemol]

Sacramental table - represents the Saviors' tomb and the division between heaven and earth.

What is the connection between the tomb and a table? I'm not saying what is the scriptural reference, just asking what features of a table you see as symbolic of a tomb and how or why?

[Calm]

What is the connection between the tomb and a table? I'm not saying what is the scriptural reference, just asking what features of a table you see as symbolic of a tomb and how or why?

Christ was laid on the floor or a ledge in the tomb as the emblems of his body and blood are laid upon the table.  

 

Here is one artist's conception of what the inside of the tomb looked like and he even includes tablelike structures, one of which the body would have been placed upon.

 

 

And this version which is more of a ledge:

 

Edited October 12, 2013 by calmoriah

[Garden Girl]

I am not aware of any references for these, but they are all legitimate symbols and interpretations. I believe the most powerful symbols are not "nailed down" and standardized (i.e., temple), and legitimately vary between individuals.

I heard similar things from a missionary once and thought they were quite beautiful... don't know where he got them...

 

 

 

I would not disagree with any of those. However, the original symbolism was simply Christ's body that was broken, and His blood that was shed for us.

Other than that, were items added for the symbolism, or were symbolism added later?

 

I'm not sure about the "broken" part, referring to Christ's body.... I read somewhere that it was a practice to break the legs of crucified individuals to make them suffer and succumb more quickly... and when the Roman soldier was breaking the legs of those beside Christ he stopped before breaking Christ's legs, although the soldier I doubt realized it, because Christ had to symbolically be the perfect lamb for the sacrifice thus his legs were not to be broken...and they were not... and I forget where I heard/read that...

 

GG

[danielwoods]

I heard similar things from a missionary once and thought they were quite beautiful... don't know where he got them...

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure about the "broken" part, referring to Christ's body.... I read somewhere that it was a practice to break the legs of crucified individuals to make them suffer and succumb more quickly... and when the Roman soldier was breaking the legs of those beside Christ he stopped before breaking Christ's legs, although the soldier I doubt realized it, because Christ had to symbolically be the perfect lamb for the sacrifice thus his legs were not to be broken...and they were not... and I forget where I heard/read that...

 

GG

1 Cor. 11:24 "And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me."

[mfbukowski]

The bread is broken as he was broken.  We are all like grains of wheat, ground down by sin and trials, all together as one - made one in the "body of Christ"= the loaf.  Each grain loses its life and becomes more- in unity with all the other grains. The oil to make the loaf is the oil of annointing as Christ is "the annointed".  The leavening is us, as leaven to the world to spread his gospel.

 

We take his body into us, and we become one with him, as the congregation is one together already as his body, so we are one within him both "inside" and "outside".  We are his hands and feet to do his work, as he nourishes us to do his work and his will.

 

It's really all too beautiful for words and really too sacred really.  I am almost uncomfortable saying it

[mfbukowski]

I'm not sure about the "broken" part, referring to Christ's body.... I read somewhere that it was a practice to break the legs of crucified individuals to make them suffer and succumb more quickly... and when the Roman soldier was breaking the legs of those beside Christ he stopped before breaking Christ's legs, although the soldier I doubt realized it, because Christ had to symbolically be the perfect lamb for the sacrifice thus his legs were not to be broken...and they were not... and I forget where I heard/read that...

 

GG

John 19

 

 31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that bsabbath day was an high dday,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

 32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

 33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

 

Edited October 12, 2013 by mfbukowski

[mfbukowski]

mistake

Edited October 12, 2013 by mfbukowski

[Flyonthewall]

I'm not sure about the "broken" part, referring to Christ's body.... I read somewhere that it was a practice to break the legs of crucified individuals to make them suffer and succumb more quickly... and when the Roman soldier was breaking the legs of those beside Christ he stopped before breaking Christ's legs, although the soldier I doubt realized it, because Christ had to symbolically be the perfect lamb for the sacrifice thus his legs were not to be broken...and they were not... and I forget where I heard/read that...

 

GG

Yes, indeed His bones were not broken, but as has been pointed out in a scriptural reference, His body was.

Perhaps not literally, but in the same way our heart can be broken.

[Robert F. Smith]

I recently had a conversation with someone and I started talking about the symbolism of the sacramental table and my friend quite rightly pointed out the me that they had never seen it written anywhere.  I did a bit of research and was unable to find any source for these connections.

So I am wondering - did I make this stuff up in my head, of has anyone actually seen reference on this:

 

Sacramental table - represents the Saviors' tomb and the division between heaven and earth

Sacramental linens - represents the linens that wrapped the Saviors body in the tomb and the veil

Those administering represent the angels that revealed the resurrected Christ and those who reveal Christ from heaven to us

Bread & Water we know represent Christ's body but also the word of Christ being taken to all mankind.

 

So the sacrament shows the death, burial, resurrection and announcement of Christ.  And more for us it shows the Gospel (word of Christ) being revealed from the other side of the veil and taken to all mankind.

 

Did I make this up, or has anyone actually seen references to this effect, because I don't remember where I got it.

I can see how such symbolism may have developed in post-apostolic Christianity:  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_altar

 

......most Western churches of an earlier period, whether Roman Catholic or Anglican, may have a high altar in the main body of the church, with one or more adjoining chapels, each with its own altar, at which the Eucharist may be celebrated on weekdays.  Architecturally, there are two types of altars: those that are attached to the eastern wall of the chancel, and those that are free-standing and can be walked around, for instance when incensing the altar.

In the earliest days of the Church, the Eucharist appears to have been celebrated on portable altars set up for the purpose. Some historians hold that, during the persecutions, the Eucharist was celebrated among the tombs in the Catacombs of Rome, using the sarcophagi (see sarcophagus) of martyrs as altars on which to celebrate. Other historians dispute this, but it is thought to be the origin of the tradition of placing relics beneath the altar.

 

However the real symbolism of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is solidly based on the annual Passover meal (seder), which is a ritual reenactment of the evening in which Israel was freed from Egyptian bondage.

Jesus is specifically the sacrificial Lamb of God, whose blood saves the people, just as the blood of the lamb daubed on the doors and lintels of Israel in Egypt saved the firstborn children.  Jesus refocuses the central use of Passover wine and unleavened bread (matza) to represent his blood and his body.  The Sacrament table can represent the sacrificial altar of the Jewish temple, but can also represent the table inside the temple on which the holy shewbread was set.

 

George Mendenhall, Ancient Israel’s Faith and History (Westminster John Knox, 2001),226-229, sees the Eucharist as a loyalty-oath, including symbolic oath-taking (as suggested by Latin sacramentum = Hebrew zakar [Aramaic dakar & Arabic dakar] “remember, swear an oath,” and by LDS Sacrament as remembrance and renewal of covenant), and a ritual act of identification, via the very ancient mode of “ritual consumption of bread and wine” (citing ARM 8:13; El Amarna 162; ANET3 532, 536, 539; Pliny the Younger, Letters, 10:96-97 se sacramento obstringere “bound themselves with an oath” [just as Roman soldiers swore a loyalty oath to the Emperor]; Justin Martyr, Apology, I, 66, 3; Didache 9:1-5; I Cor 11:29-30 punishment for breach of oath of allegiance).

 

As Solomon Zeitlin put it:

 

Not only was pascha (Easter) celebrated at the same time as Passover among the Jews, but its origin is very much interwoven with Passover.  Even the institution of the Eucharist is really based on the Jewish custom during the Second Commonwealth of giving thanks to God on the first night of Passover for their redemption, over unleavened bread and a cup of wine.  ("Jesus and the Last Supper," Jewish Quarterly Review, 28/4 [April 1948], at the close),

 

Among LDS, this is the most important exoteric rite.

Edited October 13, 2013 by Robert F. Smith

[Storm Rider]

Symbolism can have rather personal applications. The objective of religious symbolism to bring us closer to our Father in Heaven. The Holy Sacrament and the process in which it is blessed obviously has a great deal of symbolism that can be found if one is seeking for it.  In the temple, each temple, one can find a great deal of symbolism in the architecture and in the ordinances themselves. Some find it and others are oblivious; however, it is error to think there is a right and wrong evaluation in this.  Symbolism and its value is found by those who seek and apply it in their lives to enrich our spiritual experience of our Father. 

[canard78]

I would imagine the only things essential to the ordinance are a substance to eat and a substance to drink. If a couple of soldiers half-way up a mountain had only a can of soda and a couple of crackers balanced on their knee, it would still be an acceptable covenant experience.

 

Having said that... I like all the possible symbols you've listen in reference to the current manner of administering the sacrament. There were a couple I'd not considered and will do so when taking the sacrament later today.