It is widely held that the marantha of I Cor. xvi. 22 (construed as an imperative, ‘O our Lord come!’) is to be understood as an invocation of Christ to be present in the eucharist. Support for this is sought in the fact that other words and phrases in the same context can also be interpreted eucharistically: the kiss (ν. 20), the ‘anathema’ upon anyone who does not love the Lord (ν. 22), and the grace (ν. 23) can all be supposed to be among the preliminaries to the eucharist (in terms both of inclusion and of exclusion). Further, the maranatha also occurs in Didache x. 6, in a section connected at least in some way with the eucharist; and the Greek equivalent, ἔρχού κύριε ʾΙησοῦ, occurs in Rev. xxii. 20, together with amen (cf. Didache x. 6 again) and not far from what might seem to be a eucharistic ‘invitation’ (ν. 17).

But how much of this is really cogent? If I Corinthians was really intended to be (as it were) the homily, leading on into the eucharist, why is there so little trace of this in other New Testament epistles? Why does the maranatha in I Cor. xvi. 22 come at this particular point, before the grace (and the apostle's love)? Why does it occur where it does in the Didache? In spite of all that is said, is there sufficient evidence to suggest that it was meant to lead straight into the eucharist proper?