Gatecrasher by Invitation
Theme of the Week: Divine Table Talk
Thursday, June 26, 2008
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?" they asked his disciples (Matthew 9:10-11). Bonus Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:27-29
Often, when I celebrate the Lord's Supper, I remember this question of the Pharisees at Matthew's house. At those moments I hope I'm recovering just a bit of the experience of Matthew and his friends. For Jesus has invited me, a sinner, to share the table with him. It makes me deeply glad that Jesus is the unorthodox one who came looking, not for the righteous ones, but for someone like me.
At Communion I find myself at the table with the Lord himself. There are sinners at every place, especially mine. Still I find times when I join the Pharisees and look down on others, thinking myself better than they are. At such moments, the Lord reminds me with his Word of just who he is—and who I am.
The call to examine ourselves before we take Communion is not there so we can make a full accounting of our sins and thereby deserve to come to the table. That call to judge ourselves helps us realize that we have no right whatsoever to be there! You and I, we are the prostitutes and the tax collectors Jesus welcomed to fellowship with him.
—Michael Card in Joy in the Journey
My Response: How does eating or drinking unworthily (see today's Bonus Reading) differ from being undeserving?
Thought to Apply: Communion is not an event in which autonomous individuals have parallel religious experiences. We don't come to Christ alone but with and through one another. —John Rempel (Canadian theologian)
Adapted from Joy in the Journey (InterVarsity, 2007) by permission.
Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Lord Jesus, as I take communion, help me to experience the full benefits of your sacrificial death.
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