Communion Meditation by Dr. George Bryant Wirth
World Communion
October 4, 1009
CHRIST AT THE CENTER
“GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER?”
Scripture: Luke
14:1-24
INTRODUCTION
As a young boy growing up in
the home of a Presbyterian pastor, I remember the strange anticipation I felt
heading home for Sunday dinner after the worship service was over. We called it dinner because that was the big
meal of the day, and it was strange because I never knew in advance the people
whom my mother had invited to join our family around the table.
Our grandmother named “Gammy”
lived with us, and while we were at church, she watched Oral Roberts on TV and
cooked the same thing every week – pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits
and string beans, with apple pie and ice cream for dessert.
As we gathered together in
the living room for peanuts and punch before dinner, the guests would come
through the door, one by one by one – sometimes three, or four, sometimes more
– and they were not the kind of people listed in the social register of eastern
They were mostly the down and
outers, folks who had fallen on hard times, some of them physically and
mentally disabled, a few of them who surely did not use deodorant, and one of
them, a man named Big Jim, who had been in prison for some reason that was
never revealed. But what I always
wondered was “Why can‘t we have dinner like a normal family, like Ozzie and
Harriet, David and Ricky Nelson whom we watched on Friday night television?”
Well, as I’ve told you
before, it wasn’t until my mother died far too young at the age of 51, and so
many of those different kinds of people came to her funeral, that I finally
discovered why she had reached out to welcome them, and tried to teach me and
our family how to do the same.
Her Bible which I used in
conducting the service was bookmarked to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 14, and
these words were underlined in red ink:
“When you give a luncheon or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your relatives or your rich neighbors, in case
they may invite you in return, and you will be repaid.
But when you give a banquet, invite
the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.
And you will be blessed, because they cannot reply you, for you will be
repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:12-14).
I
During this fall season, we
are focusing our attention on Jesus’ Parables as “The Greatest Stories Ever
Told.” In the 14th chapter of
Luke, there are three of them, called “The Banquet Parables,” and due to time
restraints, we’ll concentrate on the middle one, which has no official Biblical
title – so I’d like to name it “Guess
Who’s Coming to Dinner?”
Please remember that Jesus
was attending a dinner party Himself at the home of a leader of the
Pharisees. It was the Sabbath Day, and
Luke tells us that “they were watching Him closely.”
Why? Because in His teaching and preaching
ministry, Jesus had begun to challenge some of those religious leaders for
their narrow-minded attitudes and rigid interpretation of the rules.
There was a sick man in the
house that afternoon, and Jesus asked the Pharisees “Is it lawful to cure
people on the Sabbath Day?” They did not
answer Him, so Jesus healed that man and then told them three stories – The
Banquet Parables – about the
The first is about humility
and not trying or vying for the prominent places around the table. I believe the last story is about eternity
and God’s invitation for us to be with Him forever.
Now, this middle story – it
is about hospitality, God’s hospitality, wherein everyone is welcome and no
one is excluded.
Our dear and departed friend
Dr. John Claypool, who wrote one of his books about the parables entitled “The
Stories Jesus Still Tells Us,” includes a wonderful description of this text:
“I can think of no better image for
the Biblical understanding of God than that of a gracious host … no other image
gathers up the things that are revealed in holy scripture about God more than
this one. Here are generosity,
abundance, joyfulness and exuberance all bound up together … thus our parable
begins on a familiar note. A host who
had a house and food and all kinds of abundance wanted to share this with
others…” (From “Stories Jesus Still
Tells Us: The Parables,” Cowley Publications, 1993, 2000, pages 52-53)
Exactly so. And hopefully that is true about this church
and our celebration of The Lord’s Supper on World Communion Sunday. Everyone is welcome here, and no one is
excluded.
As you know, I like the
familiar story about a woman who invited some folks to her home for some food
and fellowship. At the table, she turned
to her six year old daughter and asked her to offer the blessing.
“I wouldn’t know what to
say,” the girl replied. “Just say what
you’ve heard mommy say” the mother answered.
The daughter bowed her head and said “Good Lord, why on earth did I
invite all these people to dinner?”
In God’s kingdom on earth,
and right here in this church, we know why we have all been invited and
encouraged to come to this table. It is
because God loves us so much that He gave us His only Son, who lived and died
and rose from the dead to set us free from sin and to share with us the gift of
salvation.
The theological description
of The Lord’s Supper in our Presbyterian Book of Order puts it this way:
“Around the table of the Lord, God’s
people are in communion with Christ and with all who belong to Him … All the
baptized faithful are to be welcomed to the table, and no one shall be excluded
because of race, sex, age, economic status, social class, handicapping
condition, difference of culture or language, or any barrier created by human
injustice … Access to the table is not a right conferred upon the worthy, but a
privilege given to the undeserving who come in faith, repentance and
love.” (Book of Order, W-2.4006)
And that, my friends, is good
news for all of us here today. It means
that whatever our station in life might be, wherever we are in this journey of
faith, no matter how many mistakes we have made or how deeply we have fallen
into sin, Jesus invites us to share Holy Communion with Him. All that He asks of us is a contrite heart,
the confession of our sin, the willingness to receive His grace and
forgiveness, and the desire, with His help, to make a fresh new start again.
So believe the good news and
receive it today: everyone is welcome here, and no one is excluded.
II
Moreover, as we take this
parable to heart and apply it to our lives and to this church, anyone can
find Jesus Christ here, for He is the center of our life together. That theme for our church is NOT just a
phrase we say that sounds religious.
Jesus Christ is at the center of who we are as a Christian community.
Almost 100 years ago, when
Woodrow Wilson was in the White House, he often attended worship at a
Presbyterian church on Sunday mornings.
One Friday afternoon, someone called the church and asked if the
President would be there on the Sabbath Day.
The secretary thought for a moment and then replied, “I don’t know if
President Wilson will be here on Sunday morning, but I can assure you that the
Lord will be here with us, and that should be quite sufficient.”
Now if you have come here
this morning seeking a closer relationship with God, if you want to know more
about Jesus and to be embraced by His grace which is sufficient for our every
need, if you want to commit your life to Him or renew your faith in Him, then
you are in the right place at the right time my friend!
For He is here, through the
power of His Spirit, and the peace of His presence, and promise He gave us
long, long ago, that “Wherever two or three (or more) are gathered together in
My name, I will be in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). He is the host at this table today, and for
all who have come searching for Him, we can know beyond the shadow of a doubt,
that the Lord Jesus has come here seeking to find us.
So, everyone is welcome at
this table, and no one is excluded.
Anyone can find Jesus Christ here, for He is the center of our life
together. And finally, each one of us
has been called to serve in this place, and to reach out to others in Jesus’
name.
One of the most profound
things that has ever been said about the mission of the Christian Church came
from the lips of Saint Teresa of Avila, who was a Carmelite nun in Spain during
the 16th century and who became the inspiration of Mother Teresa in
our time. These are the words you have
heard before:
“Christ
has no body now on earth but yours;
No
hands but yours,
No
feet but yours,
No
eyes but yours.
Yours
are the hands with which He blesses others.
Yours
are the feet with which He walks about doing good.
Yours
are the eyes through which He looks upon the world
With compassion.
Christ
has no body now on earth but yours.”
So why are those words so
important to us in the church? Because
we are surrounded by a world of people in desperate need of the gifts which we
have already received from God.
Last Tuesday, the front page
article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution said: “26,000 families slip into poverty” in metro
“This
recession, it’s somebody in your neighborhood, your company or your
congregation.” (From The Atlanta Journal
Constitution, article by Dan Chapman, September 29, 2009)
And on a global scale, a
hunger relief organization called Bread for the World reports these statistics:
·
1.4 billion
people in this world live below the poverty line of less than $1.25 per day
·
1.2 billion
people on this planet are suffering from starvation
·
Every day, 16,000
children die from hunger, which is one child every five seconds
·
And 40% of all
those people live in Africa, Southern Asia and
While
1/5 of the world’s population consumes more than 86% of our global resources
and goods.
CONCLUSION
And
that is where you and I need to pay attention, because all of us as the Body of
Christ, the Christian Church on earth, have been given great gifts. And as we come to this table on World
Communion Sunday, to eat this bread and drink from this cup, there are many
more, millions and billions more around this world, who are not only asking
question “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”
They are wondering and waiting and wanting to know, “Is there a place at
the table for all of us too?”
Jesus
said, “To those whom much is given, of them will much be required.” If we believe He was talking about us, then
as we come to this table to be strengthened and renewed here, let’s remember
that there’s still a lot of work to do in the world out there!
In
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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