Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
April 1, 2010

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

We’ve done something new for us this evening. On this Maundy Thursday, unlike other Maundy Thursdays in this church, we have gathered for a common meal. We have not only prayed and sung together, we have eaten together. We often commemorate the Last Supper with a symbolic meal, and we will do that again in a few moments. But when Jesus and his closest friends gathered on that fateful evening so long ago they didn’t have a tiny cube of bread and a sip of wine. They had a meal. A real meal.

Meals, and not just the last one, played a big role in Jesus’ ministry. How he ate meals was one of the things that got Jesus in trouble with the religious authorities of his time. The scribes and the Pharisees frequently charged Jesus with the sin of eating with tax collectors and sinners. He ate with people they wouldn’t eat with, and that got them upset. That made them think Jesus didn’t get it. He didn’t get what eating with people meant. And we perhaps wonder what all the flap was about. So he ate with people of whom the Pharisees didn’t approve. So what?

Well, so a lot. Meals were a source of contention between Jesus and his critics not because they saw eating together differently but because Jesus and his critics saw eating together in the same way. In the culture of Jesus’ time sitting down to share a meal with someone had great symbolic significance. It meant that you accepted those with whom you ate as worthy of eating with you. It meant that you accepted them as worthy of associating with you. In religious terms it meant more than that. It meant that you considered them to be “righteous,” that is, to be in right relationship with God. It meant that you saw them as not only acceptable to you but as acceptable to God. Sitting down to eat with someone was a sign of acceptance, fellowship, community. It meant a lot indeed.

Jesus and his critics all understood that. The difference between them wasn’t in how they saw the significance of sharing a meal with someone. The difference between them was in their understanding of who it was acceptable to share a meal with. The difference between in them was in how they saw who was acceptable and, more importantly, who God found acceptable. Who people like Jesus and the Pharisees deigned to eat with said a lot about how they saw people’s relationship to God. The Pharisees thought that you had to be righteous before you could eat with them. You had to be one of the right sort of people, part of the in crowd, in with them and therefore in with God.

Jesus saw it differently. His table was open to all, and that meant that God’s table was open to all. The Pharisees said: Get righteous, then come eat with us. Jesus said: Come eat with me. You are accepted. I accept you, and God accepts you. Just as you are. With all your flaws. With all your sins. Bring all of that to God’s table and be fed. Be refreshed. Be renewed. Be fed, refreshed, and renewed in body. More than that, be fed, refreshed, and renewed in spirit. The Pharisees table was closed. Jesus’ table was open.

That difference in understanding table fellowship that divided Jesus from so many of the religious leaders of his day continues in his church even now. All Christian churches practice the sacrament of Communion, the ritual remembering of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples. Most Christian churches practice closed Communion. Only those of whom they approve are welcome at their table. The churches that practice closed communion are the scribes and Pharisees of the present day. They say: You have to get right with us first, then you can come to the table. The churches like ours that practice open communion are truer to Jesus and his open table fellowship. He didn’t close his table, neither do we.

So our common meal together this evening has great symbolic significance. We didn’t put any restrictions on who could participate. Our table is open, and our open table is a symbol of nothing less than God’s unconditional grace for all people. Our open table is a symbol of nothing less than God’s open invitation to all people, whoever they are, whatever they may have done, whatever burdens they may carry, to come to God and be forgiven, be renewed, be transformed. It is a symbol of nothing less than God’s open invitation to us to come to God and be forgiven, be renewed, be transformed.

So come. Partake, as we have already partaken. Open yourself to God’s invitation. Open yourself to God’s grace. Come. You are forgiven. Now be renewed, be transformed. Amen.