JUST A TABLE?

Fred Craddock went to the same graduate school in Enid, Oklahoma that I did. He tells of the time when he went to a little rural church to speak. They had a real terrible rainstorm. They canceled the service, and everybody knew it because they had telephones. But he didn't have a telephone, and didn't know it. So he drove from Enid out to the little church, slipping and sliding on those roads -- dirt, mud, a little gravel. I know what he meant because I also drove out to a little rural church each Sunday. I know about sliding on those roads. Some were shale, which makes a good surface when dry, but when wet they are either like a sheet of ice or rutted so bad you can hardly drive. Anyway, two of the me had thought about the fact that the preacher wouldn't know that they were not having the service, so they went to the church to wait for him, to tell him there was no service. When he went in, they were seated at the table that had on the front of it, "In Remembrance of Me," and they were playing cards.

Fred said, "What in the world are you doing?
They said, "Well, we're just playing a little poker, waiting for you to come."
He said, "On that table?"
One of them said, "well, a table's a table's a table."
And Fred said, "No, it isn't!" Not for Fred. No, it isn't just a table.
(Craddock's Stories, 140)

Why did Fred think there was something sacred about that table? It surely wasn't anything about the table itself. In a way, the men were right -- a table is a table. Unless -- unless what? Unless it stands for something much greater than itself.

In the Old Testament God told the Hebrew priests to sanctify the cups and other vessels and utensils used in the temple. They were actually called "sanctified" vessels. Which means that they were set aside for a holy use, a holy purpose. It is exactly the term that's used in the New Testament about followers of Christ -- people who have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

And so it is that a sanctified people gather before a sanctified table -- one set aside for a holy purpose. And that purpose is not to be a platform for poker but a pulpit for proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:26, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

THE COVENANT OF GRACE

If you were asked to say in one or two sentences what the Bible is all about, what would you say? Let me give it a try. The Bible is all about a God whose love and grace leads Him to choose unworthy people and enter into covenant with them. He did it with Abraham and Israel in what we call the Old Covenant, and he did it again finally, once for all, through Jesus Christ in the New Covenant. At the heart of it all is our covenant relationship with a graceful God.

It should be understood that a covenant, in the biblical sense, is similar to but not the same as our modern contract. There are similarities. For instance, both involve two or more parties agreeing on something. Also, both involve promises and conditions.

But the covenant described in the Bible is not like our modern contracts in at least one important aspect. We do not negotiate or bargain with God to get a better deal. There are always promises and conditions in both contracts and covenants, but even if we did bargain we could not get any better promises than what God offers to begin with. He offers us everything of value that we could possibly want. What more could we ask for than the forgiveness of our sins, the assurance of life eternal, and the promise that God will be our God and we will be his people, forever? We might want to bargain for easier conditions, for something less than complete trust and obedience, but that is what God expects, and these terms are non negotiable.

The sovereign God offers to us his covenant of grace. Will we accept? When Jesus offered the cup to his disciples and said, "This is my blood of the new covenant" he, in effect, changed a Passover meal into a covenant meal. For the disciples his words were a call to commitment. The broken bread and the cup represented his commitment, his sacrifice, his total submission to the will of God. To accept the cup and drink from it meant they entered into that commitment with him.

Can it mean anything less to us? The Lord's Supper is indeed a memorial, but it means much more than that. In a sense, it renews our initial commitment of faith made in our baptism. After Jesus predicted his death he said, "If anyone would come after me, let him pick up his cross, and follow me." That invitation to join him in his sacrificial commitment has echoed through the ages in the call to communion and comes to us today as we gather around His table.