There’s a seat at the table for you

We’re looking today at something that has shaped Christianity for the last two thousand years — a rhythm, a rich practice of Christians since Jesus. And I hope that you feel enriched by it today.

The title of today’s sermon is There’s a Seat at the Table for You. Turn to your neighbor and tell them: there’s a seat at the table for you.

In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to have dinner with him in the White House. This was incredibly significant because several presidents at that time had invited African Americans to meet in the White House, but never had an African American been invited by a president to share a meal there. This was 1901, when segregation was law, and dining together was a sign of social equality. Roosevelt was making a very clear statement: there is room at my table for you, Booker T. Washington. The color of your skin does not determine whether there’s room at the table for you. The color of your skin didn’t make you less or more valuable — that was the statement Roosevelt was making.

Roosevelt and Washington had a wonderful meal and afterward maintained a close working friendship throughout their lives, despite the huge backlash they faced for breaking the barriers of their day. There’s room at the table for you.

Inviting someone to the table to share a meal back in 1901 held incredible significance — and it also held incredible significance in Jesus’ day. As we continue this series, The Week That Changed the World, we’re going to read about the Last Supper. We know of this last meal that Jesus had. For most of us, we picture it as Da Vinci painted it — a long table. But that’s not how it was. It’s culturally inaccurate. What I want you to know is that it’s incredibly significant.

This was Thursday of Holy Week. It was the night before Jesus was going to be betrayed. But before he was betrayed, he ate this last meal with his disciples in an upper room. It was the most important meal of the Jewish year on the most important day of the Jewish calendar. So what’s the significance? That’s what I want you to see.

Would you grab your Bibles and open up with me to Matthew 26, starting in verse 17. It’s page 853 in our Bibles. Here’s what it says:

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.'” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”

Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”

Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

— Matthew 26:17–30 (NIV)

A lot happened there. We see Jesus revealing his betrayer, but we also see him implementing what we call the Lord’s Supper, or communion. I want to unpack the significance of that. I’ve got three points.

Point 1: The Most Important Day of the Year Was Passover

To understand Passover, let’s imagine we got in a time machine and traveled back two thousand years to the day where Jesus is celebrating the Passover with his disciples. Would we fully understand it? No. In fact, we’d have to travel another fourteen hundred years further into the past, landing in Egypt — three thousand four hundred years ago — where we would see the Israelites, God’s people, enslaved. They’d been enslaved for four hundred years. Pharaoh was a harsh taskmaster, and the people of God were crying out: God, rescue us. We need your help.

God heard them and sent Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go.” And Pharaoh said no — over and over again. So God showed Pharaoh his power by sending plagues. Ten plagues in total: gnats, frogs, the Nile turning to blood, and others. But the tenth plague was the worst of all — the death of the firstborn.

God prepared his people for this plague and actually spared them from it by telling them to do certain things. That Passover night, the angel of death would go throughout Egypt and enter every house and kill the firstborn. But God told his people: take a lamb, slaughter it, and put the blood of the lamb on your doorpost. When the angel of death sees the blood of the lamb on your doorpost, it will pass over your house. That’s where we get the name Passover. The angel of death passes over your house, sparing those inside.

God also told them to make unleavened bread. Unleavened bread doesn’t need time to rise — you can cook it quickly, eat it quickly — because the people of Israel were to be ready to leave as soon as possible.

The angel of death entered every Egyptian home. Every firstborn died. But those who had the blood of the lamb over them were spared. And the next day, after the death of his own firstborn, Pharaoh finally said, “That’s enough — get out of here, Israelites!” So the Israelites exited slavery and entered their freedom. That is the Passover. It was their Independence Day — the day God bought their freedom.

I know that for some people here, you don’t feel free. You feel trapped — maybe trapped in a relationship, trapped by your past, trapped in an addiction, trapped by lies, trapped in your situation right now, not knowing how to get out. I want you to know that our God is still the God who breaks captives free. He is the one who can break our bondage from lies. He can free us from the slavery to addiction. He can cut the chains of our past off of us. Why? Because God wants to take you to a better place, just like he took the Israelites from Egypt to a promised land.

One of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 23, says, “The Lord is my shepherd” — and then goes on to say that he leads me to green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. Our God is the one who wants to lead us to green pastures, to quiet waters, and restore our soul. He can free us from what binds us. He is still the God who does that. So if you’re trapped, call out to Jesus.

For fourteen hundred years, the Jews celebrated this Independence Day — this Passover — by sharing bread and lamb together, and later adding wine to their traditional feast. This is the meal Jesus is celebrating with his disciples. The most important meal of the year, commemorating their exodus from slavery in Egypt. But watch what Jesus does with it.

Point 2: Jesus Gives New Meaning to Old Symbols

Words and things can change meaning over time. Ever heard the word nice? It comes from the Latin word nescius, meaning ignorant. For a long time, nice meant foolish or simple — but now it means pleasant or kind. The word awful originally meant “full of awe” or worthy of respect, and now it means very bad or unpleasant. And my favorite: in the sixteenth century, the word bully meant sweetheart — and now it means an intimidator.

But Jesus didn’t just change the meaning over time. He changed the meaning of these symbols in a moment. He took symbols that had meant the same thing for fourteen hundred years and changed them just like that. From this point forward, the bread would mean something different. The wine would mean something different. Jesus redefined these symbols around himself — that he was God’s only Son — and used them to point forward to the cross. On the cross, he would give his body. On the cross, he would shed his blood. And so right then in that moment, he was pointing forward to the cross. For the past two thousand years, these symbols have pointed us back to the cross, to understand the significance of Jesus’ sacrifice.

Jesus used these symbols — which once meant the exodus from slavery in Egypt — to now point to God’s people’s exodus from slavery to sin. The parallels run all the way through.

The bread — unleavened, flatbread, like pita — that once pointed to a quick exit from Egypt now means something different. Jesus took that bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. The bread no longer meant being ready for a quick exit from Egypt. The bread now means: this is Jesus’ body. And by receiving Jesus’ body, you receive a quick exit from slavery to sin. Just by believing, you receive this exodus — this release, this freedom from sin that you could not accomplish yourself, just as the Israelites could not accomplish their own freedom. We cannot free ourselves from sin, but Jesus can. This bread points to Jesus’ body given on the cross for you and for me.

Do we really understand how significant this is? The disciples didn’t understand in the moment. Before Jesus even got to the cross, he was mocked, beaten, flogged — the whip literally stripped the flesh from his back. He had a crown of thorns on his head. Then he was crucified — nailed through both hands and both feet to a cross and hung there to die. Why would Jesus do that? The only answer we can logically come up with is because he loves you and me. Jesus gave his body because he loves you and me, and he wanted to free us from slavery to sin.

Then he took the wine and said, “This is my blood.” He was blending two traditions. The blood from that first Passover — put on the doorpost from the lamb — marked God’s people so the angel of death would pass over their house. In the same way, Jesus said, “This is my blood.” When you and I are covered by the blood of Jesus, washed by the blood of Jesus, it means that death passes over us. Judgment passes over us. We receive forgiveness by the blood of Jesus.

But Jesus blended two traditions together. The feast included not just one cup of wine, but four cups shared throughout — each connected to a promise found in Exodus 6.

The first was the cup of sanctification, connected to God’s promise: “I will take you out of Egypt. I will set you apart. I will make you my people.”

The second was the cup of deliverance, connected to the promise: “I will free you.” They recognized that God did great plagues to free them from Pharaoh’s hand — they’d been delivered.

The third was the cup of redemption, connected to the promise in Exodus 6: “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.” It’s here that scholars believe Jesus took this cup of redemption and said, “This is my blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins.” What promise is it connected to? I will redeem you with outstretched arms. Do you see the beauty and significance of what Jesus is doing in this moment?

The last was the cup of praise, connected to the promise: “I will make you my people.” After sharing each cup, they would share the cup of praise — recognizing and praising God that he had made them his people by his hand and his power. Verse 30 says they sang a hymn and then left, because that’s what they would do: drink the cup of praise, sing songs to conclude the feast. And we see them doing all those steps.

Jesus blended these traditions to show us the significance of what he was doing — that he is the fulfillment of the promises in Exodus 6, that he is the one who would redeem you and me with an outstretched arm. He gave new meaning to fourteen-hundred-year-old symbols. Now, two thousand years later, we remember the price he paid to redeem you and me. His body and his blood. Given with an outstretched arm. To save us from our slavery to sin.

On communion Sundays, my six-year-old daughter Lily loves to take these cups home because she wants to take communion. Just the other week we shared these cups together. She grabbed some, and then on the way home in the truck she goes, “Dad, can we take communion right now?” I was like, “Babe, could we wait till we get home?” And you know six-year-olds — she said, “No, right now, Dad.” So I took the moment. I thought, my daughter wants to take communion — who am I to say no? Even if we’re driving in the car. So I walked her through it: this is God’s body given for you and me, this is God’s blood given for you and me, for the forgiveness of our sins.

Now, does my little six-year-old fully understand what we’re doing? No. But do any of us fully understand the significance of the price Jesus paid? Do any of us really comprehend what happened on the cross? None of us do. And yet, each time we take communion, we’re all growing in our understanding of the truth and goodness and beauty of what Jesus did for you and for me.

Friends, it’s not what I’ve done that allows me to be at the table. It’s what Jesus has done for you and for me. It’s his work on the cross, not my good deeds, that allow me to sit at the table with Jesus. We take communion to remember Jesus, to receive grace and forgiveness, and to keep learning how good our God is.

Point 3: All Are Welcome at Jesus’ Table

In 1901, Roosevelt welcomed Booker T. Washington to his table. It was a scandal then. But it’s beautiful now. We look back and celebrate it as a reflection of the foundational truth on which our nation was established — that all people are created equal, found in our Declaration of Independence. That phrase comes from Genesis, which says all people are made in God’s image. It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white, male or female. All people are made in God’s image. We celebrate that fact in creation, and yet we struggle to live into it in our lives.

But far before 1901, far before Roosevelt invited Washington to the table, Jesus welcomed people to his table. And I want you to remember who he welcomed. Jesus welcomed Judas — his betrayer — to the table. Jesus welcomed Peter — the one who would shortly thereafter deny even knowing Jesus three times — that same night. Jesus welcomed all of the disciples to the table. Let’s be honest: they were all knuckleheads. Just before Jesus shares the elements with them, they’re all arguing about who is the greatest, because none of them want to wash each other’s feet. They’re arguing about who’s the lowest on the totem pole, since that person has to wash the others’ feet. But what does Jesus do? Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. Knuckleheads. And that’s who Jesus invited to the table. None of them deserved to be there, but Jesus welcomed them anyway.

Friends, none of us deserve to be at the table. None of us have earned communion. None of us deserve to be welcomed into God’s presence, to receive his body and his blood and the forgiveness and freedom that he bought for us on the cross. Nobody comes to the table perfect. We’re all knuckleheads. We’re all failures. We’ve all flopped and sinned in different places. But if you stay in God’s presence, if you keep on receiving this — you will be changed.

The table. This invitation to receive the body and the blood, the bread and the wine — it’s really an invitation from Jesus for community, for friendship, even partnership with him. And every time we take communion, it’s like we’re joining Jesus at the table for the Last Supper. He’s sharing the elements with us, looking each one of us in the eye and saying, “This is for you. It’s my body. It’s my blood — for your forgiveness and your freedom.”

Friends, communion is not a hollow ritual. It’s a rich practice that has shaped Christians and our world for over two thousand years.

Maybe you feel like you don’t belong at Jesus’ table. Maybe someone told you that you don’t belong at Jesus’ table or in God’s house. Maybe you feel a sense of shame for the way you’ve lived. Maybe you feel like you’ve betrayed Jesus or denied Jesus and you’re not sure you should be here. I want you to know: there’s a seat at the table for you. Turn to your neighbor and tell them: there’s a seat at the table for you.

Friend, there’s a seat at the table to receive forgiveness. There’s a seat at the table to have a second chance. There’s a seat at the table to have a fresh start. That’s for you and for me when we receive communion together from Jesus.

I was a youth pastor here from 2011 to 2017, and I recently ran into a young man who was part of our youth ministry back in the day. He told me, “Hey, it’s so good to see you. I came to youth group for all the wrong reasons.” I said, “Oh, what was that?” He said, “The girls.” And he was one of those students that I wanted to help so badly — I wanted to do everything I could for him. It just seemed to go in one ear and out the other. So I asked, “Hey, man, what are you up to? What have you been doing lately?” And he said, “Actually, I’ve been back at Life Center for the last several years, and God has been working in my life.” I love that. Even though he came for all the wrong reasons in the past, he still felt like there was a seat at the table for him.

You could be doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons, and there’s still a seat at the table for you — because Jesus offers us forgiveness. In fact, Jesus came for these sorts of people: you and me, who have failed, who mess up, who don’t measure up. Jesus came for you and for me.

So if you’ve wondered — is there a seat at the table for me? Could God really love me? Could he really accept me? — I want you to know today: the answer is definitively yes. There is a seat at the table for you. God wants to welcome you into relationship and community and freedom and forgiveness. This is what he wants for you.

Communion

I believe there are some people here today who have never said yes to Jesus. This is going to be your opportunity — your moment — to receive forgiveness, to receive salvation, to receive friendship with God for the first time.

Romans 10:9 says: if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. So let’s pray out loud together — a prayer of belief and confession:

Jesus, I need you. I’m a sinner who needs grace. I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe you died on the cross. I believe you can forgive my sins, and I believe you rose from the dead. Today I confess you as Lord of my life.

Friend, if you just prayed that prayer for the first time, the Bible says that God is doing something in you right now — he is making you new. You were spiritually dead; you are now spiritually alive because the Holy Spirit is reviving you right now.

Now let’s receive communion together. Take the elements out. Before we take them, take a moment to thank Jesus in your own words — and if there’s something you want to repent of personally, now is the moment. Thank Jesus for what he’s done. Speak your repentance to him now.

On the last night of his life, Jesus broke the bread and gave it to the disciples and said, “This is my body, given for you.” Then he took the cup and said, “This represents my blood — the blood of the covenant, shed for the forgiveness of sins.” He did this for you and me. Let’s receive it.

Jesus, we can never repay you for what you’ve done for us. We thank you for forgiveness. We thank you for your love on display. We thank you for your body and blood given for each and every one of us. God, may we live out of gratitude for the incredibly high price you paid to buy our freedom, to bring our souls back to life, and to let us know you. Jesus, may we live with the joy and delight of your presence. And may we love one another as you have loved us. Help us to do that today. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Friends, thanks for being here.