Lenten Sermon Series: Look Who Gathers

“All”

Psalm 91

Luke 4:1-13

Rev. Martin C. Singley, III

The theme of our Lenten services – on both Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings – is “Look Who Gathers at Christ’s Table.”

As we journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, there are many deeply meaningful moments along the way. But one of the most significant is the Supper Jesus shared with his followers on the night when he was betrayed. We call it the “Last Supper”.

Today, it is the model for the Christian service of Holy Communion. But in that day, this supper was the Passover Meal that Jewish people observed every year, remembering how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. The Last Supper is where God gathers His family and feeds them the bread of life, the wine of forgiveness, and the hope of salvation.

And look who gathers there, at the table of the Lord! It will teach you some important things about what it means to be a Christian!

The most famous picture we have of what the Last Supper may have looked like is Leonardo da Vinci’s 15^th century painting. This is the painting that Dan Brown used to develop his fantastic novel “The da Vinci Code.” It’s a painting we are all familiar with, and that my former colleague Ralph Marsden used to say should be captioned with the words, “Okay boys, everybody who wants to be in the picture get on this side of the table!”

But as famous as the da Vinci “Last Supper” is, it is not really a very good representation of what the Last Supper probably looked like. A much better view is the one printed on your bulletin cover this morning. It is Bohdan Piasecki’s painting of the Last Supper and you may notice some crucial differences between it and the da Vinci painting. For one thing, the people are not all on one side of the table! For another, they are not all men. And for another, they are not all adults. In Piasecki’s painting, the Passover Meal is represented for what it truly was and is – a family gathering. And if one family was not large enough to prepare and eat a whole Passover lamb, they were invited to join another family’s supper. And if there were aliens passing through the land without a place of their own, they were to be invited in to share the Supper.

So look who’s there at the table of the Lord: Jesus. Disciples. Neighbors. Aliens. Men. Women. Children. Saints. Sinners. Friends. Betrayers. Followers. Runaways. Altruistic. Narcissistic. True believers. Doubters.

Maybe you can even find yourself in there!

Because the answer to our question about who is gathered at Christ’s table is…All!

All people are gathered to Christ’s table.

Today’s Gospel reading from Luke 4 tells the story about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. After his baptism, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert region on the other side of the Jordan River. He is there for forty days, which is the reason our season of Lent is 40-days long. Like Jesus, we fast and pray during this time. We seek God’s leading for our lives, and humble ourselves to know our God-given purpose.

And like Jesus, we face up to the reality and the power of temptation.

After fasting for so long, Jesus is hungry. The devil says, “If you are really the Son of God, make these stones turn to bread, and eat up.” Jesus refuses.

Jesus is empty. The devil says, “If you’ll worship me, I’ll give you riches and power.” Jesus refuses.

Jesus is weak. The devil says, “Jump off the Temple tower and let God’s angels catch you!” Jesus refuses.

And then the devil goes away – for a time.

There are many sermons that can be preached from this text, but the one we most need to hear is that the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is the greatest temptation of all. The devil tempts Jesus to make his life and his mission all about HIMSELF – you can have a full belly, Jesus, you can have success and wealth, you can have power over life’s difficulties! That’s what the devil offers Jesus!

But Jesus was not born to prop up his own life. Jesus was born not to save himself, but ALL!

And this is the same temptation you and I struggle with every day – the temptation to take our faith and personalize it, centering it on ourselves – filling our own needs, seeking our own success, trying to use God to gain power to make life go the way we want it to, and all the while ignoring the ALL.

“Lord, don’t let it rain today because we have our annual family picnic and rain would just ruin it. What, Lord? Farmers need the rain so they can grow the crops that will feed the world? Well, can’t they just wait until after my picnic?”

“God has helped me work really hard to gain what I’ve got - a great family, a successful career, and financial security. I don’t see why I should have to help people out there who are just too lazy to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps like I’ve done. After all, God helps those who help themselves!”

“I just found the greatest church! They sing all my favorite hymns! The preacher preaches what I want to hear. And what I really like is that when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, they only allow us true believers to gather at Christ’s table – none of those Community Church people - and no kids.”

Look who gathers at Christ’s table…

The reason the devil tries to get us to personalize our faith and center it on ourselves is because the devil knows that’s how the Gospel will be destroyed, and God’s work of saving ALL will be defeated. If the devil can get us to turn in upon ourselves, the devil knows he can get us to turn against each other, and to fight against the God we claim to believe in.

So Jesus faces this most powerful of all temptations – to make his life and faith and mission all about himself.

But Jesus refuses.

And when he comes back from the forty days in the wilderness, he reaches out in love to fishermen, and prostitutes, and tax collectors, and lepers, and people of other religions, and those who society rejects. And he invites them ALL to supper!

A good number of years ago, I was at a Ministers Meeting when Terry Boyse and Ed Conte showed up to tell of a dream they and a few others shared. It was a dream to create a ministry that could care for sexually and physically abused children in our area. They told us about the number of abuse cases that came into the District Attorney’s office each year, and indicated that was just the tip of the iceberg. We were shocked. I was personally deeply moved when I heard this. And I was moved by something else. I was so very proud that Terry and Ed were members of this church.

Their faith, it seems to me, had made that miraculous move from ME to ALL. In a sense, they were inviting all these hurting children who live all around us to come to the Table of the Lord that is represented by what we now know as the Kids First Child Advocacy Center.

God needs more people like Terry and Ed. Now I know – most of us who know them understand that they are pretty human, very sinful, extremely flawed, and actually very whacky people. And they are! But somehow, the focus of their faith moved from self to neighbor, from me to ALL. And just look at the results!

What do you suppose would happen if our whole church – all 1400 of us, plus those who will come to join us when we have enough space to welcome them - made that same move?

Can you imagine the good that would be done?

So as Lent begins, I want to challenge you to do a couple of things that will help move you from a me-faith to an all-of-us faith.

First I want to ask you to pray the news. When you’re reading the newspaper, or watching the news on TV, or studying your favorite news feed online, take a pen and paper and jot down some of the stories – trucker loses life in I-40 crash – family welcomes adopted child from Haiti – local teen wins essay contest – UT football players arrested…

The news is all about what’s happening to people. Some is good news. Some is bad news. But ALL the people the news is about are God’s children.

Jot down the stories and the names. And when you have your prayer time each day, pray for these people. And then when you are done, pray that God will meet your needs, too.

Pray the news.

And second, do something loving each week for someone else. Bake a loaf of bread. Make some soup. Write a note. Send a gift. An act of giving done each week can begin to transform your focus from inside to outside – from me to ALL.

Look who gathers at Christ’s table! God’s love is bigger and wider and deeper and higher than you or I can possibly imagine! So as the Lenten Season unfolds, dare to catch the wave of God’s amazing grace that somehow welcomes all people – including you and me!