"You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies..."
Psalm 23:5a
We
probably didn’t need a reminder but we got one anyway. You all know what happened in Brussels. There was yet another terror attack this week
– bombs in the airport… bombs in a train station. This is a dangerous world with dangerous
people… people we don’t even know who consider us their enemies. Of course there are many different kinds of
enemies in this world. There are the
anonymous enemies like these terrorists.
These are people who don’t know us and yet hate us for being American,
European, or because of the color of our skin, or because we are Christian. There
are people who just walk into schools and theaters and start shooting. There are the more personal enemies - the
person who knows us and is filled with
envy or who holds a grudge against us.
There are the spiritual enemies.
The Bible calls death an enemy.
The word devil means enemy...There is the world with its temptations
that threaten us. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. In so many different ways, we live in an age
of Terrorism.
Since
the attacks in Brussels the other day, I have been thinking about how the
events of Holy Week might speak to our fears and anxieties. My mind settled on the words from Psalm 23:5. This is my test for tonight at our Maundy
Thursday service. David wrote, “You prepare
a table before me, in the presence of my enemies…” This is a powerful comfort, when you
understand a very important aspect of Bedouin culture. When a Bedouin invites you into his home, to
eat at his table, he is offering you his complete protection. Even if he considers you his enemy, if he has
invited you into his home, he will protect you at all costs. He will sacrifice even his own life to
protect yours.
That’s
what Jesus did for his disciples that first Maundy Thursday evening. He knew what was going to happen. He knew he would be arrested, beaten crowned
with thorns, and sentenced to die. He
knew He would be nailed to a cross. He
knew that fear would seize the disciples.
Peter would deny him three times.
The others would flee. They would
all go into hiding for fear of the enemies of Jesus. So what does Jesus do? Jesus sets a table for His disciples. In bread and wine He gives them His holy
Supper. He invites them to sit at His
table. In so doing He promises them that
He would give up everything, even His life to protect them. Indeed a few hours later that is exactly what
He did.
That’s
what Jesus does for us tonight and every time the Lord’s Supper is
celebrated. In an age of Terrorism, our
Lord sets a table for you and me. He
invites us to eat with Him. Here in
bread and wine He gives us His very body and blood for the forgiveness of our
sins. For us this table is more than a
promise to give His life if need be… This is the assurance that He has given
His life to protect your life and mine from every enemy. He has paid the price
of sin. By His death He has destroyed
him who holds the power of death – that is the devil. The Bible calls death the last enemy to be
destroyed. Jesus already made that
victory certain when He rose again on the third day. .
One
of our kids “Face timed” me on Tuesday because they heard about the attacks in
Brussels. They just wanted to know we were okay. I was glad to say, “No worry. We are fine.”
“But, they asked, “What will happen if this happens close to you?” The
truth is, even if terror comes so close that it takes our lives, we are
fine. That’s one of the comforts Maundy
Thursday holds out to us. That night
when He was betrayed, Jesus set this table for you and me, for our lives in the
midst of an age of terrorism… He invites us to come to His table, as His
guests. In giving us His body and blood in
the bread and wine He reminds us of all that He sacrificed to protect our lives
for eternity. Because of Him goodness
and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. He has set the
table. No terrorist… no enemy can change
that. Amen.
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