heard somebody say they're out to collar me
anybody want to swallow me
A sermon on communion based on 1 Corinthians 11:17-34:
The temptation, of course, is to imagine that the members of First Lutheran in Corinth must have been engaged in some seriously illicit behavior to call down Paul’s ire like that. But, as it turns out, what they really did wrong, was trying to do everything right.
…A strange thing happens we set foot in the church, we think that once we’ve gotten ourselves through the doors, it’s our task to keep ourselves there.
Which is a surefire blueprint for disaster.
As the great southern writer, Flannery O’Conner, once said to a friend, “…the operation of the church is entirely set up for the sinner; which creates much misunderstanding among the smug.”
This is a classic O’Conner kind of insight. But, it does get human nature just right. And, it gets what the church is just right, too. An operation for sinners. NOT a gym for moral improvement.
Imagining our call to the church is no more than a summons to virtuous behavior, can only ever end in one of two places. One better than the other.
First, it can lead to hypocrisy—the intentional concealing of all within us that shows contempt for the church.
And whether we like it or not, this impulse RESIDES within us all.
But, the other alternative is the one that, surprisingly, doesn’t lead to a dead-end; the alternative of ending in breakdown. Eventually, all those demands we’ve been telling ourselves we must meet, and therefore can, will grind us down.
Unpleasant as that may be, it’s really setting us up for something exceedingly pleasant; to put us right where Jesus WANTS us. Begging for mercy!
The operation of the church is set up for sinners, NOT experts at virtuous living! The church operates by forgiving sins. Strengthening the weak. Supporting the helpless!
The church is not a museum for saints. It’s a hospital for sinners! The church is not a place for those who have it together, it’s a sanctuary for the broken and bleeding.
This is what Luther meant when he described church-people as “simul justus et peccator.” Simultaneously saint and sinner. Both sinner and saint—at the same time. All the time!
We tend to think, sometimes we’re a saint. Like when we’re behaving. And, other times, we’re a sinner. Like when we’ve messed up. But that’s not how it works!
There is no moment you don’t need to be redeemed. And there is also no moment Jesus isn’t busy redeeming you, either!
Sin has such a toehold that there is no moment we are free of its impulse. But, Jesus has such a clutch on us that there is also NO moment we are beyond his reach!
“Simul justus et peccator.” Simultaneously saint and sinner.
Imagining we’ve shed the skin of the old Adam and Eve in us, as Luther put it, is a fundamental misunderstanding of how deep our problem goes.
If all we needed was a repair job, Jesus could just have given us a how-to manual. Like Moses did at Sinai.
And we all know how well that went…
That’s not what Jesus did, though! At Golgotha Jesus did something much more dramatic! Something consummate with the magnitude of our predicament. At Golgotha Jesus, himself, was broken, for broken people like you and me! Jesus, himself, was poured out, for empty people like you and me!
That’s why any of us have a place here! That’s why, sinner though we may be. We are also, and at the same time, saints redeemed by the blood of the new covenant!
You belong in the church, not because you have it in you to earn a spot. You belong here because Jesus has carved out a spot for you in his flesh and blood!
Jesus doesn’t look down on broken and bleeding people like you and me. He looks at us with mercy and love! And consummate with his mercy. In accord with his love he heals us. And fills us. With his very self!
…The folks are Corinth thought they needed to keep the operation of the church up and running. And all they did was break the thing that sustains it! The Lord’s supper. Jesus’ free meal of grace and mercy for broken and empty people like you and me.
Jesus’ meal is not another one where you MUST try and repair, or at least hide, the broken places in your life. Jesus’ meal is not another one where you MUST bandage the places in your life that are bleeding.
No, Jesus’ meal is utterly unlike every other meal! Jesus’ meal is one where the broken and bleeding are not only welcomed, they are healed!
If you have some place in your life that is broken, and we all do; that means you are perfectly prepared to receive Jesus’ body broken for you! His body broken, to put you back together.
And not as some imaginary human who can keep it all together yourself, either. No, Jesus’ meal puts you back together as a real sinner/saint with fractures of your own. Held together, NOT by your efforts, but Jesus’ mercy and love!
If you have some place in your life that is empty, and we all do; that means you’re perfectly ready to be filled by Jesus’ blood shed for you!
And not as some imaginary human who is perfectly self-sufficent, either. No, Jesus’ meal fills you back up as a real sinner/saint with shortages of your own. Filled, NOT by your efforts, but Jesus’ mercy and love!
You don’t have to, and haven’t anyway, earned your spot here. It’s only by right of your brokenness and bleeding and Jesus’s love and mercy for folks like you and me, that you have a place here!
If your life needs put back together, look no further than this table. If you need to be filled, look no further than this table.
This table where all are welcomed. All are healed. And all are fed. This table where Jesus is broken and poured out for you. This table where Jesus fills you and puts you back together again with his very self.
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