On June 3, Bro. Walter Draper exhorted around the Lord’s table some members of the Kingston ecclesia. One side of his body paralyzed by a stroke, with half-blind eyes closed, and seated in a special chair, Walter reiterated, in Deuteronomy fashion, with clear and challenging voice, the message he has proclaimed uncompromisingly in Kingston for nearly fifty years.
The Lord Jesus, we read often, sat to teach, so I am in good company this morning.
Why are we here? Why have I been drawn from my sickbed to this table as by a magnet? Why have Kingston brothers and sisters set this table nearly six thousand times since this ecclesia was founded by our Caribbean pioneers in faith?
For one reason in particular. To celebrate the amazing forgiveness of God. Without that forgiveness, we would not be here.
We meet to share forgiveness
The purpose of this table is simple. It is a reminder that we have a wonderfully forgiving God. In order that we might truly appreciate how long and wide and vast and complete is God’s forgiveness, He sent His beloved Son, who told us to meet here and share that forgiveness.
In Jamaica, when Matthew 18:20 is quoted about our Lord being in the midst of even two or three of his saints, we sometimes hear the words added, “and that to bless,” as if to pat us on the back. If you look at the context, that extra bit, if you want to add it, should be, “and that to forgive.” For Matthew 18 is all about forgiveness.
Stories about two people
The Lord Jesus was always telling parables about two people, one of whom understood and appreciated God’s wonderful forgiveness and one who did not. The pharisee and the publican; the two sons; the two servants; Mary and Martha; the rich man and Lazarus; the two builders; and others.
The lesson is always the same: if we do not identify with the one who appreciates forgiveness, and then shows it, we have no hope. Without the grace of eagerly sought forgiveness, we perish.
Declared righteous
We find it so hard to accept Jesus’ teaching, do we not? – teaching that we have to beat our breasts in contrition at this table if we are to please God. The Pharisee goes away from this table the same unjustified sinner that he was when he came in. The publican does not simply please God. He goes home “justified,” declared righteous by a forgiving God. Mary found the “good part.” And in the parable, the beggar Lazarus went to Abraham’s bosom, “comforted.”
“You are the man”
David was a wife-stealer and a murderer. Saul of Tarsus had the blood of saints on his hands. Why did God completely forgive them both?
I am sure it was because they made no lame excuses. Because they came to see God as a God of infinite mercy, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, and showing mercy to thousands. Both men thought that it was only other people who deserved to die — until they were face to face with the stark truth: “You are the man!” Then they realized how marvelous is God’s grace! It is at this table that we face the same stark truth. In a deep and significant way, all who appreciate God’s marvelous forgiveness are “crucified with Christ.”
“Father, forgive them!”
Whenever we offer the Lord’s prayer, we make a pledge to God. We are saying, lam, I will be, just as forgiving to others as You are to me!
The greatest expression of forgiveness is that from the heart of the crucified Son of God: “Father, forgive them!”
For “them” read “us.” No, read “me,” and be thankful as we now eat and drink.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One