Who Do You Think You Are? : Jesus ISN'T a Vending Machine

Good morning! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Independence Day and a safe weekend. I was very fortunate to get to spend the time with my fiancée and sister and brother-in-law. No matter how you may have spent the day, it's important to keep a thankful heart on the day where we celebrate our independence, a day that symbolizes the sacrifice of countless men and women that came before us, and we give thanks for the freedom we are so fortunate to have. Although, sometimes, this holiday can seem to divulge into an honorary time for Walmart shopping, barbecue grilling and sun tanning, this time ultimately comes back to one true purpose: camaraderie. It’s a time to grab the hand of our neighbor and celebrate the community we have created in this nation.

Community is not only important to the ‘Merican in us, but also to the Christ in all of us. If you’ve been with us these past several weeks, we have been diving deep into our Methodist heritage and discovering just exactly what it means to be a Methodist church. We’ve been on quite a journey, beginning with talking about the incredibly grace of God, then on Jesus and His sacrifice that atoned us, then last week discussing our call to discipleship and not putting our love of one another over our love of the carpet in the church. This week we will be discussing what I mentioned just a moment ago: community. More specifically, we will talk about how we celebrate our community here in the Methodist church. Before we get any further, let’s dive into the Word.

^“14 When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. ¹⁵ He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; ¹⁶ for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; ¹⁸ for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”¹⁹ Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”²⁰ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. ²¹ But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. ²² For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!” ²³ Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.”

                                                                                                   -Luke 22:14-23

Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we ask that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together be glorifying in Your presence here today. For You are our Rock and Redeemer. Amen.

"The Last Supper" by Leonardo DaVinci

 I have always and will always love this image. Whenever I was in high school, my home church decided to put on a theatre production of the musical Godspell. I auditioned and was fortunate enough to be given the role of Herb, one of the modern disciples in the theatrical retelling of the book of Matthew. At one point during the show, the disciples are gathered around the feet of this incredibly modern hippie Jesus, and I can never forget how powerful it felt. I know that it was just a silly re-creation of the classic story, but how incredible must that have been? How amazing would it be to just be gathered around a table with those peers who would begin the modern church and, most importantly of all, the Savior of our sins at the forefront. I almost can’t even wrap my mind around it.

TRUTH.

So, what if I told you that those of us at Pelham (and likely several hundred other churches and thousands of other Christians) did that exact thing this past Sunday? 

What if I said that the words in the passage that we just read ring true still today? Like I said earlier, Christianity is all about community. Jesus is different from any other religious deity figure, because He became human, died and rose again (but didn't stop there) and is STILL living. He has remained in the present tense. And His passion for community and a relationship with us is still very much present tense as well. Jesus is actively seeking to forge a relationship with us. The way that He does is through what are known as the sacraments.

So, what are these sacraments? Well, in the United Methodist Church we have two sacraments: baptism and communion. You may notice that the word communion is extremely similar to the word community that I have talked about so adamantly thus far… there’s a reason for that! But we’ll get there in just a moment.

First, what is a sacrament? Some theologians like to define it as if we have a God-shaped hole in our heart and receiving the sacraments is the way by which we fill that hole, but when you really get down to brass tacks, the sacraments are an outward and physical representation of the relationship that God wants to pursue with us. It’s an outward sign of an inward grace. Sometimes it’s easier to explain what the sacraments are NOT.

First, they are not some kind of vending machine. It’s very tempting in our online shopping, two day Amazon prime shipping mindset to become caught up in the American “right here, right now” mentality. But just like Veruca from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory teaches us, few of the true treasures of life can be received without patience. Jesus doesn’t want us to throw in our quarters to the offering plate, take a quick sip of grape juice and call it a day – even worse, to call it a life. The sacraments are also not some form of Fairy Godmother who waves a magic wand over us and –poof- we no longer have to have anything to do with God. That always bugged me in the Disney movies. I always felt like once the princesses got their magic wishes, they just kind of ignored the Godmothers after that.

Bzzzt. Not Jesus.

Closer, but nope. Still not Jesus.

I digress, sacraments are also not ordinances. This is one that many of us may have trouble with because it isn’t necessarily wrong, it just falls short of the whole story. Our Baptist brothers and sisters believe the sacraments to be ordinances, or commands. In this way, Jesus instructed us, as you can read in the passage to do this in remembrance of me. Which is by no means incorrect, but it goes so much deeper than that. The sacraments are not hoop to jump through or some obligatory responsibility; they are a blessed opportunity. They are not simply us doing something to further cement our relationship with Him. Instead they are God acting towards us, and then we respond.

Not technically wrong... but just not all the way there!
Half-and-half Jesus. Skim Milk Jesus. Maybe 2% Milk Jesus.

So, now let’s dive a little deeper, what about communion? I’m sure that most of us have received communion before. Some of us may hold communion closer to our heart than any other aspect of Christianity. Some of us may roll our eyes anytime they see the covered loaf of bread on the altar. Over the past several decades, communion has gotten a bit of a bad rap. I’m not entirely sure why or how it happened, but it became very sad. I was, and still am really, a very cheerful and bubbly person and I can remember being a young child and wondering why I would get mean looks as I walked down the aisle to receive the bread and juice. I would bebop down the way looking forward to what at the time I understood was a delicious treat from Jesus. But those around me would walk up in some of melancholy state of mind; somber, heavy, penitential.

Originally, I was going to pin this on the Old Testament and say that this was all due to the heavy tone of those books, but then I read the passage from Exodus 16, which is where the Israelites are showered with manna from Heaven. Whenever this gift of God rains down (literally) from Heaven, they don’t walk over to the bread and speak in a monotone voice, “Praise be to God. Yay.” No, instead I imagine that the Israelites are elated at this physical sign of God and praise the Heavens!  I’m really not sure where our understanding of the sad communion comes from, but I’m here to tell you that this table and this bread and juice are a gift straight from God. If you gave one of your children a gift for their birthday or for Christmas and they responded with a deflated, “So be it. Hallelujah” (crosses him or herself), then you would probably not be very thrilled. Communion is a celebration of the forgiveness and grace of God through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.

So, what exactly happens in communion? In the Methodist church, we believe that several things occur during communion. 

First, it is an offering of forgiveness. It’s a time for us to admit our sins and be washed clean of them.

Then, communion is also a form of physical and spiritual nourishment. The symbolism of the bread literally filling our stomach is to remind us that this sacrifice is literally filling our spirit inside of us.

We also believe communion to be a transformative experience. It’s an opportunity for us to leave this church a transformed and renewed child of God. It can transform us into the grace-filled child we are called to be.

Communion is healing. Many of us in this room are hurting and all of us are broken. If any of us were perfect, then we probably wouldn’t be here. Some of us are physically sick, others of us may be emotionally scarred. Either way, this is an offering from God to mend those hurting places.

It also prepares us and propels us back into the world. Like I mentioned last week, we are called to be ministers and disciples. That is certainly no easy task, and so God gives us this gift to empower us with His grace and love to share with the world and then inspires us to go out there and do it.

Finally, communion is our relationship. It is literally our lifeline that connects from Earth to the Heavens.  Think of life rafts that they use on the ocean. Communion is the rope that connects God up on the boat to those of us drowning here in the vast ocean of sin and pain.

THIS. This is Jesus. This is God. This is communion.
God's constant striving to reach out to us in love,
seeking a relationship with us. 

Communion is an incredible experience and has the potential to mean so much more to us, if only we will allow it to do so. I hope that you will consider this the next time you are given an opportunity to receive this gift from God.

Please feel free to post any comments for discussion, I will try my best to respond. As always, if you have any private needs or prayers concerns, feel free to contact me personally at nathan@makingwaves.cc.

Blessings!