This is not a sad meal. This is a victory feast. This is the sign of our ransom, the tokens of our redemption, the proof that we have been set free, evidence that Christ has won and His righteousness will be revealed to the ends of the earth.
This is our weekly thanksgiving meal, what the older church called the Eucharist. Our Jesus is not dead. He is not suffering anymore. He suffered once for all for our sins, and having suffered, bled, and died, He satisfied the exact terms of our justice. His blood paid the wages of all our sin. And having accomplished this, He rose up victorious over sin, death, and the devil, alive forever and sat down at the right hand of the Father where He reigns forever, putting every enemy beneath His feet, putting everything right.
We celebrate this meal not imagining Jesus still on the cross. We celebrate this meal with Jesus crowned in glory in heaven. And therefore, we do not celebrate this meal with any uncertainty about how the story will turn out. We do not pretend that we do not know. We celebrate this meal precisely because we do know. We know the rest of the story. Jesus is risen from the dead, Jesus is seated in Heaven as the King of all Kings, the Lord of all Lords. We know how this story goes.
So, in the face of cultural and political turmoil, in the face of millions of babies murdered, in the face of justice miscarried, in the face of defiant sexual deviance, in the face of hardship, uncertainty, sickness, loneliness, and even in the face of death itself, we give thanks together here and share this bread and wine, proclaiming the death of our King by which He has purchased our salvation and inherited the ends of the earth for His possession. These are the tokens of His victory, the signs and seals of our redemption, and the absolute certainty of His justice filling this world.
We do not yet see all things put beneath His feet, but we do see Jesus and in Him, we see all things put right. This is our victory, even our faith.
SoCome and Welcome to Jesus Christ.
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