Finding Your Place At The Table | Maundy Thursday

Our scripture reading this evening comes from the Gospel of John chapter 13.

John 13 · chapter mention

It was just before the Passover festival.

Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.

Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress.

The devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come up from

God and was returning to God.

So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, drying

them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet?

Jesus replied, you do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.

No, said Peter, you will never wash my feet.

Jesus answered, unless I wash you, you have no part in me.

When Lord, Simon Peter replied, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well.

Jesus answered, those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet.

Their whole body is clean.

And you are clean, though not every one of you.

For he knew who was going to betray him, and that is why he said not everyone was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.

Do you understand what I have done for you, he asked them.

You call me teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am.

And now that I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you should also wash one

another's feet.

I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you.

Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater

than the one who sent him.

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

When Judas was gone, Jesus said, now the son of man is glorified and God is glorified in

him.

If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the son in himself and will glorify him at

once.

My children, I will be with you only a little longer.

You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now, where I am going,

you cannot come.

A new command I give you, love one another.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.

The word of the Lord.

It's gotta be one of the most iconic and famous paintings in all of history, really.

It's Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper.

And when I look at that painting, I mean, there's so much to see there, but one of the

things that I am struck with is the contrast, right?

Because on the one hand, you've got Jesus sitting in the middle and da Vinci has like

almost painted him like an equilateral triangle, right?

He's this perfect picture of peace and divinity.

But in contrast to that, you look around him and you've got all these characters, some

are up and some are down and they're jumbled and they're facing this way and they're leaning

that way and there's this confusion and chaos associated with these people who are with

Jesus.

And I look at that and I stare at it and I look at all the different shapes of these

people around him and I can't help but just think, you know, who are these people?

Who are these people who are sitting at this meal with Jesus?

You've got Judas there in the shadows.

You've got Peter, who apparently, if you look closely, he's got a sword in his cloak.

You've got Philip, who's asking some questions and you've got Thomas, who is pointing his

finger almost prefiguring when he'll point his finger at Jesus and say, I can't believe

unless I see his wounds.

You know, it's a masterpiece.

Some people have said though, Leonardo da Vinci didn't get everything quite right.

For example, the table isn't right because a Passover meal, they would have eaten that

at what was called a triclinium, which is a table that actually has kind of three tables

that make a U shape.

It wouldn't have been one long table and they wouldn't have been sitting on chairs either.

The meal was eaten as you reclined.

You reclined on your kind of left elbow and then you ate with your right hand.

So it's true, da Vinci didn't get everything quite right.

But I think one thing that he did get right is just this strange and odd and surprising

mix of people that are seated around the table with him.

If you were to have a dinner party, you'd probably be pretty careful about the people

you invited.

And if you were to have a very special meal, like the last meal of your life, a symbolic

and highly charged meal like Jesus was organizing here, you would probably be very careful who

the folks were that were on your guest list, which is why it's so strange that these in

fact are the people who are seated at the table that night.

I've done a little bit of reading this past week in preparation for tonight, trying to

just remember again, who are these disciples, this ragtag bunch of people that are gathered

around the table?

And frankly, I'm surprised any of them got an invitation.

If I were there, I'd be surprised I would get the invitation.

But the more I look at these guys, it's surprising they made the guest list.

And here's the amazing thing.

Jesus invited each one and each one had a place at the table.

You know, if you've ever been to a, you've ever been to a banquet and you're wondering,

Oh, do I belong here?

Am I, am I supposed to be here?

Was I really invited?

Yeah, it's happened to me a few times.

I just crashed parties and you know, I, you know, but no, actually, there's a short

far way to tell whether you're on the guest list.

And that is you just walk around to the tables and you look at all the place settings and

you look for what's called a place card.

And that's, that's a card that's got your name on it.

And if you see that place card, it lets you know, ah, I was invited.

I was supposed to be here and there is a place for me at this table.

Well, tonight, all I want to do with you is I just want to go around that table with you

and I want to look at the place cards.

I want to look at the people who were seated at Jesus table that night.

And I want us just to see a couple of things.

I want us to see, first of all, how diverse they were, how different they were, how unique

they were.

And actually in many cases, how broken and messed up they were.

You see, some of us might feel, you know, I'm too sinful to be invited to Jesus table.

I'm too messed up, too broken.

My faith is way too small.

I would never be invited to the table with Jesus.

But I think that by the time we are done tonight, you'll see you've got a place at this table.

You belong at this table and actually not just you, but Jesus invites all sorts of people,

all different kinds of people.

And it's actually only when we're all present, only when we're all there with all of our

differences and our diversity and uniqueness, I think it's only when we're all gathered

around that table that the table is actually complete.

So let's do it as we go down this table.

Let's look at the place cards.

But as we do, I want you also to look at yourself and ask yourself, who of these disciples do

I most resemble?

In what ways are they just like me?

As if that's true, then I too have a place at this table.

Let's start with who other than Simon Peter, Simon Peter has a seat at this table, which

perhaps isn't all that startling because Simon Peter is often held up as an example of great

faith, but let's be honest about Simon Peter.

He's a bit of a mixed bag.

Sometimes he's great.

Another time he's a total flop.

I'll give you a couple of examples.

It was Simon Peter who, when Jesus said, Hey, who do people say that I am?

You know what Simon Peter put up his hand and said, I know who you are.

You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.

And Jesus says, you got it.

And then in the very next breath, you know what Simon Peter does?

He completely misunderstands that Jesus mission so much to the point that Jesus says, Simon,

get behind me, Satan, talk about a hit and a miss.

It was Simon Peter who had faith enough to walk out on the waves to, to meet with Jesus.

What faith?

It was the same Simon Peter who, who got totally scared out of his wits and started sinking

in the very same water.

What a mixed bag.

It's Simon Peter who, as he sits at the table with Jesus, he's got a sword in his cloak.

He's ready to die for Jesus that night.

That same Simon Peter, he's the one who will run away and deny that he even knew Jesus

in the first place.

Simon Peter, he's unreliable.

He's, he's unpredictable.

Do you see yourself in him tonight at all?

Is there a little Peter in you as you come to this table tonight?

On the one hand, you're full of faith and you're full of passion and zeal.

And yet on the other time, man, you surprise yourself at your mistakes.

You surprise yourself at your lack of faith and your, your own weakness and your own screw

ups.

And yet Peter and you and me have a place at this table.

Absolutely, absolutely amazing.

Well, listen, every story has to have a villain, right?

And while none of these 12 disciples are perfect, if you had to pick the bad guy, it's got to

be Judas Iscariot.

We don't know the full story of Judas.

We don't know the full story of any of these guys really, but apparently at some point,

Judas was overcome with evil.

He was overcome with darkness, overcome with demons, overcome by Satan.

It all got a hold of him and it caused him to betray Jesus to the death.

It is horrible, but here's the crazy thing.

Here's the crazy thing.

Jesus knew this would all happen and he still makes a place for Judas at his table.

How does that even work?

There's Judas, he's sitting at the table.

He's got the 30 pieces of silver in his pocket ready to betray Jesus and he's here at the

table.

Why?

Why?

He's like, well, maybe he's here because deep down we all know there's been times when we've

been the bad guy.

There's been times when we know darkness has gotten ahold of us, where evil has gotten

into us and there are things we have said and things we have done that we'd be ashamed

to tell anybody about.

It's that dark and it's that deep.

And so I wonder is the reason that Judas is invited to this table.

Is that so we may more fully come to Jesus table as well with all those parts of our

humanity that betray him and deny him and sin against him and may even murder him for

Jesus.

The table was not complete without Judas.

Just as the table is not going to be complete without you or me, there is part of us that

comes to the table like Judas does.

Let's keep going around the table.

We come across these two fellows, right?

These guys, these, these brothers sitting beside each other, they're kind of inseparable.

Their names are James and John, but actually Jesus has given them a neck and a nickname.

It's Bo energies is their nickname, which basically means sons of thunder or, or thunderbolts.

Now it's interesting what, what, what is, what kind of nickname like that tell us about James

and John?

I think it could tell us a couple of things.

One it probably tells us that these guys were kind of hot tempered.

They're probably the kind of guys that would snap just like that, get really mad, really,

really quick or from zero to a hundred in like three seconds.

I could, you know, there's a story where Jesus and James and John, some of the disciples

got, you know, kind of rejected by some villagers in a town they were going to and James and

John, you know what their idea was?

They said, Hey Jesus, why don't we call down fire from heaven and burn all these people

to a crisp?

It's got some anger issues there.

They also have pride issues.

Another time when they're all walking along the street, James and John come up to Jesus.

Hey Jesus, we got a great idea.

When you become King and you're in charge and you're number one, how about you make

me and James and me and James and John, how do you make us your number one and number

two?

We want to be right at your left-handed and one at your right hand.

We want to be right up there with you, Jesus.

What do you think about that?

These guys, these guys, short fuses, big egos, and Jesus invites them to the table.

Do you see yourselves in them?

Pride, anger?

I mean, maybe you look at James and John, you're like, Oh my gosh, that's me.

That is so me.

That's exactly what I would do.

There's a part of me that is just like that.

And that means, listen, there's a place for you at this table too.

It's not complete without you.

It's not complete without them.

What about Andrew?

You know, maybe sitting right beside James and, and John is Andrew.

One thing we know about Andrew is at one point in his life, he was a fully committed follower

of John the Baptist.

He was one of John the Baptist's disciples.

And then one day John the Baptist said, listen, Andrew, I don't want you to follow me anymore.

I want you to follow Jesus instead.

And so Andrew's beliefs in that moment must have had to go through a fairly radical shift.

He had been following this guy and listening to his gospel of, you know, baptism for repentance

of sin, prepare the way, da da da.

And now he's got to follow Jesus and Jesus and the kingdom of God and all a very kind

of different thing.

And so he's been a disciple of John.

Now he's going to become a disciple of Jesus.

He's got to leave behind what was familiar and he's got to embrace this new way of thinking.

And maybe some of that sounds familiar to you, right?

This, this Jesus guy has shown him into your life and has challenged your thinking.

It has caused you to have to kind of rethink everything.

It's tossed your world upside down.

You've always seen the world one way.

You've always gone this way.

And now Jesus is challenging you to see it and embrace the world in a different way.

And that is unsettling.

And that is very hard for you.

Is there part of you who feels what Andrew feels?

Even as you come to church tonight, you're like, I, I don't know what to make of all

this.

It's, it's unsettling for me.

If so, don't worry, don't worry.

Because Andrew had a seat at this table and you've got a seat at this table too.

Or maybe it's, you might recognize yourself in Philip.

Again, we don't know a lot about these guys, but, but one of the nicknames that the history

books give Philip is Philip the curious.

Philip is always asking questions.

In fact, it seemed like Philip would ask, you know, ridiculous questions, even in the

middle of one of Jesus's, you know, most profound teaching moments.

They, these questions, he just can't seem to keep them to himself.

And it's interesting, like it's okay though, because when, when Philip is asking questions,

it actually ultimately leads them to deeper faith and deeper understanding of who Jesus

is.

And maybe you know how Philip feels because maybe you're, you're full of questions yourself.

Maybe you've got questions about, about Jesus, questions about God, questions about suffering

questions.

So many questions going on in your mind, but it's important to know that Jesus never reprimanded

Philip for his questions.

Jesus never reprimands anybody for their questions and struggles.

Instead, what Jesus does, he takes a little card out and he writes Phillips name on it

and he puts it at the table and he says, there's a place for you, Philip at this table.

And there's a place for all your questions too.

And then there's one who's got even more questions.

In fact, he has some serious doubts and his name is of course Thomas, but the history

books have given him this nickname, Thomas the doubter doubting Thomas.

Thomas demands proof.

He demands proof of the resurrection.

And when Jesus returns after his crucifixion, Thomas will not believe until he sees the

marks in Jesus hands for himself and even touches them.

Sometimes we see people like Thomas is weak, oh, they're so full of doubts.

They don't have enough faith.

And as a result, if we've got doubts, we don't even want to voice them because we're afraid

that it'll make us look lesser in the eyes of other people and people look down on us

for it.

But Thomas's doubts are welcomed by Jesus.

And it's actually through his doubts that he comes to have a deeper understanding and

a deeper faith and a deeper reliance on Jesus.

So if there is a part of you like Thomas and you're full of doubts, maybe you have doubts

about maybe you even have doubts about Easter.

Maybe you even have doubts about the resurrection that we're about to celebrate.

Listen, that is okay.

Just remember you like Thomas, you're invited to find your place at this table.

How about Matthew?

Do you guys see what a mix?

What an odd assortment of people to invite to you.

Matthew, a tax collector.

Tax collectors were some of the most unpopular people in the first century Jewish world,

right?

Although they themselves were Jews, they had been contracted to ruthlessly collect taxes

from their countrymen.

And basically what they do is they would collect the taxes and then they would collect their

fee on top of that.

And then they might collect a little bit more just because, well, just because they could.

And so tax collectors became some of the wealthiest people in town, some of the most hated people

in society.

That's why when I see Matthew's card sitting at the table, you know what I think about?

I think about greed.

I think about our constant desire for more, our desire to keep up with the Joneses, our

lack of contentment with what we have, our tendency to divine ourself by our net worth.

I mean, do you see that in yourself?

This desire for more, your struggle with greed?

Well just remember this.

So did Matthew.

And still you and he have a place card sitting at this table.

We're getting through the list here, but listen, there's another guy named Simon.

The Bible does not tell us much about this guy other than he's nicknamed Simon the Zealot.

Now there was an extreme political party in Jesus' day that were known as the Zealots.

And they wanted a Messiah who would violently overthrow the Romans and do it right now.

They were zealous, they were zealous for God.

And scholars maybe aren't 100% sure, but they think that somehow maybe one of the followers

of this kind of radical political party also found themselves joining up with Jesus, which

meant that he probably had one foot in this world over here where they impatiently wanted

to see the overthrow of Rome.

And then he had his other foot in this world over here with Jesus, which had a very different

kind of agenda.

So Simon is this really complex guy.

He's a bit of a wild card.

He's kind of probably got dangerous friends.

He's kind of a scary guy to be around maybe.

And yet here he was in Jesus' inner circle.

I think it is safe to say he was conflicted.

And maybe you feel the same way as Simon.

You're conflicted too in your life.

You've got one foot over here in your world of work, one with your family, with your friends.

You've got a whole life over here.

And then you've got Jesus who has a very radically different idea about how to live your life

and go about your life.

And you've got one foot in each world and you're actually not 100% sure you could actually

ever take this foot out and be all in with Jesus.

If you feel that way, if you feel conflicted, if you feel uncertain, misguided, then like

Simon the Zealot, amazingly, you've still got a place at the table.

Let me end with three others, three other people who have yet to be named.

These guys, actually, we don't know anything about them, to be quite honest.

Their stories don't seem to have been important enough to be recorded in the sands of time

here in the history books.

And yet their presence was important enough to be included at the table of Jesus.

Bartholomew was welcomed at the table.

Taddeus was welcomed at the table.

James, the son of Alphaeus, was welcomed at the table.

I wonder if they might actually represent those of us who feel forgotten, those of us

who feel left out, those who didn't get the credit, those who didn't get recognized, those

who feel like the world has overlooked us and life has moved on and we feel ignored

by everyone.

They were not overlooked by Jesus.

Their presence was critical to the table that night.

The meal could not start without James, Taddeus, and Bartholomew.

So there you got it, guys.

What an unexpected guest list.

People invited to Jesus' table.

Here at the table, you know what we see?

We see the depths of humanity, both the highs of humanity, yes, but also the lows.

Both the faith, yes, but also the denial, the betrayal, the hot tempers, the pride,

the questions, the doubts, the greeds, the impatience, even our feeling of inadequacy

and being forgotten.

It's all gathered there at the table.

What a strange table.

What a powerful table.

God knows all about us.

He knows every hair on your head.

He knows everything about you, your sins and secret thoughts, and yet He still wants you

at His table.

He knows you're weak, He knows I'm broken, and yet He still prepares a place for me at

this table.

Just think this through one more time.

Jesus knew Judas was about to betray Him, and He still washed His feet.

Jesus knew all these guys were going to deny Him, and that night He still calls them friends.

What a table.

What a guest list.

What a host.

It wouldn't have been complete without any one of them.

And actually, that comes down to you and to me.

This table is not complete without you and without your place card as well.

You know what we're going to do tonight, something a little different.

In just a minute, some of these ushers are actually going to come through, and they're

going to be handing out little blank place cards to you.

So I would invite you just to pass them down, the pews, as they come around right now.

I want to encourage you to do something.

You can do it in a number of ways.

You could take off the little name tag that you got tonight, and you can stick it to that

place card, or you can take one of the pencils in your pews, and you can write your name

on that place card.

If you are watching online and you checked in this evening, then we've already printed

off a name tag for you, and we're going to put it on a place card for you as well.

And if you didn't get a chance to check in, do we have a phone number that we're putting

up?

Maybe not.

But if you didn't get a chance to check in, please go to our church app, check in, and

we'll create a place card for you.

Because here's what we're going to do.

In a few moments, we are going to come forward and we are going to receive the bread and

the wine.

We're going to come to Jesus' table and to remind us of who we are and that you have

a place in Jesus' table.

We're also going to place a place card on one of these two little tables that are up

here at the front of the church.

And when we do that, and when you see those cards pile up, and when you see those names

all show up, a couple things are going to become real clear.

First, when you see your name on that card, you're going to become more aware of all that

your name represents, all the strengths and all the weaknesses, all the faith and all

the failures are in that name.

And as we write our name and as we ponder our own identity there, so that means that

when we come to the table, we are coming with who we are, the good and the bad and the ugly.

But secondly, as we place these cards on these tables tonight, we're going to see something

beautiful.

We will see the beautiful diversity of Jesus' family, knowing that God's family is made

more beautiful by our differences, not less beautiful, more beautiful by our uniqueness,

our different names, our different people, our diverse backgrounds.

If any of the cards are missing from those tables tonight, then the meal is less complete.

Thirdly, as we look at the table covered in those cards, I think we're going to have a

deep sense that we are God's beloved children.

Welcome to his table.

And it's not because of anything we've done to earn a place at the table.

It's only because of Jesus' grace and sacrifice and love for us that we have a place at the

table.

And then finally, when we see the kind of table that Jesus sets for us, that we are

invited to, hopefully we go forth from this place ready to set our own tables in our own

houses for others, to invite others into our homes and invite others around our tables

because that's how God's love is extended deeper and deeper into the world.