Telling the Story at the Table – The Passover Meal
Text: Romans 5:1-5 (6-11)
Other Readings: Isaiah 5:1-7; John 3:14-21
Introduction: The Story at the Heart of the Meal
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and
from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
As we continue our Lenten journey, we are focusing on a
powerful image this year: "Telling the Story at the Table." We are
looking at the Passover meal. For a Jewish family, the Passover meal, the
Seder, is not just about eating. It is about telling. The father of
the house will chant the ancient story. The youngest child will ask, "Why
is this night different from all other nights?" And the answer is always a
story: "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out with
a mighty hand."
The food on the table—the bitter herbs, the unleavened
bread, the lamb—is all part of the storytelling. You taste the bitterness of
slavery. You see the bread of affliction. The story becomes real. It’s not just
history; it’s their story. They are to see themselves as if they personally
came out of Egypt.
Today, on this Reminiscere Sunday, which means
"Remember," our Scripture readings invite us to the Table to hear a
deeper story. It is a story of a loving Vinegrower, a lifted serpent, and a
peace that passes all understanding.
1. The Story of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-7)
First, the Prophet Isaiah asks us to listen to a love song.
He tells the story of a beloved friend who had a vineyard. He did everything
for it. He dug the soil, cleared it of stones, planted the choicest vines,
built a watchtower, and even hewed out a wine vat. He did all this, expecting
it to yield good grapes. He had a dream for this vineyard. He wanted to make
sweet wine from it.
But the story takes a tragic turn. Instead of good grapes,
it yielded wild grapes. Sour, worthless berries.
The story is an indictment, and the prophet makes the
meaning clear: The vineyard is the house of Israel. The people of God. God had
done everything for them. He freed them from slavery, gave them the Law, led
them through the desert, and planted them in a good land. And what did He get?
Not justice, but bloodshed. Not righteousness, but an outcry from the poor.
This is a table of sorrow. It’s a story of human failure. We
look at this vineyard and we have to see ourselves. How often has God planted
us in a good place, given us every gift, and we have produced the bitter fruit
of selfishness, pride, and indifference? The first part of our story is not a
happy one. It is a story of our own unfaithfulness. If the story ended there,
we would have no hope, only the threat of the vineyard being torn down.
2. The Story of the Serpent (John 3:14-15)
But the story doesn’t end there. At the Passover table, they
don't just tell the story of the Exodus; they look forward. And in our Gospel
reading, Jesus takes a strange, old story from the wilderness journey and
re-tells it as a story about Himself.
Remember the story? The people had sinned against God,
complaining and grumbling. And God sent fiery serpents among them; their bite
was deadly. It was a direct result of their sin. But in His mercy, God did not
just leave them to die. He told Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up
on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten could simply look at that serpent and
live.
Jesus says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him
may have eternal life."
Do you see how this changes the story of the vineyard? The
vineyard produced sour grapes, deserving only judgment. The people in the
wilderness deserved only death from the serpents. The justice of God was clear.
But here, God Himself provides the cure. The thing that brings death—the
serpent, a symbol of sin and curse—becomes the very thing that brings life when
lifted up by God's command.
Jesus is telling us that the ultimate "story at the
table" will be about Him being lifted up. Not on a pole in the wilderness,
but on a cross. He will become the curse for us. He will take the poison of our
sin—those sour grapes we produced—into Himself.
3. The Fruit of the Story (Romans 5:1-5, 6-11)
And this brings us to our text from Romans. This is what we
taste when we gather at the Table. This is the fruit of the story of the
lifted-up Christ.
St. Paul tells us what we have because of
this story. First, we have peace with God. The war is over. The
vineyard owner has not torn down the vines, but has sent His Son to be the
vine. Where there was hostility because of our sour fruit, now there is peace.
Second, we have access. Paul says we have
"obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand." The
table is set, and we are invited to pull up a chair. We are no longer
outsiders, workers who failed the boss. We are welcomed children.
But Paul goes even deeper. He talks about suffering. At the
Passover table, they taste the bitter herbs. They don't skip that part. And in
the Christian life, we have suffering. But Paul gives us a new story about
suffering. He says suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character,
and character produces hope.
This isn't a story of "grin and bear it." This is
the story of the cross working itself out in our lives. When we suffer, we are
not being punished like the failed vineyard. We are being shaped. We are being
taught to rely not on our own sweet grapes, but on the grace of God. And this
hope, Paul says, "does not put us to shame."
Why doesn't it put us to shame? Because it’s not a wishful
thinking hope. It’s a concrete hope, built on a historical fact. Paul reminds
us of the core of the story: "While we were still weak, at the right time
Christ died for the ungodly... God shows his love for us in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us."
This is the story that is told at the Table. It’s not a
story about good people who finally got their act together. It’s a story about
a Vinegrower whose vineyard failed, so He became the true Vine. It’s a story
about a people dying from sin, so God provided the cure. It’s a story about
sinners, enemies of God, who are reconciled to Him through the death of His
Son.
Conclusion: Our Place at the Table
So, as we continue through Lent, we are heading towards the
ultimate Passover. Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread and wine at
a Passover table and said, "This is my body... this is my blood." He
was telling the new story. The story of the new Exodus.
On that cross, He was the Lamb. He was the bronze serpent
lifted up. He was the vineyard torn down so that a new vine could grow.
And now, we are invited to His Table. When we come, we don't
just remember an old story. We enter into it. We taste the bitterness of our
sin, but we also taste the sweetness of His love. We hear that we have peace
with God. We receive the very life that was given for us.
This is the story that saves. It’s a story of a love so
great that it turned our sour grapes into the new wine of His kingdom. It’s a
story that turns our suffering into hope. It’s the story of the Lamb who was
slain.
This Lent, may we come to the Table. May we listen to the
story. And may we taste and see that the Lord is good.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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