In our early Sunday morning communion service before the pandemic started, we gathered in Wilson Chapel in small numbers to share the Lord’s Supper together. After we shared bread and cup, we would recite Psalm 23. Then I would usually say, “This Psalm has the other end of this table in it, the table that’s in heaven.” But that fifth verse in the Psalm catches in my throat every time. I’m saying it as I look over a small group of old friends, the regulars at this communion. I’m saying it as I stand next to the elements of the Lord’s Supper, which we’ve just shared. In this verse, I am talking about the possibility that one of us is an enemy. It hurts to think about that possibility: the enemy at the table. And it could be that I am that person.
Jesus had an enemy at the table the first time He celebrated the Lord’s Supper, His last meal with His disciples. Someone was there at the table who was ready to sell Him out and betray Him. Even if all Judas was trying to do was to push Jesus into unveiling His messianic power, he was still a betrayer. He was trying to manipulate Jesus or push his own agenda. Or according to the Gospel of John, Judas just wanted the money.
The most telling verse in the Luke passage above is this one: “Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.” All of Jesus’s friends look within and think, “It could be me! I could be the betrayer who is breaking His heart. I have it in me to let Him down.” And if you and I are honest with ourselves, we also have it within us to betray Him, try to get rid of Him, push Him out of our lives, or try to trick Him into doing it our way. We all have a betrayer within us, and we know it. And Jesus knows it, too. He knows our sin and shame. And still He invites us to His table, still He loves us and reaches out to us in welcome. Jesus knows us—and still He loves us.
As we come to the end of Lent, look within and acknowledge that you, too, are a sinner and a betrayer. Then come to the Table, the Cross, and the Tomb and find forgiveness all over again. What a miracle!