Matthew 26:26-28 While they were eating, Jesus took the bread, gave
thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take and
eat; this is my body.  Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it
to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.  This is my blood of the
covenant, which is poured our for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Perhaps
this has happened to you, perhaps not.  I can't think of when it has
ever happened to me, but I have heard of it happening.  Some friends
invite you out to eat.  They invite you out because they want to
celebrate a milestone of your life.  You go to a nice restaurant and
have a very pleasant meal and time.  And then it is time to pay the
bill.  It is at this time that the people who gave the invitation say,
"Let's go Dutch!"
It is not the fact that you are to pay for your
meal that bothers you, it's the fact that you thought that since they
invited you to celebrate your milestone they were paying, they were
going to treat you.  I can't imagine it being a big thing but for some
such a thing would be a let down.  As you pay you might think, "Well, I
guess I'm not worth treating."
Tonight our Savior has invited us to
the most precious meal of all history.  The Lord's Supper.  But relax.
 There's no need to pull out your wallets.  Our Savior invites us to
this meal and our Savior wants to give us a wonderful treat, wants to
let us know how special we are.  Our theme tonight will be: HE SPOKE A
WORD OF INVITATION.  1st. To a meal that unites us sinners with our
Savior.  2nd. To a meal paid for by our Savior.
"This man welcomes
sinners and eats with them."  That was the charge leveled against Jesus
by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  They made it on a day
when "tax collectors and 'sinners' were all gathering around to hear
him" (Lk 15:1,2).  This wasn't the first time.  Judah's religious
leaders simply did not approve of the company Christ kept.  Their
charge was meant to discredit Christ or perhaps convince him to see the
error of his ways.
But Jesus didn't listen to his enemies.  "This
man welcomes sinners and eats with them" remained the theme for Jesus'
ministry to the very end.  How could it be any different for the Savior
who said, "The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost" (Lk
19:10)?  Jesus knew why he had come.  He knew who needed him.  "It is
not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to
call the righteous, but sinners" (Mk 2:17).  Lepers, prostitutes,
beggars, the blind, the lame, tax collectors, all those branded by the
religious leaders as horrid sinners-Jesus had time for them all.  He
had love for them all.  A love that moved our Savior to invest 33 years
of holy, selfless, sacrificial service in a sin-infested human race
that "did not receive him" (Jn 1:11).  A love that led our Savior to
the cross.
"This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."  To the
very end, this remained the motto for Jesus' ministry-even in the upper
room.  "But wait a minute, weren't the apostles the only ones invited
to that first Lord's Supper?  Aren't we talking about the cream of the
crop, when it comes to believers?"  It's true, the first Lord's Supper
in the upper room was limited to just the apostles.  Well, almost all
of them.  When you compare all the gospel records, it seems that Judas
left before Jesus served his precious meal.  But the 11 apostles who
remained were hardly choirboys, hardly the cream of the believing crop.
Matthew,
a tax collector, was there.  He also went by the name Levi.  It was
Levi's calling, three years earlier, which prompted the Pharisees to
charge Jesus with the sin of eating with sinners.  Tax collectors in
Jesus' day were deemed traitors and cheats.  They are still not very
popular in today's circles either.
The brothers James and John were
there.  Earlier Jesus had tagged them with the nickname Boanerges, Sons
of Thunder, because of their misguided, self-righteous desire to rain
fire and brimstone down on those who rejected their master.
Peter
was there.  He was the apostle who suffered from a persistent case of
foot-in-mouth disease.  He was the one that Jesus called "Satan," the
one who thought he knew better than Jesus what God wanted.
And so
the list goes.  "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."  That's
the only reason the apostles received an invitation to the upper room.
 They were sinners who needed Jesus and the gift he would give.
The
same is true this evening.  All walks of life are represented here.
 Husbands and fathers, wives and mothers, sons and daughters, teachers
and students, white collar, blue collar and retired workers.  Yet, no
matter where we come from or who we are, not a one of us deserves an
invitation to dine with the Savior.  Why?  Because we come loaded down
with sin.  All too often it's the same sins we brought with us the last
time we came to the Lord's Supper.  Arguing with a spouse.  Bickering
with a brother or sister.  Struggling with a hot temper.  Never
finishing homework.  Gossiping, cursing, worrying, the list could go
on.  Won't the day come when Jesus will tire of our sinful company?

 His word of invitation provides the answer.  "Take and eat; this is my
body. . . . Drink from it, all of you.  This is my blood of the
covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
 Jesus still speaks a word of invitation to sinners like you and me.
 He wants us to be with him.  He wants us to share with him in this
meal of fellowship, a meal that unites us with him in a miraculous way.
 He wants us to share with him, share in a supper that is but a shadow
of the feast we will have with him forever in heaven.
Jesus Christ
your Savior has invited you to the most precious meal of all time.
 Don't ignore his invitation.  Don't take it lightly, because providing
this meal didn't come cheap.  "This is my body. . . . This is my
blood." "Given for you . . . poured out for you."  Our Savior bought
this meal at the highest cost.  He bought it with his own precious body
and blood.  He bought this meal, paying forever for us, a few hours
later on his cross!  There, the precious blood of Christ was shed for
you and me (1 Pe 1:18,19).  There Jesus suffered.  There he died.
 There he paid in full for your sins and mine.
There on the cross
God's Passover Lamb, our Passover Lamb, was sacrificed (1 Co 5:7).  The
very body and blood Jesus offered on the cross is offered to us now-in
a miraculous way-in, with, and under the bread and wine of his Supper.
 It is what Jesus tells us.  It is what God's Word promises us.  It is
a mystery of God for you and for me.
But can it be that Jesus has
changed his mind?  Do we know for sure that he still speaks this word
of invitation?  Sometimes we make invitations and live to regret them.
 Maybe because they end up being a whole lot more work than we had
envisioned.  Or maybe because we have sticker shock when we see the
bill.  Did Jesus come to regret the gracious invitation he made that
first Maundy Thursday night?  Just stand beneath his cross and listen.
"Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Lk 23:34).
 Jesus counted the cost.  He stayed on his cross.  He prayed for you
and me from that cross.  He had no second thoughts.
"Today you will
be with me in paradise."  Even on the cross, Jesus welcomed sinners.
 Tonight, once more, he welcomes you and me.
"It is finished."  The
blood of God's covenant Lamb has been poured out for the forgiveness of
sins.  Jesus shed his blood to make sure that "neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any
powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord" (Ro 8:38,39).  We have our Lord's guarantee.  "'Though
the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love
for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says
the Lord, who has compassion on you" (Isa 54:10).  The Lord's Supper
has been bought and paid for.  So take and eat; take and drink.  The
invitation still stands.
"Given for you . . . poured out for you."
 Quite a few years have passed since some of us were students in a
confirmation class.  Yet I'll bet that the Pastor taught you the same
thing I say to my kids.  "These words, 'for you' speak of the personal
nature of communion.  It is you receiving the body of Jesus.  It is you
receiving the blood of the Savior. It is you in a rather unique way,
having Jesus become a part of you."  The words "for you" are intensely
personal and so comforting.  At the Communion rail, for a moment, it's
just Jesus and you.  No one else may know what we've done.  No one else
may know exactly what we're feeling.  You may not even remember all the
stupid things, all the sins you have done.  But Jesus knows, and he
invites us to this meal of grace anyway.  Again and again and again.
 As often as we come, hungering and thirsting for the forgiveness of
sins, he is there.  Jesus wants us to know that what he did for the
whole world, he did for us, yes, for you personally.
              
 Tonight Jesus speaks his word of invitation once again.  "Take and
eat. . . . Drink from it, all of you."  Come to the meal that unites us
sinners to our Savior.  Come to the meal that Jesus paid for.  Come to
the meal prepared by our Savior for you.  Amen.