A Table of Peace

In our text from last week Paul described one element of reconciliation as “making peace.” For reconciliation presupposes that God’s wrath has been satisfied and taken away. And thus the way is cleared for peaceful relations to be restored. And nothing proclaims the restoration of peace better than a meal. That is why a meal always concluded the cycle of sacrifices under the old covenant. The meal was itself a proclamation of what had taken place. Even so the bread and the wine spread before you now are a proclamation of the reconciliation that God has brought about for you in the death of Jesus Christ. He has established peace with you. His wrath abides upon you no longer. How do you know that he is at peace with you? He invites you to the feast! He invites to feast upon the very instrument of your reconciliation. It’s interesting that Paul mentions both the body and the blood in Colossians 1:20, 22. Some have seen this as setting a Eucharistic context for the passage and in particular for presentation of Colossians “in God’s sight.” That may be a bit of stretch, but there is no doubt that the celebration of this sacrament does involve an appearance before God’s face. An appearance and a meal that anticipate the Day when we will indeed be presented before him, holy, blameless, and above reproach. And this meal is also a means of ensuring that we might the condition set out in v. 23. What better way to abide upon the foundation and within the structure of the household of the faith than to keep the feast that spreads before us the very essence of our faith: the person and work of Jesus Christ? What better way to not be moved from the hope of the gospel than to keep the feast that proclaims the very essence of our hope: the Lord Jesus Christ Himself until he comes? Beloved, come to the feast and enjoy the peace of the Lord!