"No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined."

         I must begin by admitting that I do not understand this passage about the new wine and old wineskins and the old wine being best. What is a little scary is that my lack of understanding of this text will not stop me from preaching on it, perhaps at length.

         This is an example of what is both wonderful and frustrating about the Bible. There are passages that are hard to understand; why doesn't, especially, Jesus make it plain and easy for us? But what is wonderful about the Bible is that it never sits still. You can spend your whole life reading it and you never get it all figured out, it never gets stale. The Bible is an inexhaustible treasure.

         When I began to study this passage, it occurred to me that at this time in my life I find I am identifying with the old wineskins. I am one. There is only so much new you can put into me, or else I start to leak.

         So this gives me a new perspective from which to view this text. I still don't understand it, but I think what Jesus is saying in this parable is that as he reveals himself to the world through miracles and teaching and calling sinners to follow him, that people's lives are changing and salvation is touching them and this ministry does not seem to fit the established patterns of holiness, fasting and meticulous observance of ritual purity. But he also says that the old is best; that is, the heart of God has not changed. Mercy and justice and love have not been replaced.

         The theme that ties together this passage in Luke and the instructions in I Corinthians 11 is the centrality of the table. They are both about table fellowship, and about our tables becoming the Lord's Table.

         It was at table that Jesus was the friend of sinners.

         It was at table that the disciples celebrated Jesus' ministry and presence with them.

         It is at the Lord's Table that he is remembered and experienced anew.

Jesus calls a sinner to be a disciple. He finds Levi sitting alone at his table, his tax booth. Jesus invites Levi to follow him, and Levi does, leaving everything. But maybe not everything as we might understand it, because Levi throws a party, a dinner feast, and invites all his tax collector friends. And the Pharisees, who most likely did not come for dinner, wonder about that.

The Pharisees were all about calling Israel to repentance through strict observance of the commands of God. They felt that if the overall spiritual level of Israel were raised, God would bring the kingdom. They cared about sinners and wanderers. They called them to repent, to be purified, to observe the law, and then to come to table fellowship in anticipation of the Kingdom. Levi does not go through that process. His repentance is one of following Jesus, and it leads him straight to table fellowship with Jesus.

At the dinner there was a custom of structured conversation. Joel Green says this came from the Greek Symposium. During the meal, time is allotted for the host and the chief guest, a man selected for his wisdom, to engage in a dialogue centered on an issue in the scripture. So, in this dinner, two questions are raised with Jesus.

The Pharisees raise the first issue. They interpret the holiness rules at the temple as applying to their households. What the priests do in the temple for ritual purity, they do in their homes. That means all food is ritually pure, or kosher. And it means that all guests must be ritually clean.

"Why do you eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

Jesus replies that he is a doctor, and doctors are allowed to spend their time with the sick. He has come to heal. He has come to forgive, to lead wayward people to repentance and to restore them to community. That is why he eats with sinners.

The second question is about fasting. It does not seem to them that Jesus' disciples are fasting enough. Fasting was a sign of hope. You fast to show you are dissatisfied with life as it is; that you are longing for the Kingdom to come. Jesus replies that he is also the bridegroom. At a wedding the bridegroom brings joy. There is a feast in his presence. When the bridegroom is present there must be a party, and to join in the party is to receive grace.

So the table of the Lord, the table of the one who is a doctor for sin-sick people and also a bridegroom at a wedding feast; this table is to be welcoming. It is to be a place of grace and restoration and inclusion. Levi sits at the table of the Lord.

Paul writes to the church at Corinth about their use of the Lord's Table. It is to be a place where they remember the Lord. The Lord Jesus gave his life for them, because they were sin-sick, and they were far from the kingdom feast. But this church at Corinth had allowed some of their old dining customs to shape how they observed the Lord's Supper. Remember that the early church met in homes, so some of the wealthy members who owned homes opened them to be the meeting place for the church. But the general custom at dinner parties was to treat people unequally. Wealthy people of leisure ate at their own convenience, and filled the dining room. They reserved large portions of food for themselves and drank much wine, even getting drunk. The poor people came late from work, and found the food was nearly gone. So the Lord's Table became more of a private experience, and in their over-eating and drinking the wealthy replaced the Lord's Table with their own.

Paul says they do more harm than good. He says when you come to the table you have to be aware of each other, of the whole body of the Lord. There can be no special privilege, because Christ died for all.

So we are warned not to make our communion too much of an individual experience. This is the Lord's Table. This is where sinners are welcome. Here we are to be aware of the body of Christ as we take the bread and cup. The Lord Jesus is present with us. The bridegroom is among us. This is to be a joyful time. It is also to be a time when we are aware of our relationships with each other; how we forgive each other, how we get to know each other, how we help each other, how we love each other.

We are also aware of the wider church: the Christians of Lake County and how we can encourage and serve together.

We are to be aware of the wider Covenant family and what it means to belong to a fellowship that is truly multi-racial and inclusive of both rich and poor.

We are to be aware of the church throughout the world in all its great need. At this table we remember the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think about an experience I had two years ago, when I went to Russia with a group. We had gone to worship one Sunday morning at an Orthodox church. Before communion, the non-members were dismissed, we were not invited to the table. I respect the Orthodox Church and why they do that. But I remember feeling "excluded" as we stood outside the church in the winter cold, while inside they gathered at the Lord's Table.

 And then we wandered around until we found a kind of night club that had coffee and rolls, but I felt out of place there. And then we were given some free time and groups went here and there. A few of us went to the Hermitage, to the famous art gallery. It did not take long to get separated, to each make our own way. I found myself alone, wandering the halls of this old palace, now an art museum. It seemed to me to be a kind of fractured day, a day of increasing exclusion, of being alone in a very distant place.

 And then I turned into a room and was immediately confronted by the Rembrandt "Return of the Prodigal Son." It is very large and powerful in emotional impact. There the father embraces the wayward and lonely son who has come home. And I felt the embrace of God. I felt welcomed by the Father to the table. And later that evening at a special dinner, that feeling became tangible and relational.

Life for all of us is a continual movement between inclusion and exclusion. We go through times of welcome, of incorporation into communities. And then we go through times of change, of loss, of distancing or drifting. Sometimes that includes conflict, even rejection. Sometimes we feel "left out."

And then we are once more cared for, loved. Our lives move back and forth.

All of that would be very confusing, except for the Table of the Lord, where we gather and are healed and saved and embraced by the Lord himself. He invites us to his table now.

Amen.