Eucharistic meditation

Malachi 1:6-7: A son honors his father, and a servant his master Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, How have we despised Your name? You are presenting defiled food upon My altar But you say, How have we defiled You? In that you say, The table of the LORD is to be despised.

We saw in the sermon this morning that God has made a claim on our children. God gives children, as He gave Isaac to Abram and Sarai. And He gives them to us to raise as His children. Abraham’s greatest act of faith was his willingness to give his son wholly to God, confident that God would somehow still keep His promise and deliver his son back to him. They belong to Him, and they are sealed at baptism with this adoption. Baptism tells our children that they belong to God, and not ultimately to us.

And this table is a continual reminder of that fact. Yahweh rebukes Israel for not giving him the honor due Him as Israel's Father, and He says that this dishonor is manifested at the altar, which is called here the "table of Yahweh. The table of Yahweh is the table of the Father of Israel, and this table too is the table of our Father, where He offers us His Son as our food. Because this is the table of our Father, all His children belong here.

This is one of the reasons why we want children at the Lord's table. Baptism says that our children belong to their heavenly Father, that He claims them and makes them His own. But in many churches, baptism doesn't bring children to the table. Baptism says that our children are part of their Father's family; but our practices at the table send a different message. They send the message that our kids need to do or experience something else to be included in the Father's family in a full sense. For what kind of family is it that welcomes new children but refuses to give them a place at the table?

This table, then, is a continuing assurance to our children that they belong to their Father. But it is also a continuing, a weekly check, on parents, a weekly reminder of the limits of our parental authority and scope. Our children eat at our tables every day. But fundamentally, this is the table where they belong. This is the table of their true and ultimate Father. And every week we come here, as sons of Abraham, to acknowledge with Abraham our Father that our children belong to their heavenly Father.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, November 04, 2007 at 08:09 AM

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