Can you imagine spilling the tray during a Communion service?
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I can imagine you’ve nervously thought the same as you held the tray filled with those little cups of grape juice, then passed it along. When I watch my husband Ken hold the tray with one hand, then try to retrieve two cups of juice with the other hand — one for him and one for me — I’ve thought about the possibility of him spilling it. Well, it once happened at the church where my friend, Peter Rosenberger, attends. (Peter and I became friends when he and his wife, Gracie, launched a prosthetic limb ministry to amputees alongside one of our Wheels for the World team in Ghana).
Anyway, Peter says he’s not sure how it happened, but at church, up front by the Communion table, one of the trays spilled over and grape juice splashed all over the pulpit, floor, table, and a few startled elders—and it happened in front of the whole congregation. There really wasn't any damage, since the pulpit area is all hardwood, but from the reaction of the shocked parishioners, it was clear everyone thought it was a disaster.
The elders recovered quickly and went about their business of passing the remaining trays row by row; each elder and church member gripping the trays like wrestlers determined not to contribute to the embarrassing scene up at the front of the church. The little cups lay scattered, and the white cloth covering the Communion table had a deep purple stain on it. Peter watched the pastors looking at each other — you could tell they were questioning the protocol for such a mishap. Surely, this had been covered in a seminary class somewhere?! Evidently not.
Peter was watching all this from his seat in the pew when suddenly, something happened inside him that pushed him out of his seat; he stepped into the aisle and walked quickly up to the platform. He bent down and started picking up cups. Another pastor showed up with a roll of paper towels, and the three of them wiped up the juice puddle around the table and pulpit while hundreds of people looked on. They had no idea at the drama being played out in Peter’s heart at that moment. The pastor who was also helping to wipe up the juice whispered his thanks to Peter, but he drew back in surprise at the response he received when he saw that Peter was crying. With tears filling his eyes, Peter was barely able to choke out the words, "It’s okay; Jesus did this for me." No longer was he wiping up grape juice. It was still a Communion service and in his heart, Peter knew that the spilled-out juice symbolized the blood of Christ spilled out for his sinful heart.
What a beautiful illustration of the Gospel. Peter told the pastors he hoped they might never wash the cloth covering the table; he wanted to see the stain for the rest of his life as a reminder of the Good News that someone else paid the debt he could never pay. After all, there was nothing neat or tidy that day that Jesus spilled His blood on the cross. It was a messy; it was a shocking scene. But it was necessary that the Son of God's blood be spilled out on our behalf.
The next time you have Communion at your church, and if you attend a church where they pass the silver tray of little glasses filled with grape juice, hold onto it tightly. But if — if your hands slip and the whole thing spills, remember what my friend Peter did — just kneel down and mop up the mess. It’s what Jesus did for you.
© Joni and Friends, 2013
Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376