The Gospel for this Sunday is the the account of the Son of Man separating the sheep and the goats on the last day. The King commends the acts of mercy which the righteous ones have done to the least of the brothers.
In preparation for proclaiming this text, I came across an interesting phrase in Wesley’s commentary on this text. He mentions that beside acts of physical mercy, the righteous also practice acts of spiritual mercy such as saving one from error in teaching.
This phrase jumped out at me as an wonderful way to quickly summarize why the church has historically practiced closed communion. Why would we ask certain people, even Christians, to refrain from coming to the Lord’s Supper? Well, it is an act of spiritual mercy.
How could keeping someone from the Supper be an act of spiritual mercy? Consider this text:
1 Samuel 6:19 And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the LORD. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow.
The Ark was where God had chosen to dwell. And peering into the Ark without recognizing he was present there meant death. The presence of the Holy God is very perilous for a sinner to stumble upon unaware. This is why later when the Ark found its resting place in the temple, only the high priest after an atoning sacrifice could enter into the Holy of Holies and live.
Consider this text:
1 Corinthians 11:27-30 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
Why is it that some of the Corinthians had died? Because they were entering the presence of God unaware. Jesus was present in this meal and either out of ignorance or arrogance these people failed to recognize it. Paul’s rebuke was an act of spiritual mercy. To not do so would be to let people walk cheerfully to their death.
The beauty of the new covenant is that those who believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus can come into the presence of God and live. And not just one high priest, but all people who trust his sacrifice and his words about where he now dwells.
God dwells at the Supper just as surely as he dwelled where the Ark of the Covenant rested. And it is still just as perilous to come into his presence unaware. And therefore, those who are not covered in the blood of Jesus (unbelievers) must be told to stay away from the Supper. Also those who do not believe that God truly dwells at the Supper, that he is there in the body and blood of his Son, must also be told to stay away. Why? It is an act of spiritual mercy. And this is what the righteous ones of God in Christ do. Not only do they meet the physical needs of the least of the brothers, they also protect them from harm, physical and spiritual.
Even among Lutherans, we often do not take seriously the presence of the Holy God at the Supper. We can think of the meal as simply a traditional rite in which those who believe receive forgiveness. But know this, the reason that we receive forgiveness in because God is present, not because we have preformed a rite well. We must take this seriously so that we only come to the meal with confidence because of the sacrifice that Christ has made.
So if you do not believe in Jesus, you should not come. If you do not think you need forgiveness, you should not come. If you do not believe that Jesus is present at the meal, you should not come. I say this as act of spiritual mercy.
However, if you know your sin, trust in Jesus, and know through according to his word and promise that he is present at the Supper to give you exactly the forgiveness you need, come. Come running. I say this as act of spiritual mercy.
