One of the best experiences in life is to be able to enjoy a good meal together with someone. Especially with those close to you. To get away from the demands that face you everyday; to relax with good food and good company – what a refreshing event that is. And when there is a significant occasion that brings you together, meals can become even more important. Wedding or graduation banquets. Raising a toast after a promotion. Or -- after a funeral, to be able to share closeness over soup and buns. There’s healing and strength found in those moments.

It was the day of Unleavened Bread. Passover time for the Jewish community, the high point of their religious year where they would sacrifice a Lamb, sprinkle the blood on the door, and eat a sacred meal together -- remembrance of God’s mighty work to set them free from slavery; the blood of the Lamb saving them from the angel of death.

Jesus gets together with his closest friends, his companions through thick and thin over the last 3 years. They gather around a table. Time to eat. What the disciples don’t know is that Jesus is about to take the place of the sacrifice lamb. The bondage, dark chains in which Satan has locked the human race, will be shattered by Jesus. The guilt burden of sin that hangs over humanity’s collective head will be carried and paid for by Jesus.
        The Passover Lamb will be Jesus. (1 Cor 5:7)
        The bitter herbs eaten with the meal will be his bitter suffering.
        The cup shared and drunk a picture of his life blood flowing free.
        The unleavened bread broken and shared a picture of his body shredded and lifeless on the cross. No yeast in that bread – representing no sin in the life of Jesus.
        The Passover meal will be transformed into Holy Communion, which we will celebrate shortly. And Holy Communion, one day, will also be transformed into what Rev 19:9 calls "The wedding supper of the Lamb"; a great banquet in heavenly glory when all the children of God will gather in perfect peace and victory with God to celebrate the destruction of Satan and the removal of sin’s curse on creation.
                The disciples don’t understand all this, yet. But Jesus does – full well he understands it. And he knows, as v.38 says, that the time for everything to shift into high gear, high pressure, high pain, high stakes – that time has come.

And so, for Jesus there is nothing better than to come aside and share this symbolic meal with his closest friends. The refreshment of being together. The peace and calm before the storm that would be unleashed later that night.
        So good – "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer."
        They share a cup. And Jesus gives thanks. They break bread. And Jesus gives thanks. Holy table prayer. Grateful to His heavenly Father for the precious moments of this incredibly significant meal, God’s gift to them.

And then these words, a lightning jolt seemingly out of the blue (v.31):

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

"Satan has asked to sift you as wheat."
While Jesus is speaking directly to Simon, and has him in mind the sifting thing doesn’t only apply to him. Satan is targeting Simon. But his devilish scheming also extends to the other disciples. The Greek word here for "you" is plural.

The chief demon is asking for them. Well, not really asking. That’s too weak. It’s no polite request. Rather, it’s a demand; insisting in a confrontative sort of way. Spiritually blood thirsty. Wants to sink his demonic claws into them and destroy them. He seeks leave from heaven to do so.

        You see, though he has much power, though he is far stronger than you or I ever can or would be, Satan is not God. He doesn’t have ultimate power. He can not come and go as he pleases, doing whatever he wants wherever, whenever.
                The Cosmos, damaged though it is, still belongs to the Creator.
                        God is King.
                                He has the final word.

Satan asks..... to sift you as wheat.

This past week Nick Parsons, from Farmington BC, drove his combine to Ottawa to highlight the farm crisis. We watched it crawl past on Carling Ave.
        Marvellous mechanical monsters - combines are: filled with gears, pulleys, belts, screens and more. All set with precision. They move through the fields, cutting the grain, separating it from the stalk, removing the dirt, leaves and other chaff, and beating the tar out of it to get off the outer husk, leaving the farmer with the cleaned kernel of grain. Not a very pleasant trip through the machine for that poor little grain kernel.
        Ancient practices were more labour intensive and crude, but had the same basic idea: beat around and shake the wheat to remove the chaff from the kernel. Lots of effort, blowing and beating.

        Satan wants to grab hold of Christ’s followers, blowing them around, shaking, bumping and beating them – hoping that this process would spray them out with the dirt, straw and dead leaves like so much garbage – unfruitful.

        He wants to show them as unfaithful to God, weak, uncommitted, useless to heaven’s cause, big time losers, not worthy of the Lord’s affection and care.

        Satan - Know what that name means? "Adversary". You can see him at work by reading the prophet Zechariah, ch.3. The adversary stands beside the servant of God, ready to accuse him, to knock him down, to paint him black and dirty. Satan - the great evil accuser and adversary, ready to drive a stick into the spokes, a monkey wrench into the gears wherever possible.
        Anything to move from life to death, from purity to filth, from growth to destruction, from healing to pain, from unity to division, from joy to sorrow, from heaven to hell.
                That’s his singular mission.

The whole Old Testament book of Job describes this process in excruciating detail. God cuts Satan enough slack to be able to inject huge misery into Job’s life. Incredible sorrow and pain. And the big question is – "will Job hang in there with God, or crumble?" His friends turn against him. His wife throws her hands up in despair. He’s left horribly alone to be sifted.
But not Simon. "Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail." If you want to see the sorts of things Jesus prayed, read John 17.
        "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back......"

        Do you get the significance of that? Jesus knew in advance all that would happen. He knew the horrible pressures Satan would apply. He knew that Peter would curse and lie and deny him. He knew that the others there would run away from him. He knew Peter’s big ego and bigger mouth. Better and before Peter is aware of all that – Jesus knows.

Just like He knows us even better than we know ourselves.

And He prays. That through the blowing, beating, shaking and thrashing Satan would lay on Simon there would remain life – that his spirit would not be crushed, that his soul would not be spit out into the garbage pile but become fruitful and even more faithful for God.

Hebrews 7:25 says about Jesus, "He always lives to intercede for them."
Romans 8:34 says "Christ Jesus... is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."

"Father, if there is to be trial in Simon’s life, if a dark shadow is to settle over him for a season, don’t leave him alone. Hold your hand over him. Give him an escape route. Provide him the strength to stand. Give him the direction to find you again. Protect his life. Don’t let him be crushed. Build courage in his heart. Wipe away the tears."

What Jesus DOES pray is that Simon be protected, and that through the trial be given new resolve and strength which he can then take back and share with others.

And what’s good for Simon, my friends......... Well, it’s no different for any disciple of Jesus.
        There are the seasons in life when Satan seeks to get hold of you and me. To give us a good shake; a pounding; stormy seasons; trying to spit us out onto the garbage heap.
 
 

        Some of you know that all too well. You’ve got the scars to show for it. The tears may still be flowing. The pain still excruciating. Things may still seem dark – you’re right in the middle of it now wondering if you’ll ever see an end to the hard time, to the spiritual silence and doubts, to the temptations, to the crisis.

I can’t tell you why God – who has the final, ultimate Word – doesn’t say, "No pain for her; no struggle for him." I can speculate, but now is not the time for that. And, when you’re in the middle of it, reasons really don’t help, anyway, do they?
        Fact is – the stuff is happening..... now.

But Jesus is praying.... for you.
You’re not alone in the storm.
Like the Holy Spirit said to St. Paul when he was pleading for relief, "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Cor 12:9).
        I’ll be there for you.

Jesus said to his followers, "Surely I am with you always." (Mt 28).
He said, "I give [my sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand" [John 10:28]

The storms seem strong. The pounding we take so powerful.
But God is stronger. More powerful.
And His holy power and presence surrounds us, remains with us......
..... always.

Believe that. Lean on that.
It’s there for you.

As is this meal of Communion.
Nothing better than to eat together.
Jesus spoke these words to his disciples over broken bread and a shared cup.
It was a meal he deeply needed and wanted to share with them.

Today He deeply wants to share this meal of Communion with you.
He is Jesus – the Passover Lamb who was sacrificed, submitting to Satan’s death blows and crushing brutality in our place, taking the ultimate punishment for OUR sin so that we would be spared.
        Through His Holy Spirit He is here for you right now. To send you whatever you are in huge need of right now.

One of the things that we in the Reformed tradition of Christianity believe is that the Communion meal is more than just a simple remembrance meal.
        It is miracle time.
        It is power time.
        It is time when Jesus shows up in a special way.
        It is time when healing of heart, mind and body happens.
        It is time when faith is strengthened, hope restored, life revived.
                Now is that time – for you that are being sifted.

And for you that have come out of a season of sifting and are in a time of calm. This is meal time for you, too. A time when you can – with a hug, a smile, a word of encouragement, a shared tear, a handshake, a prayer –
        you can give new strength to fellow believers.

In the peace of this meal moment, your faith, too, will be strengthened.
Don’t keep that strength to yourself. Do what Simon was called to do, and share it with others. Hold them up. Walk with them. Do it eagerly.

I give thanks for this moment, this meal.

Come!

Let’s eat together....... with Him.