The Lord’s Supper certainly gathers up Old Purim into its tablecloth. If Old Purim was a day of feasting and gladness, a good day, then this Greater Purim feast marks a better day. But there are many kinds of good days, and there are many types of feasts. Purim adds a particular flavor to this meal, and that is the flavor of reversal. Mordecai was going to the gallows until the world spun on its axis, and Haman was flung on that high stake. The Jews were going to be slaughtered until the switcheroo. The grand reveal is a revolution in fortunes.

So why are you saints so merry? Why is this table a eucharist? Because you really were headed for the abyss, and voila, now you’re not. You were hellbound for the void of the bottomless pit, but now your arch-enemy is bound there. This is not a dream. Go ahead and pinch yourself. This is not a dream, but one could forgive you for thinking so. The Lord of this table was a long-anticipated Messiah. But when He arrived, He still shocked everyone by how He turned things around: “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3). So come in faith, and welcome to Jesus Christ.