There are many complementary contrasts between the old and new covenants, and one of them has to do with the relative potency of sin. In the old covenant, sin is contagious. In the new covenant, holiness is.
In the old covenant, God’s people were consistently warned against coming into contact with the unclean—with dead bodies, lepers, or those with other forms of ritual uncleanness. You might think that when the Messiah came, He would be the only one who was ever able to maintain these ritual purity codes . . . but when He arrived, what He did was go around Israel touching the unclean. This was not because God had changed His mind, and it was now alright to be unclean. No. What had changed was the direction of the flow, the direction of the current. Now holiness is contagious.
Those Christians who put this Table behind a mine field and a ring of concertina wire, fearful that it might be defiled, have missed an important transition in the flow of redemptive history. In the great conflict between unholiness and holiness, the battle has turned. Have you not heard?
Those who fence the Table out of concern that the one who abuses it might be struck down are more biblical. That has happened from time to time. There is never an era where it is wise to trifle with God. But the great danger in coming close to God, or the things of God, is that His white hot holiness is catching. Don’t come unless you want some. That said, come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.