The Lord’s One Great Desire
“And He said to them, ‘With desire I have desired to
eat this Passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will not
anymore eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’”
Luke 22:15-16
When the disciples gathered with the Lord in Jerusalem
to observe the Passover supper, they did not realize the Lord would be
instituting a sacrament for His body, the Church still in its conception, to
observe in future generations. The Passover feast was already a memorial
banquet that looked back on Israel’s redemption from Egypt. At that particular
Passover, the feast would be used to observe and call to remembrance the great
event of Christ’s death.
At that supper with the twelve disciples, the Lord was
the host, but He was in a figurative sense, the food. Today, as we gather
together and remember Him, Christ continues to be both food and host. As food,
we partake bread and fruit of the vine in remembrance of the great sacrifice
Christ gave of Himself, the death of the cross. As host, we gather around His
table, the Lord’s table. Because it is His table at which we meet, Jesus Christ
our savior is the host, we ought to examine ourselves, for we can not eat at
the Lord’s table on Sunday, while feeding our fleshly appetite with sin the
remaining six days of the week.
While we observe the Lord’s Supper once a week, we eat
from His table every day. The Lord’s table is where we as believers find our
provision, both physical and spiritual. The Lord has sent out an invitation to
every man, woman, and child to eat at His table, and we accept the invitation
by believing on Christ and receiving Him as personal savior.
Christ’s greatest provision for His sons and daughters
is the giving of Himself at the cross. Therefore, the most important meal of
the week for the believer is the Lord’s Supper which commemorates His vicarious
death.
We must also remember that it is the Lord’s table we
eat from every day, but on the first day of the week, we eat a meal with fellow
believers where Christ is the host as well as the food. Let our hearts be
filled with worship towards the host!
