Day 4 | The Last Supper
What would your last meal be? Who would be there? These are questions I’ve heard asked my whole life, but didn’t always make the connection to Jesus’s last dinner. He said, “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” To fervent is having a passionate intensity, a burning or glowing. Can you imagine the internal struggle Jesus had, knowing he was on his way to his death?
In the old testament or covenant, God required a sacrifice that they would pour a drink over. So when Jesus offers up bread and wine as a living sacrifice, I’m sure they were all a bit confused; but he called this the new covenant in which His blood is poured out for them. I can’t help but think they might have thought he was losing it at the moment, or at least that’s where my logical brain goes. But now thousands of years later just reading the story, it’s so clear that He was the sacrifice for the new covenant to be in place.
Jesus then goes on to explain that one of them will betray Him. The disciples start to argue, because you know that’s what humans like to do ha. At first they are arguing over who will betray Jesus, and then they start arguing over who is the greatest, oh sigh, they were all so focused on themselves to even notice the anguish Jesus must have been in, doesn’t this sound familiar? Jesus goes on to say, “It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving. For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” Luke 22: 27-28
The grandeur of Jesus and God’s sacrifice is overwhelming, and in the midst of facing what was to come next, Jesus is patient to show his disciples that their thinking was backwards. Where in your life is your thinking backwards? Where are you focused on the problem, when you could be focused on God’s goodness?
God our redeemer, thank you that you have patience to show us the truth. Our human brains get tangled up in ourselves, our own worthiness; but you untangle our thoughts and hearts and lead us back to your heart, your peace. Keep me focused on your leadership, your thinking, I am lacking nothing because of You alone. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.
Further reading Matthew 26: 17-30, Luke 22: 14-30