Luke 22:11,12
“Say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I might eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there.”
The Lord is never caught short of what He needs in the way that we often are. His foreknowledge of the Upper Room was exactly what was needed to set the stage for what was to become the most sacred of all celebrations for the Christian: Holy Communion. Every detail had symbolic significance which, like finishing a jig-saw, produced a whole new picture of God on Earth. No longer was He a remote, all-powerful and fearful deity in the heavens, but rather a fully present being, seated at the table beside us. The imagery is just as astounding for us today when we take it in.
It is all too easy for us to take Jesus’ presence for granted, yet fail to make contact. If we know that He did not hold himself back from even his enemies, then how much more does he desire the company of his friends? The invitation to join Him in Holy Communion is more than a symbolic gesture. He requires our presence. Even Judas was invited to the last supper. What Jesus has done is lay a table for all of us; one that is as perfectly prepared as the Upper Room itself. Man and God working together can result in great things. This is the message of today’s scripture.
We may want to shrink back from the thought that God requires something from us in order to get His own work done. Yet the Jesus we know is present within rather than outside of us. He is preparing us as He did the owner of the Upper Room, to make available everything we have for His purposes. “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for a life of good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2;10). Why would we resist such adventure?
Barry Struthers
“Say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I might eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there.”
The Lord is never caught short of what He needs in the way that we often are. His foreknowledge of the Upper Room was exactly what was needed to set the stage for what was to become the most sacred of all celebrations for the Christian: Holy Communion. Every detail had symbolic significance which, like finishing a jig-saw, produced a whole new picture of God on Earth. No longer was He a remote, all-powerful and fearful deity in the heavens, but rather a fully present being, seated at the table beside us. The imagery is just as astounding for us today when we take it in.
It is all too easy for us to take Jesus’ presence for granted, yet fail to make contact. If we know that He did not hold himself back from even his enemies, then how much more does he desire the company of his friends? The invitation to join Him in Holy Communion is more than a symbolic gesture. He requires our presence. Even Judas was invited to the last supper. What Jesus has done is lay a table for all of us; one that is as perfectly prepared as the Upper Room itself. Man and God working together can result in great things. This is the message of today’s scripture.
We may want to shrink back from the thought that God requires something from us in order to get His own work done. Yet the Jesus we know is present within rather than outside of us. He is preparing us as He did the owner of the Upper Room, to make available everything we have for His purposes. “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for a life of good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2;10). Why would we resist such adventure?
Barry Struthers
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