Day 14 — The Meal
Luke 22:14-19
14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfilment in the kingdom of God.”
17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
The subject of food for many has taken on new dimensions in recent weeks, with empty supermarket shelves, regulated queues and no guarantees of what we’ll be able to order. Of course, many have known for a long time how to make something out of nothing; and others of us are attempting a version of Ryan Clark-Neal's ‘Ready, Steady Cook’ seeing what we can make out of a tin of tuna, some cornflakes and a bottle of ketchup! And yet food and eating with others plays a significant part in our understanding of God and community and how we navigate the highs and lows of life together and in our reading today we see this incredible meal at a pivotal moment in Jesus’ Journey towards the cross.
During this meal Jesus shared the Passover celebration (the reminder of Moses and the Israelites’ escape from slavery) with his disciples as they would have done each year. But this isn’t an ordinary celebration. Jesus intends to teach his disciples about what will happen to him, how they must serve others, and how to remember him. But he doesn’t preach a sermon, or give them a mantra to live by or a complicated theological theory. Instead he gives them a simple action, in fact he gives them – and us – a meal to share. Like the simple parables Jesus told, this meal was on the surface an ordinary act but underneath that it was rich with meaning and hope. It speaks of the provision of God, the abundance of the kingdom to come, the brokenness he will endure, the life that will burst forth through his death. This meal is anything but ordinary and it is the last thing Jesus will do before heading out to the garden of Gethsemane...
When we take Communion together as a church family – and even today as we sit in our own homes to eat the food we have, we can use that ordinary, everyday act to remember the extraordinary cost Jesus paid for our freedom and the ultimate victory that has been won!
One Prayer: Pray for those in our city who are struggling for food today and for the Love Your Neighbour initiative.
Nick & Ali Herbert