Scripture Daily

Context No. 1779 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 22:13-18: in context

13They went, found things as Jesus had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 14When the hour had come, he sat down with the twelve apostles. 15He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, 16for I tell you, I will no longer by any means eat of it until it is fulfilled in God’s Kingdom.” 17He received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves, 18for I tell you, I will not drink at all again from the fruit of the vine, until God’s Kingdom comes.”

The disciples prepare the Passover as Jesus directed, and when the hour comes he sits down with the twelve. And he says something that reveals his heart: I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. He takes the cup, gives thanks, and tells them to share it, saying he will not eat or drink of it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. On the night before his death, his longing is to share this meal, this communion, with his own.

The words worth holding are these: I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you. On the eve of his suffering, with the cross before him, Jesus expresses not dread first, but desire, an earnest longing to be with his friends, to share this meal, this communion, with them before he goes to die. It is a window into the heart of Christ toward his own: he desires to be with us. We can think of God as distant, or dutiful, tolerating us at best; and here is Jesus, on his last night, saying how earnestly he has longed to share this table with his disciples. The communion was not a formality he endured but something he desired. This tells us something about how Christ regards fellowship with his people. He is not indifferent to us; he desires our company, longs to commune with us, delights to share his table with us. And this meal, the Passover he transformed into the supper of his body and blood, remains the place of that communion, where he continues to desire and to meet with his own. When we come to the table, we come to one who has earnestly desired to be with us. And notice the forward look: he will not eat or drink of it again, he says, until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. The communion of this table points ahead to the feast of the kingdom, where the fellowship he desires will be complete and unbroken. So every sharing of this meal is both a present communion with a Lord who longs to be with us and a foretaste of the eternal feast to come. Christ earnestly desires to commune with us; the wonder is not only that we may come to him, but that he longs for us to come.

Do I think of Christ as distant or merely tolerating me, or can I take to heart that on the night before he suffered he said how earnestly he desired to share this communion with his own, and come to his table knowing that he longs to be with me, and that this fellowship points ahead to the feast of his kingdom?

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