Your invitation to this table doesn't arrive in the
mail. Neither does mine. It arrived over 2,000 years ago in an upper room, a
shared meal, a prayer garden, a love more powerful than death, an empty tomb,
and a risen Lord. This is his table, not ours. We are all guests.
When Jesus
made his triumphal and final entry into Jerusalem, the people celebrated, waved
palm branches, and shouted, “Hosanna!” which means, “Save us now!” If you are
hungry for hosanna – for God to feed you with the amazing power of resurrecting
love today, and every day – this meal is for you. Welcome home!
A crucial part of the earthly Jesus’ transition to
risen Christ came at the table on that last night together. Surrounded by those
he loved, who were trying to learn how to love, seeking the courage to follow, and
desperate to understand, Jesus took bread and wine – the basic elements of
human nourishment – and forever connected his presence to them.
He said the bread was his body, breaking and about
to be broken for all. We take; we eat; because we are learning that we need to
be filled with more than food in order to live and love in the fullness for
which God created us. He poured and shared wine, telling them it was his blood
in which the sacrifice of love was being written. We take; we drink; because it
is becoming increasingly clear that our spirits need quenching as much as our
bodies, and love without measure is the only cup that satisfies. And then they
went to the garden to pray.
© 2013 Todd Jenkins