Holy WeekSample

I enjoy cooking. There’s something about preparing a great meal for someone that brings me great joy. My favorite meal to cook is garlic and herb-crusted fillet with lobster Mac n cheese, roasted Brussels sprouts, and chocolate chip cookies. If I knew tonight would be my last dinner, that’s the menu! My wife recently took a trip with some friends for her birthday so I decided I would make myself my favorite meal. Having all the time in the world, I prepped everything to perfection. Channeling my wannabe Gordon Ramsay, I even plated the dish beautifully. As I sat down to enjoy it, one thing was missing: Other people.

A great meal is one thing. But cooking a great meal and serving it to others is a whole different joy. I think I’d rather cook for others than for myself. As we dive into the Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus does something beautiful with a meal — He illustrates Himself.

Take a moment and wrap your mind around this: Jesus is trying to illustrate Himself as the body and blood of substitution for salvation, and the best illustration He has is a meal. Not only does He use the contents of the meal to illustrate Himself, but He also demonstrates the servitude this meal represents by washing His disciples' feet.

Capturing the heart of Jesus’ intentions is Matthew 26:29, “Mark my words — I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”

In other words, “This meal isn’t finished.” The saddest part of a great meal is when it’s over, unless Jesus is involved! Not only did Jesus give His life for our salvation and serve Himself to us, but He promises us this meal isn’t over until we are at His table again in Heaven.

Communion with God isn’t an event, it’s a continuation of the meal Christ laid down for us, and it informs us of our relationship with Him. If you have communion elements, now would be a great time to partake! If not, remind yourself the next time you eat a meal of the body that was broken for you and the blood that was shed, with the eternal hope and realization that the meal doesn’t end until you are at the table again with Christ! Take heart friends, a buffet of grace awaits us.