Thanksgiving and Trials at the Supper

When Jesus instituted the Supper, Luke records that He said, “with fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”  This was a meal of life, a meal that answers everything, that solves everything, and Christ longed to give it to the world.  That same night, however, He would pray in great agony, sweating drops of blood and asking the Father, if it was possible, to take away the cup He was about to drink, the death He was about to die.

But, for the joy set before Him, the next day, Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, and soon thereafter sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

So – do you have great thanksgiving and rejoicing to give?  Then you must come to the Table of Thanksgiving – the Eucharist – and eat the celebration.  Do you have great sorrows and heaviness of heart? Then you must come to the Table of Suffering and drink the cup of consolation.  Christian, come in your faith, come with your doubts, come with your sorrows, come in your joy.  Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.