Inspirational Thought of the Day:
God made us for fellowship with Him and laid down His life for us to achieve communion with His people.
Scripture of the Day:
Luke 22:15-16 NLT
“I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”
Luke 22:19-20
“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’ “
Preparations for holidays can bring a lot of joy and excitement. Holidays commemorate things from the past – moments of victory or defeat. But this celebration would be different. Jesus’ disciples were busy with final details for the Passover meal they were going to share with Jesus. They thought they would reflect on God’s great deliverance of His people from the land of Egypt. Instead, Christ set the stage for a deliverance to come.
They perhaps anticipated a “normal” Passover celebration. They were not expecting Jesus to wash their feet and to tell them to symbolically drink His blood. Moreover, Passover was technically the next day.
Sometimes a departure from tradition wakes us up to remember the original intention. Commemorating holidays becomes meaningless if we do not inwardly reflect on the point of it all. A Passover meal was not so much about the meal, but what the meal represented. Each item symbolic, to remind God’s people of how mighty His deliverance was.
We are a forgetful people. The purpose of holidays, supposed to remind us of significant dates, can become lost to us if it becomes routine. What Christ revealed in these final moments was crucial to how God’s people would walk out their relationship with God and His people.
Service.
Jesus revealed that night that He chose to be a servant and to lay down His life. He was the sacrificial Lamb. He expected the same of His followers. If the God of all creation chose to serve rather than to be served, we need to see our salvation as an opportunity to humbly receive and give what was freely given to us.
Communion.
God made us for fellowship with Him and laid down His life for us to achieve communion with His people. Symbolically, Jesus revealed through bread and wine the great cost of this fellowship. Knowing that we once again are a forgetful people, He commanded us to take communion in remembrance of Him.
Like holidays can become a duty void of original intent, we must guard the taking of communion as sacred and never take for granted what it represents – Our Savior willingly chose to serve the Ones He created with His very life. He is the Bread of Life for those who have ears to hear.
Lord, thank You is insufficient speech to declare the gratitude in my heart for what You did for Your people. Thank You for drawing us near when we were so very unlovely. Help us to live intentional lives focused on what you originally set forth – that we would know our great God and live lives of service just like our Holy God did.
John 6:25-59 (NIV)
Jesus the Bread of Life
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[a]”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[b] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life.49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.