I think one of the biggest struggles in a pastor’s life must be bringing new insights to the stories of Easter and Christmas. Year after year, people are presented with the same narrative while pastors must find a way to engage their “audience”. As I sat through my 27th (give or take a few years) Maundy Thursday service, my pastor pointed out one phrase that replayed over and over in my head.
In Luke’s recording of the Last Supper (Luke 22) he writes in verse 15: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
Eagerly desired.
Not your run of the mill excitement about being with your friends. No, Jesus had waited with great anticipation for this night. This night that would be his last on Earth.
He EAGERLY desired to be with them.
To Jesus, this supper would not be an ordinary Passover. He took these men away from their families on the greatest night in all of Israel because he wanted, no needed, to share this meal with them. He needed to reiterate one more time that He was the Savior who was sent to suffer and die for all humanity.
Jesus doesn’t only eagerly desire to be with his disciples on a special night, he eagerly desires to be with us on a daily basis. He calls us to come to him, lay down our burdens and take part in his abundant grace.
“Thank God we have a Savior who was willing to love us to his very last breath. Thank God he held nothing back. Thank God we are no longer slave to sin and the fear of death.” –Mark Neilsen from Springs of Living Water Devotional
Christ is Risen!
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