As I read what Doug wrote in his inspirational post, The Men Who Came To Dinner/here, what he said about the “common” cup and “utensil”, pierced through a veil of complacent thought, and touched my heart. I think it would be good to read his post before you read mine, below. What is Easter to you? Would you have gone to dinner with Jesus? Would you have dipped your bread into his cup? Do you now?
Just as Doug relates in his post, I think that it is symbolic that they each betray Jesus in their own way. Just as we do every day in ways we, ourselves, sometimes fail to recognize.
I think of the other 11 disciples and how Peter (denied) betraying the friendship and relationship with his master, three times before the cock crowed. I think of the other 10 who scattered and ran for their lives. Jesus tells us that we must deny ourselves and pick up our cross daily to follow Him. And yet, we scatter. We shiver. We do not take a stand when stands are all we can take to manifest the boldness and power in Him. We sit and we cower and we pretend we are not part of Him to win the approval of servant girls in the dark of night. They all betrayed Him. We each betray Him. Yet, He loves us because He is God…and God is love.
And that night Jesus gave us all a way to remember His love for us, and what He did for us. What a glory in Him to have provided such a remembrance when we are all caught up in what the world will do to us, what man does to us. We may face rejection, false accusations as He that night before the Sanhedrin and later Pilate. Yet we, do not get the punishment for our betrayal. We receive forgiveness. Our sins are paid for. And Jesus takes them with Him beyond the grave.
Then He says, eat with me Peter, feed my sheep. And we do. and sometimes we forget how much He means to us and how much He loves us. And we fail to love one another as He loves us. And yet…even then…each morning he gives us new mercies.
Glory, glory, glory to the King. I am thankful for this post from Doug. It may not have received much recognition in light of other posts in the sea of blogs and blatherings. But this is the reason, the very reason our voices are necessary today.
We forget how much He is. We get caught up in ignoble things of earth. We fail to seek the face of God and we wonder…we rebuke those who do not spend time contemplating His sacrifice. His agony. We fall asleep when He tells us to wait, watch and pray. May God open our eyes today and through this weekend to remember…that what we do is in remembrance of Him. God’s grace be yours…may His spirit be made manifest in miraculous and unexpected ways for you this weekend. selahV
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