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Communion
with Risen Christ in daily life
Luke 24:13-33
Vs. 30
“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it,
and gave it to them.”
A great part of eastern culture is its emphasis on
hospitality. Many grandfathers and grandmothers find it a point of pride
and joy to prepare and provide a home cooked meal for an invited guest.
Those who have been on the receiving end of the serving spoon of an
especially hospitable host will invariably leave a couple pounds heavier.
When invited to one of these meals, don’t make the mistake of trying to serve
yourself. The honor of serving belongs unquestionably to the host.
In today’s passage, we find a wonderful role reversal
occurring. Since Jesus was invited in as the guest we would expect that
he would be served; but here we see Jesus is the one who takes the bread,
blesses it, and serves it to the disciples. It’s amazing how after Jesus
takes up the position of the host that the disciples eyes were opened. In
a way it makes sense too. As long as we run the show and made him a guest
then we will never see him for who he really is. But, once Jesus is given
that place of honor within our own lives we will be able to see him
better.
We have all seen the sign that says: Christ is the head of
this house, The Unseen Guest at every meal, The Silent Listener to every
conversation. In a negative way it might accurately reflects our own walk
with Jesus. At some point in time, we may have given him that head chair
and ate what he offered. Later on, we became restless and demoted him to
guest status. We change up the menu to foolishly suit our taste, but we
still keep him close by for conversations. Times goes on and eventually
our once glorious host gets another demotion to that of a mute listener.
As the silent listener, not only is his rightful position robbed from him,
his voice is suppressed also. (Now, I doubt this is what was intended by
the original saying, but it is strikingly true in our lives nonetheless.
The disciples learned a lesson that day. Communing with
Jesus as a guest is pretty exciting, capable of giving spiritual heart
burn (vs 32), but communion with Jesus as the host is life changing,
capable of turning distraught disciples into a witness (vs 33-35). Real
communing with Jesus, then, is a daily task of exalting his as the host
of our lives.
PRAYER
Lord, humble me in your presence so that you alone would be
the True Host in my life. Help me to realize that I am a guest in your
world. Allow me the privilege to share in the meal that your hand
provides.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
The honor of being the host within our lives belongs to
Christ alone.
Rev. Larry
Varghese, Silicon Valley MTC
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