Supper

When the hour came He took his place at the table with the apostles.  Luke 22:14

I’m not sure how to explain it but Holy Thursday has always been deeply emotional and spiritually moving for me.  I think it has something to do with the powerful simplicity of linking an event so HUGE with a practice so simple; supper.  We have a tradition here at the Wohlfert house.  When it’s your birthday, you get to choose the menu for your birthday supper.  We had the same tradition in the McClaskey house too. Since I’ll do anything to get meatloaf for supper, I thought it was a tradition that certainly needed to continue with my children.  As luck would have it, my daughter also chooses meatloaf on her birthday every year.  There is just something comforting about sitting down with family to enjoy your favorite meal together.

 Many years ago some friends invited us to go out for supper with them one Saturday night.  Being a stay-at-home mom with three little ones under the age of 5 at the time, I think I had my finger on the babysitter’s phone number in the phone book before I had even finished accepting the invitation. Our friends said they had discovered this great place that they thought we’d just love.  I  WAS IN! The night arrived and as we waved goodbye to the kids and backed out of the driveway I felt so lucky to be going out to eat at an exciting new place where I wasn’t going to have to cut anyone else’s meat or transfer anyone’s drink to a cup with a spout. I was excited!  After a  40 minute drive to the middle of nowhere, we pulled up in front of this old house that look like it had about 4 sunrooms added on, each in a different decade.  The parking lot was gravel and the paint on the building wasn’t even all one color.  I was a wee bit unimpressed to say the least.  When we walked in the door it didn’t get much better.  The big open space was full of tables that didn’t match and were covered with vinyl tablecloths that were every pattern and color known to man.  All three pieces of silverware were a different pattern and even the glasses didn’t match.  I really wondered what it was about the place my friend thought we’d love so much.  A few seconds later a sweet, cheerful lady appeared at our table with a personality that would rival Santa’s!  We placed our order and a few moments later some of the best homemade delicious food I’d ever tasted arrived at our table.  We laughed, talked, ate and enjoyed a fabulous evening! It was not at all what I had expected when we got out of the car that night.  Isn’t life like that sometimes!

When I read the gospel accounts of the last supper, I often wonder what the apostles thought when they first realized that night was no ordinary supper together.  I wonder what they felt more; shock, fear or sorrow.  We can be certain the evening didn’t turn out as they expected.  Jesus had news they could not have possibly been ready for and the events of the night spilling into the next day were more than anyone could have imagined.  It is on this night; Holy Thursday, I am more overwhelmed by my sinfulness than any other night of the year.  I know the story, and the Easter morning happy ending but I still feel as dumbfounded each year as the apostles must have felt.  Disbelief, sorrow, anguish…I feel it all heavy on my heart.  Too many Christians want the Easter without the Holy Thursday and Good Friday.  We want to skip to the happy ending and miss the brutality and the guilt but without the cross we aren’t Christians.  Without meditating on the burden of our sins Christ bore, we don’t have repentance and without repentance we can’t have forgiveness and salvation.  His death brought forth our life and in some small, unexpected, unpleasant way, we have to share it with Jesus.

 If you truly want  to experience Easter joy, spend some time this holy evening reading the Gospel accounts of the last supper…imagine…think…feel…experience the unexpected like the apostles. Tomorrow, on Good Friday, spend some time with the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion.  As you read, ask God to join you with the suffering of His Son in order to come to a greater understanding of His gift of life and love. If you can unite yourself more closely with the cross, you will feel the joy of the Resurrection.

A Seed To Plant:  Spend time with the Last Supper and Good Friday Gospel stories.
 
Blessings on your day!