The Upper Room Luke 22, John 13-14, Matt 26

The Upper Room

Luke 22, John 13-14, Matt 26

 

            Last night I was watching Piers Morgan on CNN and he was interviewing Anthony Bourdain who is known for his traveling and food adventures.  One of the final questions that he was asked was about what his last meal would be.  Piers asked him what would it be?  Where would it be? Who would be there? And who would prepare it?  Mentally I asked myself the same questions.  This is my answer: (and for those who know me, you all know I LOVE food, and it is one of my cherished sins at times.)  It would be in my grandma's kitchen on an October morning with the old wood stove burning, hot coffee, fresh tortillas, beans, red chile and a fried egg.  That right there my friends would be my last supper.  Getting a little misty eyed thinking about it.  

I think it's interesting the timing of this question with today's reading. We all know about the Last Supper and it's a holy ritual the Church has practiced for centuries and began hours before Jesus's death on the cross.  Paul later expanded on it in I Corinthians 11 (I encourage you to read this.)  It's an image that we know by the masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci and other great artists who have attempted to recreate what it may have been like in that Upper Room in Jerusalem.  After reading it I answered the questions that Piers asked last night.  The meal consisted of bread and wine (there was probably more?)  The people with Jesus were his disciples – the 12 men who had traveled, lived, and been his companions the last three years, his brothers, in Jerusalem.  Looking at Jesus we see who he is: A SERVANT (he came to serve and we must serve).  LOVE.  John 13: 1 – 5 is the image of Jesus showing his love for these men.  An OBEDIENT SON.  A theme that is repeated in these chapter is loving God = obeying God.  They go hand in hand.  He was TROUBLED.  He knew what was ahead with betrayal, torture and ultimate death.  But I'm sure he was worried about the physical pain and what death would bring, but I can imagine the heart ache knowing the denial and betrayal that would come from these men.  I think of the heartache and mourning I have experienced in my life by loved people who have betrayed or forgotten me.  Those moments have been the worse.   

One thing that also really stood out to me was the warning that Jesus gave his disciples about their own sin and the threat of the world and Satan.  I have never really caught the image that Jesus tells Peter in Luke 22, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail."  Think of a sift.  It is a separator…a sorter.  It removes impurities, big pieces from smaller pieces, and is used in baking, cooking, gold and diamond finding.  In this image, Satan is holding this great sift and we are all sitting in it.  He shakes and shakes it…violently and messy at times (i.e. life) and in the times we lack faith, we fall through.  Jesus prayed for Peter.  He prayed that his faith would not fail.  Also notice that Satan ASKED PERMISSION!!!!!  Just like we saw in Job.  God is in control and nothing happens with our His total Sovereign control. What a relief.  But that sift is still pretty rough at times.  It is a lesson to me about what my faith looks like.