“The master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them.” Luke 12:37
One of my most favorite and long-awaited events is finally here and I can’t wait! My daughter Kristen always rents a gorgeous house in Florida to take my grandchildren on Spring Break. I am always invited to join them and she takes care of everything. She won’t allow me to pay for hardly anything and I am a guest and passenger in her car both coming and going. She always rents a place including my own bedroom although I’ve offered to share a room many times. Yesterday, I received a phone call from her telling me upfront that I was not to argue with her on my sleeping arrangements. The grandkids ended up inviting friends and my son-in-law has also decided to come so the beautiful 3-bedroom home has less room for more people. She asked me if they could borrow our blow-up mattress which I was happy to lend. She then told me that she was giving me the master suite and she would take the inflatable bed or the couch. I argued for a while but eventually conceded. In my mind I just kept feeling that she had paid an enormous cost for that house and deserved the best room…the best view…the crown of the house. I still feel that I definitely do not deserve the room but I will joyfully receive it because she asked.
And that is what Jesus did for us. The Thursday before He paid the ultimate price for our souls…our freedom…our future He arranged a dinner for those He loved most. He deserved to be served that evening instead of serving others. He deserved to be the guest of honor instead of host moving from person to person…attending to their culinary needs. And then, as if that wasn’t enough Jesus stood up after they had all eaten, ‘took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.’ John 13:4-5. Can you just see His face looking up at you and me as He lifts our dusty feet? Picture his eyes meeting yours…feel the water being poured on your feet…hear His words speaking just to you…feel the hands drying your tired feet with the hands that would soon be pierced and scarred. We don’t deserve that and we did nothing to earn it. But He wants us to receive it because the cost was exorbitant and to reject it would offend and sadden Him. Through His sacrifice we get the master suite! We get all of the beautiful spiritual amenities that He deserves.
‘It is the Lord’s table you sit at. It is the Lord’s Supper you eat…When you are called to the table, it might be an emissary who gives the letter, but it is Jesus who wrote it. It is a holy invitation. A sacred sacrament bidding you to leave the chores of life and enter his splendor. He meets you at the table… And when your burdens are lifted, it is because the King in the apron has drawn near.’ The Final Week of Jesus, Max Lucado, p. 90
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