The Best Supper

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God. – Luke 22

Growing up, all the major events of our lives were centered around the supper table. Mom called it the altar of the home. It seemed to us she was always feeding a crowd, and even when she wasn’t, she made enough food to feed one. It’s amazing how the fellowship of sharing a meal anchors so many important memories.

Not coincidentally, the supper table also figures prominently in the Gospel story and the promise of new creation.

One night, after hip replacement surgery, when I was having trouble sleeping, I was praying about this blog post for Holy Week. I frequently invite God to speak to me in pictures in those sleepless hours, but He rarely does so. On this night, He did. As I prayed with eyes closed, for a few brief seconds, a picture of the table at The Last Supper pierced the darkness. The clarity startled me and moved me deeply.

In that brief vision, the table and the elements were the prominent features. It was beautiful in its simplicity. An answered prayer… but now what? Since receiving the vision, I’ve felt a burden to steward its significance so that it could become a shared blessing.

The first great supper in Israel’s story was Passover—the meal of rescue, remembrance, and redemption. But on the night He was betrayed, Jesus took that table and turned it like a key in a great lock. The old story was not discarded; it was fulfilled. What began in Exodus now found its center in Him.

The Last Supper became the final meal of the old sacrificial age…
and the opening note of God’s new creation.

And now, whenever we come to His Table, we are not only looking back to what He has done. We are also leaning forward toward what is coming: the wedding supper of the Lamb, where sorrow will be swallowed up and all things will be made new.

“Mom called it the altar of the home.”

Passover looked back to Egypt.
The Last Supper looked ahead to the cross.
The Lord’s Supper now looks both ways—back to the Lamb who was slain and forward to the feast where all things are made new.

As we move through the rest of Holy Week, we’ve been invited to focus on the table and its place in the passion story—past, present, and future. When you close your eyes and imagine the wedding supper of the Lamb, whose faces do you see around the table?

Thursday our focus will be on the table.
Friday we grieve because our Savior suffered, died, and was buried for our transgressions.
Sunday we will feel the joy of our redemption at the empty tomb. He is risen, and so are we.

Run the play. Get ready for The Best Supper—the wedding supper of the Lamb in the new creation.

He is risen indeed!!

Finding Our Place in the Story

When you picture the wedding supper of the Lamb, do you see yourself at the table—and who is missing that God may be inviting you to help bring with you?