God doesn’t ask us to do something that He wouldn’t do Himself. He is always our supreme example. So, He commands us five times in the New Testament to practice hospitality (Rom. 12:13, 1 Tim. 3:2, Titus 1:8, Heb. 3:2, 1 Peter 4:9). I take it that if He were physically here with us today, He would enjoy having us over for a really nice dinner or taking us out to eat. In Scripture we find a story where He did just that with His disciples. He invited them to join him at a sumptuous Passover feast in Jerusalem where He himself was the host!

The inspired writer Luke, unique among all the gospel writers, recorded one specific detail for us:

And [Jesus] said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:15)

If we translated the original Greek literally, it would render this way: “I have desired with desire.” This wasn’t just a last meal for a condemned criminal before his execution, but a fellowship meal with His closest friends. Eating this meal was very important to him. And a study of their conversation, as recorded in John 13–17, shows that it was a preparation for His departure.

Of course, we know from other Scripture that our Lord wants us to follow that example and emulate His last meal; we call it, variously, communion, the Lord’s Supper, breaking of bread. It is not a stretch to think that He wants to have the commemorative reenactment of the “meal” with us, with the same intense desire as with His disciples in the upper room two thousand years ago. Few things in Scripture are as clear as this (see 1 Cor. 11:23-26).

Imagine if our Lord were to appear and say, “I would like you to be my personal guest at the nicest, most expensive restaurant in town.” Would you go? Then when you arrive, you see a large crowd, and in the midst of social chatter Jesus calls you over to sit at His table with Him! Would you go and sit with him? It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Now, remove the fancy restaurant and the four-star cuisine; Jesus invites you to a symbolic “meal” at your local church. The food is composed of a small bit of bread or crackers and a thimbleful of wine or juice. Would that make a difference? It shouldn’t. Would you go? The thrill is not with the food or even the ambience but with the One who invites us. The One who died to save us says, “I really want to eat with you.”

Maybe we should see this “meal” more as an appetizer, getting us ready for more to come. A lavish feast is coming, a magnificent banquet, and we believers are all invited. The apostle John, who was there with the Lord in the upper room, records for us the prophecy given him:

“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Rev. 19:9)

Come, brothers and sisters in the Lord, let’s accept His hospitable and passionate invitation to join Him in this symbolic meal, remembering His death for us. Let it become a priority in our corporate church life and in our individual souls.