Calvary Lutheran Church

 Luke 22:14-15

“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.”

Dear Christian friends:

You will have to excuse me this evening, but I’m kind of excited right now. Not because we just moved into our new apartment this afternoon. Not because this is my first worship service with you, as significant as that is. But I’ll tell you why—Jesus is coming to visit me personally this evening for supper.

Now you are probably thinking to yourself, “Well, he is talking about Jesus coming in a spiritual sense. In a spiritual sense, Jesus is always with us, he once told his disciples, “Surely I am with you always to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). We haven’t reached the end of the age yet, so he is always with us. In a spiritual sense, Jesus comes to us regularly in his Word. Jesus again said to his disciples, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). Whenever we read this Word, Jesus is speaking to us, and those words give life. But this is different. I’m not talking about his coming tonight in just a spiritual sense but in a real, actual, physical sense.

So now you are probably thinking, “Well, he must be talking about some other Jesus, not the Jesus of the Bible, not the one who is the very Son of God, not who rose from the dead in glorified body.” Ah, but that’s exactly whom I’m am talking about. I will be with that same Jesus in the flesh who was born of the virgin Mary; who lived here on this earth some 2,000 years ago and did miracles and signs and wonders; who turned water into wine; who healed the paralytic; and fed 5,000 with just five loaves of bread and two small fish; who raised Lazarus from the dead; whose body was transfigured like lightening before three of his disciples; and that same Jesus who was arrested, tortured, crucified, died, and buried. That’s the Jesus who is coming here to be with me tonight for supper and he invites you to come and join him as well.

But why would Jesus come and visit each one of us personally?” Well, this shouldn’t be too surprising if you know your Bible. Jesus did this often while he was here on earth. He took time off from his busy ministry to visit people where they were, sometimes in their homes, one on one.

Remember Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector who wanted to see Jesus. Jesus had been attracting large crowds wherever he went. Zacchaeus was small in stature, so he climbed into a tree to get a better look of Jesus as he passed by. Jesus saw him and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). And then Jesus left the crowd and visited Zacchaeus in his home. You see, Zacchaeus was a new follower of Jesus, and he needed Jesus’ personal attention for encouragement. And he got it.

Or remember Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, who came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter was dying. Jesus was again surrounded by crowds of people. But he immediately left the crowds, and when he arrived at the house the daughter had already died, but Jesus then raised her from the dead, much to the father’s relief. You see, Jairus was in much distress, and he needed Jesus’ personal strengthening. And he got it.

Or remember Matthew sitting at that tax collector’s booth. Jesus walked up to him and said, “Follow me.” Then he went to Matthew’s house, and they were having dinner with other tax collectors and sinners. Remember how the Pharisees complained about that and asked Jesus’ disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Luke 5:30-32). Matthew and the other tax collectors needed to know that God received them into his family, too, even though many of them had committed terrible acts of cruelty against their fellowman. They had charged more taxes than required so they could line their own pockets. And Matthew too felt guilt over his sin, and he needed Jesus’ personal assurance of forgiveness and peace with God. And he got it!

Oh, it’s good to know that when we gather together here in church that Jesus is with us. And it’s good to know that Jesus comes to us in Word, and that we can go to him anytime in prayer. But tonight Jesus is calling us apart from the crowd and wants to deal with us one on one. He wants to meet us where we are in our lives. If we need encouragement in our Christian walk, he will encourage us tonight, like he did Zacchaeus. If we have personal distress or sorrow or tragedy in our lives, he will strengthen us, like he did Jairus. If we have a load of sin that is burdening our conscience, he will cleanse us and make us right with God again, like he did Matthew.

But we have to be prepared for his visit. We don’t just meet the eternal, almighty, Son of God in the flesh without being ready. You have to remember who he is, this is the holy one of God. This is the one who had no sin. This is the one who once said, “If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.” And “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” When Peter first realized who Jesus really was, the Son of God who could produce a huge catch of fish whenever he wanted, he said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”(Luke 5:8). I hope that we are not so overwhelmed by his holiness and our sinfulness that we beg him to leave us like Peter.

But that is why before he meets us for supper, we need to tell him how unworthy we are of his visit. We can’t try to hide anything, he can see right through us, just as he saw right through Judas who would betray him, or the Samaritan woman who claimed to have no husband, but who had lived with five different men who were not her husbands.

Will you be joining me when he visits tonight with his Lord’s Supper? We will be meeting right here in the front by this altar, a symbol of sacrifice. I cannot think of a better place to meet. The visit will not last very long, just a few seconds. But, oh, how precious those seconds will be. Because we know that Jesus is just as excited to meet with us as we are with him. He said to his disciples, “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 22:14-15). The Lord’s Supper is a foretaste of when we will be personally with him in heaven and meet with him at the wedding feast of the Lamb. That feast is described by John in Revelation 19, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready (that’s us). Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb! And he added, “These are the true words of God” (Revelation 19 7-9).

May we pray.

We give you thanks, O Lord, for the foretaste of the heavenly banquet that you will give us tonight in this sacrament to eat and to drink. Through this gift you will feed our faith, nourish our hope, and strengthen our love. By your Spirit help us to live as your holy people until that day when you will receive us as your guests at the wedding supper of the Lamb. In your name we pray, amen.