Welcome to Day 33 of our 40 Day challenge! Luke 22:7-27

(Catch up with us, with our reading list March, reading list for April,  and Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20, Day 21, Day 22, Day 23, Day 24,
Day 25, Day 26, Day 27, Day 28, Day 29, Day 30, Day 31, Day 32)

Today we are reading Luke 22:7-27

Luke 22:7-27

The Last Supper

⁷ Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.⁸ Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

⁹ “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.

¹⁰ He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, ¹¹ and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹² He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”

¹³ They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

¹⁴ When the hour came, Jesus and his apostlesreclined at the table. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸ For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹ And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it,and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. ²¹ But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. ²² The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” ²³ They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

²⁴ A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. ²⁵ Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. ²⁶ But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. ²⁷ For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

I have been appreciating, over these 40 days, seeing how the disciples rarely understand just what’s going on. Their preconceived ideas of what the Messiah will do and their role in it keep getting in the way of seeing what He’s saying.

It reminds me again of when we first came to Mexico. We thought we were being sent to the land I will show you for six months. I can’t even remember why we had six months in mind. Six months seemed like a decadently long sabbatical from our hectic lives. Before then, the most we had been away from home at once was a week or two. Six months was a ridiculously long time to leave our lives. But we felt this need, this prompting from God.

We thought we would return after a restorative sabbatical, buy another house, and continue our lives as we knew them. We had no idea that God was fully upending our lives, as we knew them, for good.

The prompting to leave had begun with God’s word to Abraham. This probably should have been a hint that our lives were changing forever—Abraham didn’t leave for a sabbatical and then return to his life as before, after all! But we couldn’t see past our preconceived idea of what we thought was happening.

I look back on it all with wonder. I can see with hindsight how kind God was to us each step of the way. We made radical decisions, thinking them temporary. We were just so grateful for a restorative period.

We were not the missionaries of days gone by who would leave their homeland with caskets, showing their full commitment to God’s call. In the beginning for us, it felt more like an adventure, an indulgent blessing from God, than the radical obedience of a whole life overhauling.

But it was just that. And the fully aware radical obedience steps for us were coming.

But the kindness of God to us, when we were clueless, is what I see when I look back. And I see that here with His disciples at the last supper. He knows they have no mental grid for what’s to happen. They cannot yet bear what is going on.

God gives us His will step by step. Sometimes we think we want everything laid out for us so we can have a sense of certainty in our choices. But there’s just so much we cannot understand now.

We aren’t currently the people we will need to be, to understand what we will be called to go through.

Jack and I were grateful for a six month sabbatical, but God was calling us to something far greater. We thought this was mainly for us, instead we were being called to pour out ourselves for the benefit of others.

The disciples also thought it was mostly about themselves. They were jockeying for positions of power for when Jesus would become their earthly ruler, but God had a far greater call on their lives. They were being called to pour themselves out for the benefit of the whole world. But they couldn’t bear that yet. And Jesus meets them where they are and encourages them again in the upside down ways of His Kingdom, being among them as one who serves.

Options for further  journaling or discussion throughout the challenge:

• Choose a part of the passage to write out by hand. Writing by hand helps us slow down and focus on what the Lord might highlight for us in the passage. Our brains can focus and remember better by writing than just reading alone.
• Journal about what the passage brings to mind. Does the passage tell us anything about God? Does it tell us anything about our response to Him?
• Does your heart respond in gratitude to any part of the passage? Write or pray your gratitude to the Lord.

We’ll see you next time, for Day 34 and Mark 14:27-42

♥ Samantha