Daily Devotions
Knowing Jesus by Coming to His Table
Reading for November 22nd: Acts 24-26
Weekly reading for November 22-28: John 16-21
"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
John 17:3
We come to the table to know Jesus.
The feast of the Lord is called the communion (koinonia: fellowship, association, participation, intercourse, intimacy) of the body and the blood of Christ. It is in this sacred feast that we come close and intimate with Jesus. It is in this supper that we come to truly know him.
The cross is at the heart of who Jesus is. It is in the cross that we come to know true love. We come to see what makes his heart beat. We come to know how much he loves us.
But the table is simply a place where this knowledge is introduced to us. His love is defined and outlined for us as we kneel at the foot of the cross, but there is more that we can learn once we leave. When we leave we carry the cross with us. It is when our lives are changed and transformed into the image of the cross that we truly come to know (participate, have intercourse, become intimate with) the Lord.
This is why the apostle Paul found such joy in service, in teaching, and even in suffering for Christ's sake. It was only by walking in Jesus' footsteps in these ways that he could truly know him. Paul is calling for us to do the same, to "crucify" self so that Christ might live in us (Galatians 2:20), to not "please ourselves" but make sacrifices for others (Romans 15:1-3), and ultimately to "share" in Christ's "sufferings" that we might truly know His cross as we carry our own (Philippians 3:10).
Father, help us come to know your Son a little more this day as we remember him. More than that, help us to know him better throughout this whole week as we rise from the table to walk in his steps!
