AT TABLE WITH HIM



The following photo shows the slab of rock (Church of Mensa Christi in Nazareth, which according to the tradition was the table on which Jesus ate with his disciples after rising from the dead.



MAT 26:26-29 -  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

²⁷ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. ²⁹ But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

The Lord is saying that He will not eat again of the Passover until the Passover is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. What he means by “the kingdom of God” can be readily seen from verse 18 of this chapter. He states there that “the kingdom of God” is yet to come. And in verses 28 through 30, we read that He told His disciples, “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed me: That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

'In the east, even today, to share a meal with someone is a guarantee of peace, trust, brotherhood and forgiveness; the shared table is a shared life.In Judaism fellowship at table had the special meaning of fellowship in the sight of God.Each person at the table ate a piece of broken bread and thus received a share in the blessing spoken by the master of the house over the whole loaf. Finally, every meal is a sign of the coming eschatological meal and the eschatological fellowship with God' -  (Walter Kasper, Jesus the Christ, trans. V. Green (Mahwah, NJ:Paulist Press, 1976).

For more insight on the above...

Extracts from Matthew Henri's Concise Commentary:

'There is a day coming when the kingdom of God will come to earth—when the twelve tribes of Israel will have been restored—when Christ will come to earth and eat again with His disciples as they sit at His table in His kingdom.

This ordinance of the Lord's supper is to us the passover supper, by which we commemorate a much greater deliverance than that of Israel out of Egypt.

The pardon of sin is that great blessing which is, in the Lord's supper, conferred on all true believers; it is the foundation of all other blessings. He takes leave of such communion; and assures them of a happy meeting again at last; Until that day when I drink it new with you, may be understood of the joys and glories of the future state, which the saints shall partake with the Lord Jesus. That will be the kingdom of his Father; the wine of consolation will there be always new'.

While we look at the outward signs of Christ's body broken and his blood shed for the remission of our sins, let us recollect that the feast cost him as much as though he had literally given his flesh to be eaten and his blood for us to drink.