February 2014
\"I h
ave eagerly desired to eat (this Passover) with you\"
[Luke 22.15 NRSV]
These words were spoken by Jesus as a kind of
preface to the final meal that he was to share with his closest companions, the Twelve: the meal we call The Last Supper. Christians reflect on this in som
e depth twice during the year: during Passiontide (Maundy Thursday), and at the festival of Corpus Christi when the focus is on the centre-point of Christi
an worship, the Holy Communion or Eucharist.
We are commonly taught that we come to Holy Communion as guests of the Lord to share
this deeply symbolic meal with him and to be blessed as we partake with and of him. That is sound teaching and it takes us some way into understanding the
mystery of our association with the Lord Jesus. We are receivers of God\'s bounty, the spiritual food which is the very life of Jesus.
But listening contemplatively to this Saying will jolt us into a new and perhaps surprising awareness of what is going on. We begin to see it from G
od\'s standpoint rather than our own perspective. The words eagerly desired render the Greek word epithumia and its verb epithumeo meaning \"strong des
ire\". The phrase speaks of a deep longing at the heart of God, expressed and made real by Jesus, to share in table fellowship with the human beings he c
reated and loves. This is astonishing. True table fellowship is not simply to do with sharing food: it is profoundly symbolic of close and personal relatio
nship. In shared meals, especially when they are celebratory, whether religious like a Passover or social like a reception, our common need and longing for
nourishment is more than matched by the meeting of our deep longing for understanding, companionship, recognition, respect and love.