Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, hey, friends, welcome back to another edition of the weekday podcast. We're super grateful you're here. If you missed yesterday's episode, I'd encourage you to go catch up a few minutes before jumping in today. But I have a question. Have you ever walked into a room and had that one thought running on a loop? And the question, or the thought, was this. How did I get in here? Maybe it was a job interview where everyone else seemed more qualified. Maybe it was dinner where the people around the table were way out of your league. Maybe it was a meeting where you kept waiting for someone to tap you on the shoulder and say, sorry, there's been a mistake. That feeling is real, and a lot of us bring it straight to God. We figure there's a seat at his table, but it's for people who pray more or doubt less, or have a few less skeletons in the closet. So we hang back by the door, or we sit down, but only on the edge of our seat, ready to leave the moment that we get found out. Well, look at the scene that Luke describes. In Luke 22, verses 14 and 15, he says, when the hour had come, he talking about Jesus, reclined at the table and the apostles with them. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Now that phrase, I have earnestly desired. Jesus is putting up this moment. He's planning this meal. But he's not just putting up with the guys.
[00:01:15] He wanted them there, right? He wanted to sit with them. And so think about who was at the table. Peter was there, and he would swear he never knew Jesus. Before the night was over, Judas was there, and he had already cut a deal to betray him. The rest of them that evening got into an argument about which of them was the greatest. None of them earned that seat. Jesus gave it to them anyway. The church has called this mill by three different names over the years, and each one tells you something about your place at it. It's called the Lord's Supper.
[00:01:48] Why? Because he's the host of it. It's his table and his guest list. You're not there because you snuck in. You're there because he invited you. It's also called Communion, because at this table you're bound together with him and with everyone else that he's invited. You do not eat alone. And it's called the Eucharist, from the Greek word for giving thanks. Because on the night he was betrayed, Jesus gave thanks, and so do we. Gratitude is how someone acts when they know They've received what they didn't earn. Here's the line that I want you to hold on. Today, you don't earn a seat at this table. You accept one. So what does it look like to actually accept it? There's two moves I would encourage you to think. First, at the table, bring him your real question, not the polished one. Bring the one that you've been too tired or too afraid to ask. Guests who know they belong feel free to talk so they talk to him. Secondly, this week, invite someone to lunch you wouldn't normally pick.
[00:02:44] Choose somebody outside of your circle. The one who's new or lonely or just different.
[00:02:49] Once you've been welcomed to a table you didn't earn, you start pulling out chairs for other people. The host already knows everything about you. He invited you anyway. So stop hovering at the door. Pull up a chair. You don't earn a seat at this table. You just accept one.
[00:03:06] Well, I hope today that you can live this out. Tomorrow I want to invite you back because what the night before a dentist appointment teaches us about how we can come to God. So come back tomorrow to check it out. Have a great day.
