Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Communion with Risen Christ in daily life
Luke 24:13-33
“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.”(V.30)
A great part of eastern culture is its emphasis on hospitality. Many grandfathers and grandmothers find it a point of pride and joy to prepare and provide a home cooked meal for an invited guest. Those who have been on the receiving end of the serving spoon of an especially hospitable host will invariably leave a couple pounds heavier. When invited to one of these meals, don’t make the mistake of trying to serve yourself. The honor of serving belongs unquestionably to the host.
In today’s passage, we find a wonderful role reversal occurring. Since Jesus was invited in as the guest we would expect that he would be served; but here we see Jesus is the one who takes the bread, blesses it, and serves it to the disciples. It’s amazing how after Jesus takes up the position of the host that the disciples eyes were opened. In a way it makes sense too. As long as we run the show and made him a guest then we will never see him for who he really is. But, once Jesus is given that place of honor within our own lives we will be able to see him better.
We have all seen the sign that says: Christ is the head of this house, The Unseen Guest at every meal, The Silent Listener to every conversation. In a negative way it might accurately reflects our own walk with Jesus. At some point in time, we may have given him that head chair and ate what he offered. Later on, we became restless and demoted him to guest status. We change up the menu to foolishly suit our taste, but we still keep him close by for conversations. Times goes on and eventually our once glorious host gets another demotion to that of a mute listener. As the silent listener, not only is his rightful position robbed from him, his voice is suppressed also. (Now, I doubt this is what was intended by the original saying, but it is strikingly true in our lives nonetheless.
The disciples learned a lesson that day. Communing with Jesus as a guest is pretty exciting, capable of giving spiritual heart burn (vs 32), but communion with Jesus as the host is life changing, capable of turning distraught disciples into a witness (vs 33-35). Real communing with Jesus, then, is a daily task of exalting his as the host of our lives.
Prayer: Lord, humble me in your presence so that you alone would be the True Host in my life. Help me to realize that I am a guest in your world. Allow me the privilege to share in the meal that your hand provides.
Thought for the day: The honor of being the host within our lives belongs to Christ alone. 

Rev. Larry Philip Varghese, Horeb MTC, Los Angeles.A

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