Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 21:1-14.
Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine
(John 21:12a).
Let’s
return to that last statement of the risen Lord to the seven disciples by the Sea
of Tiberias, “Come and dine.”
Many
interpreters have found in this invitation overtones of the Eucharist, or the
Lord’s Supper, as a means of grace, even though the food here is not the bread
and cup, but the bread and fish.
That’s
possible, but rather than an invitation to the Lord’s table I think we can see
it more broadly as a general invitation to discipleship, to join in having that
nourishing and soul-satisfying communion with Christ, which includes being part
of God’s people, that fellowship which Christ has built and to which the
apostles and those who have come after have added in his name.
Come
and enjoy. Come and be fed. Come and be ministered unto by the risen Christ
himself. Christ satisfies the hungry soul. Christ fills the empty life. Christ
gives rest to the weary. Come and dine.
Christ’s
statement might be described as the New Covenant equivalent to Isaiah 55:1: “Ho,
everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come
ye, buy, and eat: yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
And
to Psalm 34:8: “O taste and see that
the Lord is
good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
And
it anticipates that ultimate communion which is to come: “Blessed are they which are called unto the
marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 16:9).
Come
and dine.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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