16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.
One of the important skills that we need to learn is how to wait. “Are we there yet?” is an almost universal cry. Kids must learn to wait. In fact, if we don’t allow kids the opportunity to wait, we are doing them a disservice. I am not talking about infants, but starting with toddlers, we must teach them the lesson of delayed gratification. If we jump the minute they ask for something, we raise selfish brats. We all need to learn that there are others who might have needs greater than our own, that their needs will be met before ours. The Passover meal that Jesus ate with His disciples is an important part of Jewish culture, even to this day. It was the central story in the formation of the Nation of Israel. Without the Passover there would have been no Israel. And yet, Jesus says that the Passover meal has a fulfillment sometime in the future. The Passover meal looked backward to their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. But Jesus says that there is something more important than deliverance from physical slavery, and that ‘more important’ happens in the kingdom of God. As Jesus-followers we celebrate communion, a way to look back at the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and a look forward to His return. We look forward to the final fulfillment. Many things in life have this kind of dual edge to them. Marriage ceremonies look at the past of singleness and forward to anniversaries. We say goodbye to the single life and hello to the life of togetherness. Graduations look back at the course of study and forward to the next phase of life. Jesus says there is more to communion than the past. There is something in the future to wait for with expectancy. Communion is not the end. It is just a reminder of the glorious future.
The Arnold Journey 