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The room is set. The table is ready.
The hour has come.

And before anything is broken… before anything is poured out…
Jesus reveals His heart:

“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…” — Luke 22:15

Earnestly desired.

Not casually.
Not out of routine.

Deeply.
Intentionally.
Personally.

Let that settle, friend.

On the eve of His suffering—
with the cross looming, betrayal approaching, and pain closing in—

His desire… is to be with them.

Not to withdraw. Not to isolate.
Not to escape.

To sit. To eat. To share.

This is the heart of our Savior.

He is not reluctantly walking toward the cross.
He is lovingly gathering His people before it.

And look at who is at the table:

The one who will betray Him The one who will deny Him
The ones who will run

And still…He wants them there.

That kind of love doesn’t make sense to us because we tend to move away from people
when we’re hurt by them.

But Jesus, He moves closer.

This meal is more than a moment. It’s a window into His heart. He doesn’t just love
them…He longs for them.

And that longing didn’t end in that room. It reaches all the way to you.

Because what He says next stretches beyond that night:

“I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” — Luke 22:16

In other words…this is not the last table. There is another one coming.

A greater one. And here’s the beauty that will bless your soul: Jesus is not rushing into
heaven to forget His people.

He is waiting. Waiting for the table to be full. Waiting for every seat to be filled.
Waiting for every one of His own to be gathered in.

That’s the Shepherd.

He won’t start the feast early. He won’t overlook a single sheep. He knows His own. He
calls them by name. And He will not sit down until all are home.

You are not a number to Him. You are not lost in the crowd. He knows when the table is
complete. And He is waiting for that moment.

So tonight… Don’t just picture a table in an upper room. Picture a table still being
prepared. A feast that has not yet begun.

Because the One who earnestly desired to eat with His disciples then…still desires to
gather all of His people now.