The Post-Resurrection Meal
40 “Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. 43 To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” Acts 10:40-43 NKJV
Peter is speaking to the Gentiles in the verses above and he reveals an important truth that we should consider in our own walk with Jesus. Almost as if in passing Peter mentions to them that after His resurrection Jesus did not appear to all people, but rather He showed Himself to those who ate and drank with Him after He had arisen. It does not seem like a very important point until we consider why Peter mentions this. What Peter is saying is that after His resurrection Jesus did not show Himself to all men. The entire world did not get to see the glory of Jesus who had risen from the dead. Specifically, Jesus appeared to those who fellowship with Him.
That is a worthy point for our consideration today. If I feel as though I do not see Jesus in my life if I am not experiencing Him daily and I feel as though the Word is not working in my life then perhaps it is time to question my time of fellowship with Him. If I am not seeing Jesus perhaps I need to spend more time in fellowship with Him.
The next thing Peter says to the Gentiles is that those who ate with Jesus had a testimony and a call to preach the good news of Jesus. Work to develop your fellowship with Jesus and watch how things change in your life spiritually. Watch as you begin to move more in His power and authority. Watch as the Word and truth just come out of your mouth as you speak it into the lives of others with the compassion of His heart for them.
We focus on the last supper that Jesus shared with the disciples, as we should. Jesus told us expressly to do this often in remembrance of Him. The Communion reminds us of His blood shed for our sins which gave us relationship and standing with the Lord. The bread of Communion reminds us of the promises in the Word. Jesus is the bread, the Word broken for us. As we eat the bread we are eating the Word and all of the promises of the Word. Because of our position through the blood we have the power and authority of the Word.
That was the pre-crucifixion meal that we do in remembrance of Him, but Peter is talking about the post-resurrection meal they shared with Jesus. This meal is to remind us of the next step in our fellowship with Jesus. It is to remind us to act in the power and authority of Jesus that we now share as His joint heirs.
Because of what Jesus did, we have a relationship with Him. Let’s develop that relationship daily by fellowshipping with Him and living in His power and authority to His glory.
J Todd Hostetler