The Houseguest

Today our sermon lessons, both in the morning service and the evening service, focused on the Lord's Supper/Communion.  One of the verses our preacher used was Matthew 28:19, which says, "He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.' ".  This celebration of the Passover would be the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples before he was crucified.

After reading that verse I thought to myself, "What if Jesus had been talking about coming to my house for his last supper?"  How would I have responded?  As a mom and wife of a busy household, the first thought that comes to my mind about unexpected guests, is "The house is a mess or this isn't a good time.  Or perhaps even, "We've got somewhere to be. We're going to be late!"    But, what if Jesus was the one wanting to come to my house?  Would I really tell Him no?  I would like to think that I wouldn't say no to Jesus.

What about the story of Zaccheaus?  Jesus looks up in the tree where Zaccheaus has hurried and climbed up to get a glimpse of the Savior.  "When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." Luke 19:5.  What would my response to Jesus have been that day?  "No, sorry, Jesus.  I'm busy today.  I've got laundry to do, bills to pay, grocery shopping to get down.  Can you come some other time?"  But look at Zacchaeus' response in verse 6, "So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly."  Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus into his home gladly.  Without hesitation.

To tell you the truth, if we are having company (known company), we use our bedroom as the "pile everything into" room.  The whole house can be almost spotless totally clean, but that one room gets neglected.  It's the one that gets all the junk.  We've been known to put a "Keep Out" sign on the door - especially if it's a large group coming over.  We don't want anyone to get lost in there to see it.  It's off limits.

Isn't that what we do in our own lives?  We'll open ourselves up to Jesus, but there's one part that we say, "Keep Out"?  We won't let Him in?  There's a closet...a room....a section that we don't want Him in?

As a Christian, we've welcomed Jesus into our heart - into our life.  But, is He gladly welcome in all of our life?  In all of our home?  In all of our heart?  We need to make sure we give Jesus the same response Zaccheaus did.  We need to welcome Him gladly.