Jesus Savored

What Did Jesus Do?

I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
Luke 22.15

No, that was not a typo; I did not mean to type “Jesus Savior.” To savor is “to give oneself to the enjoyment of.” And, if ever Jesus enjoyed a meal and the company of His disciples, it would have been on the occasion recorded in Luke 22, what is sometimes called “the Last Supper.” It was a moment of monumental meaning—the celebration of the great memorial feast that was a perpetual participation in Israel’s salvation from bondage in Egypt, and the institution of the humble supper that recalls our salvation from bondage to sin and death—and Jesus savored it, even though He knew He would soon suffer greatly and die painfully to seal the significance of the meal for eternity.

One who savors employs heightened senses to experience and enjoy to the uttermost sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and, though this is not strictly as defined in the dictionary, relationships. One can savor with one’s eyes the sunrise over the sea and a sunset over the mountains. Surely, Jesus did. One can savor with one’s ears birdsong at dawn, the laughter of children at noon, and the soft murmur of an evening breeze gently stirring the trees. Surely, Jesus did. One can savor with one’s nose the sweet bouquet of garden flowers, the delicious aroma of bread baking in mother’s oven, and the rich fertility of soil tilled and ready to receive the spring planting. Surely, Jesus did. One can savor with the tongue the sweetness of honey, the bitterness of herbs, and the blended body of wine. Surely, Jesus did. And, with one’s heart one can savor the company of companions, the fellowship of friends, the intimacy and love of family. Surely, Jesus did. I would argue that savoring was something the Lord did constantly. And, I believe, Jesus desired not just that He should savor, but that we should too:

I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10.10

To have and enjoy life abundantly is to savor it fully. Surely, Jesus did, and, just as surely, He came that we too should savor life fully. If you will, teaching us how to savor life was a significant part of Christ’s mission. What good would it have been to liberate us from sin and death, only for us to live a joyless and pinched life?

You see, Jesus was well acquainted with savoring before His Incarnation. From eternity past to the moment He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of His Father in the womb of Mary, Jesus had savored all the fullness of God’s heavenly kingdom, for the delights of heaven most certainly far surpass those of earth. And the supreme delight of heaven that Jesus savored, and we will one day savor ourselves, is the fullness of the Father’s love.

The Lord savored His last supper because of its historic covenantal significance to Israel, and all its covenantal promise to us. Jesus gave us this meal, that we should savor it, each time we partake of the bread and the cup, as part of the abundant life He came to give us now, and also delight in a foretaste of what we shall savor far more in the life to come.

It is significant that Jesus did not look forward to savoring in isolation His final meal, but desired most earnestly to savor it in the fellowship of those He loved. Life is to be savored fully, and to fully savor life it is to be shared with others. Do we savor the life the Father has given us, and do we share the fullness of that life with others? That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4