ESC Shabbat Service: At His Table - Andrew Gudgeon

So what does this mean? This means that hospitality is not requiring us to be a Joanna Gaines level designer in our home or whoever the latest designer is or you don't have to be a Maria Condo style organizer in your home. And and if you have those gifts, that's amazing. That's incredible. I'm someone who enjoys like a clean aesthetic space, so I appreciate it. But that's not the heart of hospitality. The heart of hospitality is the love of stranger, it's the love of others. [01:36:00] (29 seconds)  #HospitalityIsLove

I wanna point out this phrase, he had come from God and was returning to God. This is an identity statement. Yeshua knew the authority he carried because he knew the father, because his first mission was obedience to the Father through this entire story and through his entire life. So he knew who he was, he knew whose he was, he knew where he was going and then the most unfathomable thing, the king of kings gets on the floor and uses that authority to wash his disciples' feet. [01:44:46] (35 seconds)  #IdentityInObedience

So after he had washed their feet and put his robe back on and reclined a little, he said to them, do you understand what I've done for you? You call me teacher and master and rightly you say, for I am. So if I, your master and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to watch each other's feet. I have given you an example. You should do for each other what I have done for you. So here we see another invitation to love others the way that Yeshua loves and this marks the core identity of true hospitality as a witness to Yeshua. [01:46:17] (38 seconds)  #ServeLikeYeshua

And then it kinda struck me, I'm like, the disciples didn't know? Like, I don't know about you but you can kind of even if you have a low level discernment, we have the Holy Spirit. So you kinda feel, you know, the hair stands up on your neck, you're kind of like, this is not a good situation. But then, I thought the helper hadn't come yet, the Holy Spirit hadn't been given. We don't know what that's like to be a believer without discernment and so we have followers of Yeshua earnest in heart but they have no idea what's happening on that spiritual level at the table right now. [01:49:47] (30 seconds)  #LearningSpiritualDiscernment

And so but for us to be this kind of witness, for you and I to love each other that the world can see it, means that we have to have close proximity to the lost. It means that we have to be able to invite them in closer. Maybe it's around the table. Maybe it's in fellowship because I don't think that this kind of witness can fully be articulated or seen in the store or on the street. And, I'm not saying that street evangelism doesn't have a place. It's both. It's both. But, I think that the Lord here is setting up, hey, there's a way that people are going to know my love from the way they watch you love one another. [01:54:16] (39 seconds)  #ProximityIsWitness

I just want to pause here. He loved them until the end. As we were singing earlier, O the cross, what you've done. Thank you, Yeshua, that you loved until the end, that you gave it all. He prepared a Passover table knowing that he is about to die. He is choosing to show unconditional love at every level all the way to the cross. [01:43:45] (24 seconds)  #LovedToTheEnd

So I noticed that the language changes here. It's changing from the Father loved me so I love you, the Father sent me so I send you, and now it's saying love one another. So there's a mutual love that he's talking about in this new commandment. It's really the basis of covenant relationships. It's not just, I receive love from the Lord and I'm just gonna give it away, but it's actually a new way of building relationships, trusting relationships in the love of the Lord. I love you and you love me and we're in the Lord's love together. [01:53:12] (35 seconds)  #MutualCovenantLove

So, this is also saying this is a primary form of our witness as followers of Yeshua is the way that we love one another. And so, this is evangelism. I like the word witness. Sometimes just putting a different word on it, it's helpful. And so but for us to be this kind of witness, for you and I to love each other that the world can see it, means that we have to have close proximity to the lost. [01:53:59] (28 seconds)  #LoveAsWitness