Come, Lord Jesus

"'...and they will call him Immanuel' - which means, 'God with us.'"
Matthew 1:23b

“Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let thy gifts to us be blessed. Amen.”

Do you know this prayer? I’ve been a Lutheran my whole life, so I think I’ve probably said what we call the Common Table Prayer about 35,000 times, give or take a few. Of course, the “thy gifts” could be “these gifts” or “this food” or whatever else depending on whose table you’re sitting at or whose fellowship hall you’re standing in, but the words that I will think of differently from now on are the first ones: “Come, Lord Jesus.” Maranatha!

There are various ways to look at the definition of maranatha. I guess as a child, whenever we said the Common Table Prayer, I would kind of imagine Jesus coming to sit at an empty chair at the table with us. In any other context, “Come, Lord Jesus” has always been in the anticipation category in my mind looking forward to His return. Somehow I’ve missed the whole “Come, Lord Jesus, right here, right now, where I so desperately need You” part of the word maranatha.

The three year old is refusing to eat his dinner...again. Come, Lord Jesus!

It took 3 hours to get the kids to bed. Come, Lord Jesus!

We missed nap time, and now there are 2 fussy children under my feet while I am attempting to make a dinner that may or may not get eaten. Come, Lord Jesus!

I could add so many things to this list. I DESPERATELY need Jesus, right here, right now, and that will always be true no matter when right now is. Now when I pray that familiar prayer, I will be reminded that “maranatha” isn’t just for meal time or the end of time; it’s for right now in the messy details of my life. Maranatha!

To listen to the sermon that inspired this post, CLICK HERE.

Dear Jesus, Thank You for being with us at all times and in all places, and thank You most of all for what You did for us on the cross. Amen.