With Fervent Desire (Ho Grandemente desiderato)

"Luca 22:15 Allora egli disse loro: 'Ho grandemente desiderato di mangiare questa Pasqua con voi' prima di soffrire»" (LNR)

"Then He said to them, 'With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer'" (NKJV)

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I once read about a conversation an Americano man had with a man from l'Italia. And not surprisingly, the conversation turned to the topic of food, il cibo.

The man from l'Italia shared about the importance of il cibo in their everyday lives. Not just for the goodness of il cibo itself, but also for its seemingly inherent power to bring people together.

L'Italiano went on to talk about what he would want his last meal to be if he were dying, and even who he'd eat that meal with.

Obviously he was on to something. For he even pointed out that the last act of Jesus, Gesù, before He died on the cross was to eat dinner with friends. We see this here in Luca chapter twenty-two.

It was the time of the Passover, (la Pasqua in Italian which is also the Italian word for Easter by the way).

Cristo knew that this would be, not just His last Passover but His last meal altogether before His death.

And in Luca 22.15 we see that, just as l'Italiano I mentioned said, Cristo wanted to spend that time with His friends (John 15:14-15).

Ho grandemente desiderato, He said. I have great desire to, mangiare questa Pasqua, eat this Passover, with you before I die.

Think of that. Gesù was about to walk through the greatest suffering of His earthly life and the thing He not just wanted, but greatly desired, was to mangia with His friends.

La Bibbia places a lot of significance on the act of fellowshipping with those closest to us over food. (Even in the natural, one of the most popular date activities is for a guy to take a girl out to dinner.)

So as often as you can, take the time to break bread, or can I say, mangia il pane, with those close to you and all those in the Body of Christ (even those you are not close to). It will help develop the unity Cristo desires us to have.

And speaking of the Body of Christ and the breaking of bread. Never take for granted the time of Communion when we partake in the Lord's Supper, it is still His special way of fellowshipping with us, over cibo, food.

Così mangia. Mangia bene. E mangia con gli amici… So eat. Eat well. And eat with friends. It's an activity that's more spiritual and more special than you may have thought.