A Glimpse into the Heart of Jesus

We think our Lord gets enough pleasure from what we do for him, but there is so much more. Consider this verse: “Which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’?” (Luke 17:7-8, NKJV).

We may have no trouble at all identifying with the servant in his duty to the master. No trouble in putting on our apron and serving up the Lord a full table of praises. We love to feed our Lord! It is our greatest joy to minister unto the Lord, but we have difficulty with the last part: “Afterward, you will eat!” That may feel like too much for us to comprehend. We do not know how to sit down and allow him the same joy we experienced in serving him. We rob our Lord of the joy of ministering to us.

Christ responds to our faith and rejoices when we repent. He talks to the Father about us and delights in our childlike trust. However, I am convinced that his greatest need is to have one-to-one communication with those he left here on earth. No angel in heaven can meet that need. Jesus wants to talk with those on the battlefield.

Where did I get such a notion? It’s in the account of Christ appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were grieved about their departed Lord, but when the resurrected Christ drew near, they did not recognize him. He wanted to talk; he had so much to say to them. “So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus himself drew near and went with them…and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:15, 27).

There could have been no finer experience for those disciples; they went away saying, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us?” We think of the joy of the disciples, but what about the joy of Jesus? He was fulfilled, and I see him overjoyed by this communion with his disciples.