ReaD Luke 22:14-22
A well-known hymn by Robert Robinson says:
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’ve come.
The word “ebenezer” is a reference to 1 Samuel 7, in which the Lord brings the Israelites to victory and the prophet Samuel responds by setting up a rock as a physical testament to the Lord’s deliverance. He calls the stone “ebenezer,” which means “stone of help,” and as he leaves it where the battle was won, declares in holy remembrance that “thus far the Lord has helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12).
Although I am not in the habit of leaving rocks in public places every time I experience God’s deliverance, He has shown me in recent years that intentional remembrance is a practice He has called us all to. We see this in Luke 22:14-22, where Jesus chooses to remember, even as He prepares for death. On the day we now call Maundy Thursday, He sat down with His close friends to observe Passover, a day to remember God’s deliverance of His people from their bondage in Exodus. Jesus knew that the total weight of the world’s brokenness was about to be laid on Him. He knew that the close friends He ate with that night would desert Him. Yet as He prepared to become humanity’s final deliverance, He chose to dwell in acknowledgment of the Lord as the trustworthy deliverer.
As Jesus remembered, He also called His followers to remember, even when He was no longer physically beside them. The remembrance they were invited into, however, was a new remembrance, one of holy sacrifice given and poured out “for you.” As He looked around the Passover table and said these words, the “you” included people who had walked with Him through three years of ministry, yet would betray Him, deny knowing Him, sleep through His despair, flee from His suffering, and doubt His resurrection. Jesus knew they would forget that His blood was enough. He knew they would lose sight of their need for overwhelming grace. He knew they would wander from the truth that God really does “so love the world” (John 3:16). He knew they would need to remember, again and again and again. As we also continually wander, believing that we are enough on our own, or too broken to be touched by grace, may we continually place ebenezers in remembrance of Jesus, the proof of the sacrifice poured out “for you”—for us. May we echo Samuel’s praise, for in Jesus, the Lord truly has helped us.
For Reflection:
- When you look back on your life, what are your ebenezer moments?
By Grace Ritterbusch
