Upper Room Experience

Tonight we had an “Upper Room Experience,” commemorating the last supper. This is perfect considering today is Passover Eve. For our Upper Room experience we had an introduction by Dr. Chadwick who explained the logistics of the triclinium which Jesus and His apostles sat at during their Passover dinner many, many years ago. The triclinium is Roman style of dining for festivals and the such. The table is set up as one table in the middle and then two tables on the side that go the opposite direction of the table in the middle, forming an unclosed rectangle basically. The people would have dined lying on their sides, propped up on their left elbows. This makes sense for the last supper because the scriptures say that John leans on Christ’s breast to ask him who will betray him. If John had been lying on his side he could have just leaned back into Jesus’ chest and subtly asked him his question. I love learning about how customs and traditions help make the scriptures make sense!

After the explanation of the logistics all of the married couples here at the JC; the Judd’s, Muhlesteins, Jacksons, Bentleys, and Ohmans read the John chapters which start off with Christ and his disciples in the Upper Room and end with the intercessory prayer. It was really wonderful to listen to the words being read, words that I have already read many times throughout my stay here but from which I gained even more tonight as they were read out loud. One of the main themes of John is the relationship of the Father and the Son. Christ always mentions how He came to the Earth to glorify the Father because he loves him. He then tells us how he wants us to have this relationship with the Father too, that he wants us to come unto him and the Father to be one with them. Through studying the love the Savior has for his Father it has made me want to do everything in life because of the love I have for Heavenly Father. This is something I know that I will be always trying to do for my whole life, something that isn’t just going to happen over night but I hope that little by little I can gain this motivation of love for Heavenly Father. I am so thankful for this experience! I can’t wait to come home to share the things I have learned.