Matthew 17 – The empty seat

“The disciples asked [Jesus], ‘why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?’  Jesus replied, ‘To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.  But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished.  In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.”

I grew up as a pastor’s kid.  Every spring at Easter my dad would lead a passover service; a couple times Jews for Jesus came and put it on and couple of times he led it himself.  I was always fascinated by the empty seat left at the table for Elijah.  There was also a point in the service where I would have to go to the door to see if Elijah was coming.  He never came.

It was not until much later that I realized Elijah’s place was always empty because he had already come in the person of John the Baptist; to prepare the way of the Lord.  When I finally made that connection was the first time I really understood that the Old Testament was connected to the New Testament.  Jesus is the pivot point around which all of God’s creation is centered.  God’s love flows out from that point.

These days at those passover meals I don’t see the empty seat as being in anticipation of Elijah’s coming, but in celebration of the Messiah already come.

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