Jesus Institutes the New Covenant

Living in Covenant

Giving One's All

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to a New Life in Christ

Mark 14:17-24 The Message

17-18 After sunset he came with the Twelve. As they were at the supper table eating, Jesus said, “I have something hard but important to say to you: One of you is going to hand me over to the conspirators, one who at this moment is eating with me.”
19 Stunned, they started asking, one after another, “It isn’t me, is it?”
20-21 He said, “It’s one of the Twelve, one who eats with me out of the same bowl. In one sense, it turns out that the Son of Man is entering into a way of treachery well-marked by the Scriptures—no surprises here. In another sense, the man who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man—better never to have been born than do this!”

“This Is My Body”

22 In the course of their meal, having taken and blessed the bread, he broke it and gave it to them. Then he said,
Take, this is my body.
23-24 Taking the chalice, he gave it to them, thanking God, and they all drank from it. He said,
This is my blood,
God’s new covenant,
Poured out for many people.

For Reflection

In this, the last supper, Jesus laid out the prime requirement for the disciples. Jesus acknowledges the fact that not everyone who confesses to the love of Christ and commits to The Way will do so fully and completely.  Jesus earthly time, his body, exemplified the will of God and the practice in service to God.  Jesus gave his life to God's cause and through His death, He showed the level to which we, too, should be committed to God's will for us.

The sacrament which we practice today should remind us that our spiritual life has a spiritual food that sustains it.  Some believe that the wine and bread are transformed into the blood and flesh of Jesus in our bodies.  Whether you adhere to that or consider the act to be symbolic, the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, the Christ within us will be fed and active, guiding, correcting and assisting you to become God's cohort in the formation of God's Kingdom in the here and now.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more willing and able to follow the Way of Jesus the Christ.

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