Thirty-First Day of Lent

Thirty-First Day of Lent

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Take it; this is my body. . . . 
This is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many.
Mark 14:22b-24a

I like to try to imagine what this last supper with Jesus was like for the twelve. That “upper room” probably had no covers over the windows, no panes of glass to keep out the night air and the night sounds. And what was going on in the city?

People had come from all around to celebrate Passover. They had brought their lambs with them for the Passover meal, and the priests had lambs for those who had none. All those little animals in their unfamiliar places probably were confused and not quiet, so the sounds of their bleating must surely have drifted up to the windows. They were going to be sacrificed. They didn’t know it, but the disciples did! Their blood was going to be shed.

Then Jesus said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant.” Some of them may have been present when John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Did they make the connection between those little lambs outside and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world seated at their table? Did the awful realization finally come that he had been telling them that he was going to die? Did they just take the cup and bread casually – as we often do – without realizing what it all meant, or did they realize that he, like the lambs outside, was going to die?

Prayer: Father, we can’t hear the lambs outside, but we know that you have told us that Jesus is our Passover Lamb. We praise you for this sacrament that we celebrate to remind us of the sacrifice of our Lamb. Amen.

And He Set His Face toward Jerusalem. . . .

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2007,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator