And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and
broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat;
this is My body." Then He took the
cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, "This is My blood
of the new covenant, which is shed for many.
"Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of
the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God
Scripture
tells us that life is found in the blood. (Genesis 9:4) In the blood of Jesus there is a blood that
brings life to all who partake of it. As
Jesus offered them the first Lord’s Supper He tells them, "This is My blood of the new
covenant, which is shed for many.” God has made a new way for us to
come to Him. God has made a new way for
us to receive His life.
God has
given His body so we can have the new life that can only come from God. Jesus told us that He came to give us
abundant life. Not just a life of
unending longevity, but one of unending blessing and joy.
I have known
people who wait for death because their days are empty and without love or
hope. Long life can also be an extended
suffering and extended emptiness if there is no meaning or hope within it. God came to offer us meaning to our existence
that is more than just what we can do for others or for God. We have meaning just because God does love us
and sees us as being worthy of giving His Son for. We have hope because we know that if we are
of such value God will not withhold any good thing from us and will see us
through to life with Him!
Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take
this and divide it among
yourselves; "for I say to you, I
will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God
“Divide it among yourselves;” The Cup
of God’s Grace passes from the Hands of God to human hands that must offer it
to others. We must continue to receive
the Cup of Grace remembering all that Jesus has done for us. Only by offering the Cup of Grace to others
can we understand the love God has for us to offer it to us! To remember is to live something through
again. As we partake and as we offer
this Cup we live through the love and grace of God and become part of a
gracious love that must extend across the entire world and to every heart to
reach its maturity.
We may be
still in our infancy of love only being able to offer it to those who are like
us, or who think like us. The Cup of
God’s Grace is to be extended to those who do not understand, for the Apostles
didn’t understand what was happening.
And it must be extended to even those who would betray us and Jesus for
Jesus offered it to Judas.
We must
mature in our love and mature in God’s grace.
This can only happen as we drink deeply of the Cup of God’s Grace.
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