This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me

When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." 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 comes." And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed." Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

- Luke 22:14-23

Yesterday's reading taught us that Jesus is staying on the Mount of Olives at night, while He teaches in the temple daily after His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. He has had conflicts with the temple leadership, so that by now they are plotting how they might take Him by stealth, out of sight of the people, with whom He is popular. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. Judas, one of the Twelve, has chosen to betray Jesus, and plots with the chief priests and captains to do so "in the absence of the multitude." John and Peter are sent by Jesus to inquire for a certain guest room for their Passover, a large furnished upper room for the Teacher and His disciples.

When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." This is, in some sense, the culmination of His ministry, in this Last Supper. My study bible points out that this Passover fulfills its meaning in Christ: Passover is the occasion of the deliverance of the Jewish people from bondage in Egypt. "Now Jesus, with fervent desire, anticipates the great deliverance of humanity from the power of sin, which will be accomplished through His saving death, establishing the New Covenant which is to be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." But in some way, it seems to me, Jesus has been eager for this moment of His own exodus, His departure from Jerusalem and return to the kingdom, the culmination of His mission in the world, which is to inaugurate a new age for humanity. His true Lordship will be fulfilled in the kingdom of God, as He goes to the Father, and remains then for all of us the door to the Father, establishing a deeper relatedness for humanity, a power to defeat all that would keep us from God.

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 comes." The inauguration of the kingdom is at hand. Wine is a symbol of a bond, a covenant, which He makes with each of them, and through them, to us. We recall Jesus' first sign in John's Gospel, the turning of the water to wine at the wedding in Cana. Wine is a part of a wedding feast, and so we should view this: the Bridegroom is with His friends, inaugurating a kind of union for the age to come, the "breaking through" of the kingdom into our world, through these apostles.

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." The covenant is made with the ultimate and final and true sacrifice. Jesus will be the great Witness for all of us -- the One who goes all the way to bring the kingdom to the world. He will give His all for this covenant with us. He is our Lamb of God. My study bible reminds us that "remembrance in its biblical significance is a reliving of the original event. We do this through the sacred act of the Eucharist."

"But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed." Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing. I think this last statement by Christ sets down once and for all the question of the fulfillment of God's will. By whatever evil befalls us in this world, we too, may be witness to God's power and love, through faith. Every event of suffering may be a choice for us to do our own part to help with the "breaking in" of the kingdom in this world. But that -- even in this most spectacularly powerful event of all events, that will manifest the power of the Cross for us all -- by no means excuses the behavior of the betrayer or the hand by which evil and destruction or betrayal of this kingdom in some form comes into the world. We are all responsible for the acts we choose, for our lack of repentance, for whether we embrace this reality or act against it.

Let us consider the paradox: by the hand of betrayal will arise the greatest of saving acts that is to come. Whatever Jesus' miracles of healing and hope, of feeding, the Cross will remain our symbol for salvation -- for the choice we make at every juncture in our own lives. Raised on the Cross, Jesus will fulfill the "type" of Moses raising his staff in the wilderness so that the Israelites were not harmed by the poisonous serpents that bit at them. But the power of this Cross and its gracious saving power does not delete the act of betrayal by which it came, nor the responsibility for that choice. So let us remember then that Jesus has set His face toward what is to come. He knows what is in store for Him, His arrest and suffering -- and He also knows that it is a part of what is given by the Father for Him to fulfill for the great saving power of that Cross established here for all, forever. But, nevertheless, "woe to that man by whom He is betrayed."