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

 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

In our current reading, Jesus is in Jerusalem.  He has disputed with the authorities in various clashes, and remains as a pilgrim for the Passover.   In the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.  Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.  Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.  Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.  So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.  And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.  So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.  Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.  And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat."  So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?"  And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters.  Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"  Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready."  So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

 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."   My study bible notes that Christ as a fervent desire for this Passover because this meal will give the mysteries of the new covenant to His followers, and because this event -- this Passover that transfigures, builds, and re-casts Passover -- will inaugurate the great deliverance of humanity from sin through the power of the Cross.  The emphasis on desire in His words gives us a sense that He has held a deep longing for this moment which is finally here, this Passover.

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 first cup ends the Old Testament Passover meal that He eats with His disciples in order to fulfill the Law.  Until the kingdom of God comes indicates this immediate length of time until His Resurrection.  At that time He will once again eat and drink with His disciples (24:43; Acts 10:41).  

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."   Gave thanks (or literally, having given thanks) in the Greek is εὐχαριστήσας, the root of which is "eucharist."  Eucharist immediately came to refer to both the Liturgy and the sacrament of Holy Communion, giving us the full meaning of this central act of worship and communion instituted by Christ at the Last Supper.  Before the end of the first century, my study bible reminds us, a manuscript called the Didache refers to the celebration of the Liturgy as "the Eucharist."  In the year AD 150, St. Justin says of Holy Communion, "This food we call 'Eucharist,' of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing [holy baptism] for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ commanded us."  This is My body:  the historical Church always accepted Christ's words as true.  In the words of St. Justin, "that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from Him is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus."  For the Eastern Church, how this happens simply remains a mystery and the work of the Holy Spirit, without explanation.

"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.   We note that Judas is also invited to the table for the mystical supper.  It indicates that Jesus is still seeking by all means to save him.  Judas' unworthy participation, says my study bible, leads to his utter destruction (see 1 Corinthians 11:27-30; compare to Esther 7).

The very word Eucharist tells us something about our disposition in the light of our faith, and our central relationship to the "one thing needed," Christ Himself.  He is the door, He is the light, He is life, He is the way.  He is so many things that give us sustenance and life and goodness and wisdom.  But in all these things, in all these ways we can define Christ and give Him substance and meaning and see His truth, there is one thing in which we are blessed; that is, that He has given us Himself.  All that He is, He shares with us.  For this we give thanks.  This is the Eucharist.  His life, His flesh, His whole mission of mercy to the world in order to liberate all of us -- all of that and much more beyond our grasp is contained in that one word, Eucharist.  That for which we give thanks -- this is our life as those who follow in His faith.  It defines our whole disposition toward life, the life that He gives as Creator, as Son, as the One who has lived among us and as one of us -- who gave His life to us and for us.  Eucharist, giving thanks, is the central way we see our disposition to the creator and author of our life itself, the One who came to teach us how we may see and live that life, and for what purpose.  It gives us our orientation to all that is, even to our very selves whom we do not know truly except through Him and the journey forward into His liberation and deliverance from the things that enslave and bind us.   Let us note the tremendous power hidden in the Eucharist.  All that Christ is, is there, and we are clearly meant to understand it as so.  There is no mistaking His words:  "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."   "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you."   No mistake at all in the power and full implication of all those words convey, and more, beyond our comprehension, mysteries left to be more fully revealed in their meaning and acceptance in the future.  If we could truly grasp the full power of "sacrament," we might understand better the thanks that we give, this central identity of attitude.  In his book, For the Life of the World, Father Alexander Schmemann, in a passage on the sacrament of marriage titled "The Mystery of Love," writes that a sacrament "implies necessarily the idea of transformation, refers to the ultimate event of Christ's death and resurrection, and is always a sacrament of the Kingdom.  In a way, of course, the whole life of the Church can be termed sacramental, for it is always the manifestation in time of the 'new time.'  Yet in a more precise way the Church calls sacraments those decisive acts of life in which this transforming grace is confirmed as being given, in which the Church through a liturgical act identifies itself with and becomes the very form of that Gift."  This then, this deliberate act of Christ at the Last Supper, for which He tells us He has been fervently longing, is the ultimate Gift for which we give thanks, forever and ever.  It is the unreserved fullness of gift, given to us as an act of praise, worship, communion -- for which we must be always truly thankful.  The intervention in time of the eternal is always present for us here.  How that happens is of course, a great mystery, and appropriately so.  But we accept His words, as great mysteries have a tendency to manifest and reveal themselves in ways that are countless, and yet do intervene for us in time, in our lives in this world, just as the Kingdom is and must be present and makes itself known in ways we didn't expect.  This sacrament, this gift, is indeed "for the life of the world," as Christ has taught us.  But we must remember that means that it is for our very lives, in each life, in life in myriad ways, always surprising, unexpected, revealing itself, and challenging us in new ways to growth and transformation, as Fr. Alexander writes.  In Him, we live and move and have our being.  But mysteriously so, in Him is His fervent desire that He dwells in us.  For this gift let us give thanks always!