This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many

 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?"  And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.  Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"  Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us."  So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.

In the evening He came with the twelve.  Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me."  And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, "Is it I?"  And another said, "Is it I?"  He answered and said to them, "It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish.  The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!  It would have been good for that man if he had never been born."

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."  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

- Mark 14:12-26

In recent readings it is Holy Week, and Jesus is in Jerusalem.  He has daily disputed in the temple, and told to the disciples the prophecy about the destruction of the temple and the city that is to come, and also about the time of His Return.  Yesterday we read that after two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.  But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people."  And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard.  Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.  But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted?  For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor."  And they criticized her sharply.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone.  Why do you trouble her?  She has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.  She has done what she could.  She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.  Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."  Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them.  And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money.  So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?"  And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.  Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"  Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us."  So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.   My study bible notes that the synoptic Gospels date Jesus' Crucifixion on the first day of Passover, but John's Gospel sets it on the Preparation Day (John 19:14), the day before Passover when the Passover lambs were killed.  Therefore, in the synoptic tradition, the Last Supper is the Passover meal, but John's Gospel tells us that Jesus as Lamb of God (John 1:29) dies at the same time as the Passover lambs are slain in the temple.  To set the date precisely is not possible, but Scripture works in ways unlike a scientific textbook:  both traditions are theologically true.  The Mystical Supper, my study bible says, is the fulfillment of the Passover meal (the synoptic tradition), and Christ's death itself is the fulfillment of the Passover lambs being slain (John's tradition).  Luke's Gospel tells us that the two disciples who were sent to prepare the Passover were Peter and John (Luke 22:8).  The Gospels consistently tell us of this deliberate and detailed preparation in which Jesus gives explicit instructions.  Clearly, the setting for this Passover is most important in its preparations and in Jesus' ministry.  It seems to suggest the participation of all cosmic witness, down to the details of God's pinpoint and timeless awareness, which Jesus has described by telling us the very hairs of our head are numbered, and that not one sparrow falls that the Father isn't aware of (Luke 12:4-7).

In the evening He came with the twelve.  Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me."  And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, "Is it I?"  And another said, "Is it I?"  He answered and said to them, "It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish.  The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!  It would have been good for that man if he had never been born."   My study bible says that Jesus' emphasis on both that His betrayer is one of the twelve and that he is one who dips with Me in the dish isn't in order to indicate the specific identity of the person who betrays Him.  Rather, He tells us the level of betrayal involved -- that this is one of His closest friends (see Psalm 55:12-14).  Jesus' expression of the divine foreknowledge of this betrayal takes away neither Judas' moral freedom, nor the accountability for his choice.  My study bible says that for God, all things are a present reality.  God sees all human actions, but does not cause them.  It is extremely touching that various disciples ask, "Is it I?"  It gives us a sense that by this point of His ministry, they are all aware of the potential of their own weakness, an awareness we should all share.  It also gives us a picture of what a frightening time this must be for them, in which - despite Jesus' explicit warnings - uncertainty rules as all their expectations of the manifestation of a kingdom are confounded.

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."  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.  To sat He gave thanks in the Greek has as its root the Greek word eucharist.  This word immediately came to refer to both the Liturgy and the sacrament of Holy Communion.  My study bible notes that in the Didache (a manuscript written before the end of the first century), the celebration of the Liturgy is referred to as "the Eucharist."  Writing in the year 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."  St. Justin also writes that "the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from Him is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus."  For Eastern Christianity, this has always remained simply a mystical truth without explanation, given in the word of Christ in this solemn, detailed, and deliberate supper.  The Eucharist, from the very beginning of the early Church, has always been the supreme act of thanksgiving and praise to God.  The hymn sung at the supper is a psalm from a group of psalms which were traditionally sung after the Passover meal (Psalms 116-118).

The Last Supper becomes the centerpiece and capstone of ministry -- giving us intentionally a commemoration for all time to come, until the return of Christ.  It is deliberately and meticulously planned.  Clearly, it seems, the Eucharist and its commemoration are precisely what Jesus had in mind to give to the apostles and to the Church forever ("Do this in remembrance of Me," Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25).  It is fitting that such a commemoration and final gesture, before giving His body and blood of the new covenant in sacrifice for many, should be an act of the greatest mystery.  It is one that recreates His life for us eternally and given so that we may participate in His life most deeply, a mystery that is given just before the sign given to all, that of His Resurrection (which He called "the sign of Jonah" as reported by Matthew and Luke).   The mystery surrounding the Eucharist should not, in my view, ever be taken lightly or as mere symbol.  I agree with the view that explanations are inadequate to either identify or categorize the levels of mystery and participation into which we are invited through the Eucharist -- as each of us is invited not only to share in His life but also His sacrifice and His Cross by taking up our own.  There is more to this than the material, just as there is far more to the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ than a man dying in a Roman punishment reserved for the worst criminals, and then His body missing from its tomb, surrounded by stories of Resurrection from His followers.  This final mystery given to us as commemorative sacrament in perpetuity touches us in ways that we can't even categorize; it allows us to have our own lives invested in His in ways we can't foretell and don't know.  In this sacrament we abide in Him and He in us.  Indeed, in John 15:4, He tells us that this is the one way in which we can bear fruit.  Clearly, if we are to go by John's account, well within the lifetimes of these first disciples, the Eucharist had attained the enormous significance of the words, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6:51).  There is far too much significance here to be diminished into mere symbol, or even explanations of physical reality transformed.  This is the realm of the mystical, which involves all levels of reality, from the absolute to the daily routine of our lives and all in between, as well as the work of the Spirit, just as Christ's mysterious birth to Mary did as well.  When we think of this gift, it's not something we can quantify nor limit, as it is not our gift but rather the gift of God, of Christ Himself.   It is the gift of the fullness of His life and being, given to us in mystery as only God could give.  Also fittingly and tellingly, we give thanks simply through our acceptance of His gift!  We can but follow and seek to bear the fruit He asks of us, as we abide in Him and He in us.  "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).