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 this thing.

Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.  And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.'  But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.  For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves?  Is it not he who sits at the table?  Yet I am among you as the One who serves.  But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.  And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

- Luke 22:14-30

Yesterday we read that 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 the 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 met 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 says that the root of Christ's fervent desire for this Passover is the fact that this meal is the occasion for imparting the mysteries of the new covenant to His followers.  This event also inaugurates the great deliverance of humanity from sin through the power of the Cross. 

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 is the conclusion of the Old Testament Passover meal that Christ eats with His disciples; my study bible points out that this fulfills the Law.  Until the kingdom of God comes means until the Resurrection of Christ -- at that time He will again eat and drink with His disciples (24:43; Acts 10:41).

 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."  The Greek word "eucharist" is the root of the word translated as gave thanks.  This word immediately came to refer to both the Liturgy and the sacrament of Holy Communion.  My study bible notes that before the end of the first century, a teaching manuscript called the Didache refers to the celebration of the Liturgy as "the Eucharist."  In 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."  Jesus teaches:  This is My body.    St. Justin writes regarding the Church's acceptance of the truth of Christ's words, "that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from Him is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus."  For many churches, including the both Eastern and Oriental Orthodox and various Western denominations, Christ's words continue to teach a spiritual and sacramental Mystery, and mean that His body and blood are mystically present so that all may partake of Him and participate in His sacrifice.  No other explanation -- either an attempt to rationally define the nature of how this happens or to give it a purely metaphorical significance -- adequately reflects His teaching as repeatedly found in the Scriptures (see John 6:51-66, 1 Corinthians 11).

"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 this thing.  We note that Judas is also invited to the table for this mystical supper.  Jesus is seeking by all means to save him, and continues to give Judas a chance to repent even at His arrest and following Judas' kiss of betrayal, when Jesus asks him, "Friend, why have you come?" (Matthew 26:50).   My study bible says that Judas' unworthy participation leads to his utter destruction (see 1 Corinthians 11:27-30; compare to Esther 7).

Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.  And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.'  But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.  For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves?  Is it not he who sits at the table?  Yet I am among you as the One who serves."  My study bible calls this a small-minded dispute among the disciples, and says that it is entirely out of place in the context of the mysteries which Christ has just revealed.  He corrects the disciples first by comparing them to the power-hungry Gentiles, whom they themselves consider to be an abomination.  Then He contrasts them to Himself, who serves all even though He is Lord of all.

"But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.  And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."  My study bible quotes St. Ambrose of Milan, who writes, "Christ judges by discerning the heart, and not by examining deeds.  So also the apostles are being shaped to exercise spiritual judgment concerning faith, and in rebuking error with virtue."  My study bible adds that the apostles will judge not with earthly judgment, but by the witness of their own lives.   Since, as indicated in verse 16,  God's kingdom begins with Resurrection of Christ, the authority of judgment has already been given to the apostles and their successors in the journey of the Church on earth (Matthew 16:19; John 20:23). 

The concept of Christ's Incarnation is bound up with the mystery of the Eucharist, and inescapable for us.  He tells us, "This is My body which is given for you," and "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you."  There are at least two things which spring up at us from Christ's words.  The first is His solemn declaration regarding His body and blood in the broken bread and in the cup.  This is a specific declaration, a reference that is vivid and made so that we will remember it.  Secondly, He is declaring that His body is given for us, and His blood is shed for us.  Not only does this imply that His death on the Cross makes Him our Passover, sacrificed once and for all time for us.  It also gives us the understanding that by partaking of this mystical Eucharist, this giving thanks for what He has done for us, we also are to participate in that sacrifice.  He teaches elsewhere that we, too, are each to take up our crosses and follow Him (see Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27).   Moreover, John's Gospel makes this participation even more explicit, and Jesus' language ties this participation to the wine of the Eucharist in the metaphor of the vine and branches, when He teaches His disciples, "Abide in Me" (John 15:1-8).  Our very lives, and all that we are as beings in this world, is tied up in our faith.  Like Christ, we also devote whatever we are and have to this Kingdom, and consecrate that sacramentally by participation in the Eucharist.  We do not separate our creation into components, but understand that body, soul, mind, and spirit are one.  It is a way of declaring that we are to follow Him, to be like Him, to take up our own crosses daily and follow in His footsteps, whatever way that means in our personal lives.  He is the firstfruit, and we follow as those who bear fruit, as He explicitly indicates in this passage cited in John's Gospel.  This is why the Eucharist is at the center of our faith, and was so from the beginning.  As such, and especially at this time of the year when we enter into festivities marking Christ's Nativity, let us consider in particular the meaning of the word Eucharist, that its root is the Greek word for giving thanks.  St. Paul writes, "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name" (Hebrews 13:15).  Many have remarked that giving thanks itself is a form of worship.  It invites us to "remember God."  To give thanks is to remember where our Source is, the gift not only of who we are, but also of every element of what it means to be a person:  from spirit and soul to body and blood.  Our giving thanks via the Eucharist not only allows and enables us to remember Christ, but it give us communion with Him.  Through the Eucharist, we remember His Incarnation and we may participate in His very life with Him, becoming also servants and members of this Kingdom with Him.  He is the firstfruit, and we become also part of this vine, branches, and fruit.  Therefore this reading comes at the very time of the year when we must consider how gratitude is part of our wholeness.  We are not disjointed beings, stretched between body and blood on the one side, our capacity for abstract reasoning on another, mystical connection to God at yet another, and the soul another point on in a scattered and disjointed plane of identity.  Christ offers us just the opposite:  this central, unifying cup that gives us purpose and function, that gathers all that we are and even all that we may be or become into this ground of being which includes the fullness of His Incarnation:  both divine and human, eternal and temporal, limited yet infinite, the One who was both crucified and resurrected, the Lamb who was slain and yet stands on the throne of the kingdom of heaven (Revelation 5:6).  This is the slain Lamb who conquers, who is Lord of lords and King of kings (Revelation 17:14), and with whom we are raised at the last day (John 6:39-40).  All of this is contained in the Eucharist, as our partaking of it contains the promises of the crucified and risen Christ, the Lamb slain who yet rules.  He invites us to participate in His life and its fullness, and to abide in Him.  The Eucharist is the way that He has given us to do this; let us not minimize all that it is, and promises to us.