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

 Yesterday we read that after two days (following Jesus' discourse on the end of the age and the destruction of the temple; see readings of Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday) it was the Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.  But the 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 Icariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to the.  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?"   In Matthew, Mark, and Luke (the Synoptic Gospels), my study bible notes, the date of Christ's Crucifixion is the first day of Passover.  But John dates it on this day, the Preparation Day which is the day before Passover -- the time when they killed the Passover lamb.   Thus, according to John 19:14, the Lamb of God is slain at the same time as the Passover lambs.  My study bible says that while its impossible to determine which is historically accurate, both traditions have theological truth:  the Mystical Supper is the fulfillment of the Passover meal (as in the synoptic tradition in today's reading), while Christ's death is the fulfillment of the Passover lambs being slain (John's tradition).

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.   These two disciples sent out to prepare for the Passover meal are Peter and John (Luke 22:8). 

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."   My study bible encourages us to look at the language of the text.  Jesus says that His betrayer is one of you who eats with Me, a statement of fellowship, hospitality, and intimacy.  He says it is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish.  These are not statements which point to the identity of the person as they are meant to emphasize the level of betrayal, and that His betrayer is in fact one of His closest friends (see Psalm 55:13-15). 

"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 comments here that Christ's divine foreknowledge of the betrayal does not take away Judas' moral freedom nor his own accountability.  For God, it says, all things are a present reality;  God foresees all human actions, but does not cause them.

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."  In the Greek, the word for given thanks has as its root the word eucharist (εὐχαριστέω).  This word immediately came to refer both to the Liturgy and to the sacrament of Holy Communion.  My study bible notes that before the end of the first century, the earliest teaching manuscript, called the Didache, refers to the celebration of the Liturgy as "the Eucharist."  In AD 150, St. Justin writes 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."  For the earliest Church and remaining today for the Orthodox and other denominations, Christ's words were accepted as true, as St. Justin writes, "that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from Him is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus."

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.  The hymn they sung is a psalm from a group of psalms which were traditionally sung after the Passover meal (see Psalms 113-118).

 Jesus lives His life as a devout Jew.  He fulfills all of the proper duties of what it is to be a pilgrim at the Passover, and instructs His disciples to do so as well.  There is nothing left out here.  His quarrel is with the excesses of the leadership, and the ways in which the word of God is subverted through practices that hide selfishness.  But He is also here, as He has said, as the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (see Matthew 5:17-20).   He adds something deeper, richer, a bond of covenant in the Eucharist which penetrates body and soul and spirit.  He gives us Holy Communion, through which we are invited to participate in His own life, even His life on earth which was sacrificed so that we are saved in Him.  He gives us the life of the Cross, and of the Kingdom -- and that is something that forms a deeper and stronger bond than law, penetrating to identity in ways that only the gift of grace can.  In all ways, Jesus takes us to this depth of bond, to the things of the heart.  In yesterday's reading (above), we read of the gift of the woman in Bethany, who anointed Him for burial.  Christ read her heart and declared her gift to be entirely worthy, objecting to all criticism of her.  Here in today's reading, the disciples and the whole of the Church are given the gift of Communion, a depth of life in Him, a linking of our own hearts to His -- and our identity in His.  To partake of this offering is to allow Him to become a part of us and we a part of Him, if we take His words seriously.  It is a way in which we may become united in heart and through Spirit, inviting Christ into the depths of who we are to change us, to challenge us, to help to form and shape us -- being saved precisely by becoming part of the Kingdom, abiding in Him, and allowing Him, together with Father and Holy Spirit,  to abide in us (Revelation 3:20).  These are the depths of meaning of this Kingdom and our capacity for participation in it that we read in Scripture.  The word for Christian repentance (as opposed to mere remorse, a different word) is metanoia.  It literally means to change one's mind.  This is not a mere question of coming to a different conclusion about something, but fully living something different, becoming a truly changed person.  This is the work of grace in us, a gift of our participation in His life and the life of the Kingdom.  He tells us that where two or three faithful are gathered, so He is in our midst (Matthew 18:20).  He teaches that the kingdom of God is within us and among us (Luke 17:20-21).  In today's reading He gives us the single cup from which all may drink.  Let us consider the synergistic work of God that may be active within us through faith; it mirrors the synergy of Christ Himself -- fully divine and fully human, the very Incarnation given to us to teach us what God can do.  As Jesus said of the encounter with the rich young man, "for with God all things are possible" (see this reading).   Through all things, we have a powerful mystical link given to us, grace at work, sacrament that takes the things of this world and consecrates them to God and God's purposes.  Let us remember, as He says, the gifts He has given "to many,"  to all of us, and be truly thankful.