Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins

 

 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.  For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.  But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

 

 Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:

'I will strike the Shepherd,

And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'

"But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."   

 

Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble."  Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."  Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"  And so said all the disciples.

 

- Matthew 26:26-35 

 

Yesterday we read that on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?"  And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."'"  So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.  When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.  Now as they were eating, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?"  He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.  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 not been born."  Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?"  He said to him, "You have said it." 

 

  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.  For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."  Here Jesus institutes the Eucharist, the long-awaited messianic banquet, to which (my study Bible notes) He admits even Judas (compare to Esther 7).  He is seeking by all means to save him.  Because of his wicked heart, my study Bible adds, Judas' participation leads to his condemnation (1 Corinthians 11:27-30).  In the Divine Liturgy, Christ's words are repeated, inviting the faithful to receive His body and blood.  In Holy Communion, my study Bible says, we are truly united to Christ.  It notes that Jesus gave thanks (in Greek, the root meaning to give thanks is ευχαριστω/eucharisto, from which we derive "eucharist") to teach us the following things.  First, how we are to celebrate this sacrament; second, that He comes willingly to His Passion; and finally to accept sufferings with thankfulness, knowing that God can use sufferings for ultimate good. Additionally, it's noted that the Old Covenant was sealed with the blood of bulls and goats.  The New is sealed by the gift of Jesus Christ, who shed His own blood to conquer sin and death and reconcile us with God.  Christ calls it the blood of the new covenant, which is God's promise and the fulfillment of the Law.  "New" indicates that this covenant brings immortality and incorruptible life; so therefore this covenant will always have the quality of newness (see also Revelation 21:5 in which making all things new indicates a continuous action).  

 

"But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."  According to patristic teaching, my study Bible says, Jesus also drinks the cup of His own blood.  He does this to lead all believers into participation in His heavenly mysteries.  It says that in My Father's kingdom relates to the time after Christ's Resurrection, when He will eat and drink to show the reality of His victory over death (Luke 24:41-43).  Moreover, it points to the eternal banquet of the Kingdom in the age to come. 

 

Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:  'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'  But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."  Jesus quotes from the prophesy of Zachariah (see Zachariah 13:7), indicating not only one other aspect in which His Passion fulfills Scripture, but also what will happen to them upon His death.    

 

 Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble."  Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."  Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"  And so said all the disciples.  St. Peter vehemently denies that he will be made to stumble, even on pain of death, contrary to Jesus' assertion above.  During the time of Christ's trial in the house of the high priest, we shall read of the events concerning St. Peter and Jesus' prophesy of denial three times.  Let us make a note that all the others say the same, despite Jesus' prophesy they will all be made to stumble.

 

In today's reading, we get the juxtaposition of the greatest glory and the deepest signs of evil, side-by-side, so to speak.  We are given the exaltation of the institution of the Eucharist, in which Jesus shares His body and blood, and all that might mean, with all of us.  Origen comments on these verses in St. Matthew's Gospel, "You should not marvel that He who is himself the bread also eats the bread with us or that He who is himself the cup of the fruit of the vine also drinks it with us. This is possible because the Word of God is omnipotent and is at once the bearer of many different names, for the multitude of His virtues are innumerable, since he is Himself every virtue" (Commentary on Matthew 86).  When we "dumb down" the Eucharist, and fail to understand the depth of its gift to us, we overlook these things that Origen teaches us, that the very body and blood of Christ convey to us His divinity as well as humanity, and make it possible for us also to access those innumerable virtues of which Origen speaks.  At the same time that this inestimable gift is given to us and instituted in the Church through this sacrament, so we bear witness with the Gospel to the time of the greatest imaginable evil, the betrayal of Christ and the scattering and stumbling of all of His disciples, as He has said.  It teaches us something essential and important about our world, that we are neither living in a paradise which is untainted with sin, nor are we living in a world which is wholly evil.  We in the midst of a battleground, as Jesus has witnessed for us in His own time in the wilderness that immediate preceded His ministry (Matthew 4:1-11).  We humans remain in the midst of that battleground where it is hard to tell one side from the other at times, where our world might be confused and chaotic, and there will be times when nothing is as it seems to be on the surface.  But Jesus calls us to that battleground and to that struggle, for it is in Him that we find the way, the truth, and the life, and the light that lights the way.  God expects us to struggle, not to be perfect in some material sense, but to come to the Lord with repentance and forgiveness, and also in the capacity for the tremendous arrays of virtues possible with God's grace.  Let us choose Him, even when we fail, or the world doesn't seem to offer us options for the goodness He allows.  For even through our Shepherd was stricken, He remains with us and in us.  The disciples, with one exception, will find their way back to Him even after stumbling, and so always should we, for He loved us first and desires our love in return.