Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you

 

The Ascension of our Lord, by John La Farge.  Completed 1888.  The Church of the Ascension in the City of New York

 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you."  But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.  And He said to them, "Why are you troubled?  And why do doubts arise in your hearts?  Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.  Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.  But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?"  So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.  And He took it and ate in their presence.  

Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."  And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.  Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."

And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.  Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.  And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.  Amen.

 

- Luke 24:36-53 

 

Yesterday we read that, after the report of the women from the empty tomb, Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened. Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.  And they talked together of all these things which had happened.  So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.  And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?"  Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?"  And He said to them, "What things?"  So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.  But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.  Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.  Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early astonished us.  When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.  And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see."  Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"  And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.  Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.  But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent."  And He went in to stay with them.  Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.  And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"  So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"  And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

 

  Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you."  My study Bible comments that "Peace to you" is the resurrectional greeting of Christ, which is proclaimed by the priest or bishop frequently in Orthodox worship services.  

But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.  And He said to them, "Why are you troubled?  And why do doubts arise in your hearts?  Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.  Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.  But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?"  So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.  And He took it and ate in their presence.   Christ eats before the disciples, not because in His resurrected body He needs food, but to prove to the disciples that He is truly risen in the flesh (they supposed they had seen a spirit).  My study Bible adds that the spiritual significance assigned to these foods:  fish is active virtue, while the honeycomb is the sweetness of divine wisdom.

Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."  And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.  Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  And you are witnesses of these things."  And you are witnesses of these things.  Once again, Christ responds with a revelation of the fulfillment of the Law the Prophets in Himself.  Again, my study Bible asserts that it is partial faith to believe either in a Messiah who only suffered or one that would only reign in His glory.  Complete faith must see the Messiah, as Jesus says, as encompassing both, for all was foretold in the Law and the Prophets.  Remission of sins refers to the putting away of sins in baptism, preached by St. Peter at Pentecost (see Acts 2:38).   

"Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."  My study Bible tells us that are endued with is literally "have put on." This is the same verb found in Ephesians 6:11 ("Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil"), which also means "to clothe," and so indicates the complete protection of spiritual armor.    Tarry is literally "sit down" in the Greek term.  My study Bible explains that it is an instruction not just to stay in place but to take rest and to prepare attentively before a great and difficult task (compare Mark 14:32).  The Promise of My Father is, of course, the Holy Spirit (see Acts 1:4).

And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.  Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.  And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.  Amen.   My study Bible comments that the Ascension of Christ is celebrated forty days after the Resurrection (Acts 1:3).  This event is a fulfillment of the type given when Elijah ascended in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11), and it marks the completion of Christ's glorification and lordship over all creation.  At the Incarnation, my study Bible explains, Christ brought His divine nature to human nature.  In the mystery of Christ's Ascension, He brings human nature into the divine Kingdom.  He reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit in His glorified body, revealing His glorified human nature -- indeed, human flesh -- to be worshiped by the whole angelic realm.  At Vespers of Ascension, the Orthodox sing, "The angels were amazed seeing a Man so exalted."  In some icons of the Ascension, Christ's white robes are tinted red (as can be seen in the mural above, painted by John La Farge), which indicates the shedding of His blood for the redemption of the world and the ascent of that life-giving blood into heaven (Isaiah 63:1-3; see also Psalms 24:7-10).  

What can it means for us that Christ's human flesh ascends with Him into heaven -- even as we view the reddish/pink tints on His white robes that remind us of His suffering, and the shedding of His blood for us.  How can we comprehend the millions of ways in which our world, and even the place of humanity in the entire universe of creation, might be affected by the carrying of that blood into heaven?  No doubt it is all on our behalf, and "for the life of the world" (John 6:51).  In John 6:33, Jesus states, "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."   This may be seen as being somewhat ironic in light of the Ascension, as in giving life to the world, so His shed blood also ascends with Him back into heaven.  Clearly bringing His human life with Him -- and all that entailed -- also gives to us a gift of unification with God signifying something much more, even those "many mansions" and that "place" He tells the disciples He goes to heaven to prepare for them (John 14:2).  One can only wonder at the effects of our worship, for, even as we worship in our churches, the angels in heaven worship with us.  And so, how much more united are we in such worship after the Ascension of Christ, having completed His mission in the world as one of us?  How much closer do we draw together than was possible before?  If indeed our ancestors were created for life in the paradise God made on earth (Genesis 2:7-9), then how can we not see Christ's Ascension as that which opens the gates to us for a return to Paradise?  In our recent reading about Christ's Crucifixion, we read that "it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.  Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two" (Luke 23:44-45).  These words indicate an extreme disruption in the powers of creation, but at the same time, the veil torn in two indicates for us also a greater communication between the inner Holy of Holies and the faithful.  And perhaps this is the word we seek, for not only does it open up a deeper communion, but also communication, which will be exemplified in the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, and most clearly in the "tongues of fire" enabling all present to hear in their own language (Acts 2:1-12).  It is impossible to calculate all that has come from this new reality, both fulfilled and symbolized in the red-tinted robes of Christ, for even human flesh becomes exalted and worshiped in heaven.  Let us consider this gracious gift and elevation, too far above us to fully comprehend, but given to us so that we may find ourselves in Him.  For we are so much more in Him than we can imagine of ourselves.   

Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you

Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you."  But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.  And He said to them, "Why are you troubled?  And why do doubts arise in your hearts?  Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.  Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.  But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?"  So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.  And He took it and ate in their presence.

Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."  And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.  Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  And you are witnesses of these things.  Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."

And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.  Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up to heaven.  And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.  Amen.

- Luke 24:36-53

Yesterday we read that after hearing the stories of the women about their encounter with the angels at the empty tomb, Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself what had happened.  Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.  And they talked together of all these things which had happened.  So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.  And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?"  Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?"  And He said to them, "What things?"  So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.  But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.  Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.  Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us.  When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.  And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see."  Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"  And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.  Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.  But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent."  And He went in to stay with them.  Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.  And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"  So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"  And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you."   My study bible notes that this resurrectional greeting of Christ, Peace to you,  is proclaimed by a priest or bishop frequently in worship services.  We recall Christ's teaching as He sent out the Seventy on their first mission:  "But whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house.' And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you" (10:5-6).

But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.  And He said to them, "Why are you troubled?  And why do doubts arise in your hearts?  Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.  Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.  But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?"  So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.  And He took it and ate in their presence.  My study bible says that Christ eats not because He in His resurrected body needs food, but to prove to the disciples that He is truly risen in the flesh.  There is a spiritual significance to the elements of food Christ eats:  the fish is associated with active virtue, and the honeycomb is the sweetness of divine wisdom. 

Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."  And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.  Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  And you are witnesses of these things."  Christ puts emphasis (as He did to the two apostles in the story of the road to Emmaus in yesterday's reading; see above) on the necessary condition of the Christ to both suffer and rise.   My study bible reminds us that it is only a partial faith to include one without the other.  The remission of sins, according to my study bible, refers to the putting away of sins in baptism, which is preached by St. Peter at Pentecost (see Acts 2:38).

"Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."  The Greek for endued with means to "put on" as in putting on clothing.  It is the same verb used in Ephesians 6:11, which indicates the complete protection of spiritual armor.  The word in Greek for tarry means literally to sit down, which my study bible says is an instruction not only to stay in place, but also to take rest and to prepare attentively before a great and difficult task (compare Mark 14:32).  The Promise of My Father is the Holy Spirit (see Acts 1:4). 

And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.  Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up to heaven.  And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.  Amen.   Bethany, we recall, is east of Jerusalem, and was the home of Lazarus and his sisters, Lazarus being the one whom Christ raised from the dead (see John 11).  The Ascension of Christ is celebrated forty days after the Resurrection (Acts 1:3).  My study bible notes that this event fulfills the type which was given when Elijah ascended  in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11).  This marks the completion of Christ's glorification and lordship over all creation, all of the cosmos.  At the Incarnation, my study bible says, Christ brought His divine nature to human nature.  But in the Ascension, He brings human nature into the divine Kingdom, essential to our understanding of our place in the entire order of life itself, "seen and unseen," as human beings.  My study bible says that He reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit in His glorified body, revealing His glorified human nature -- even human flesh -- to be worshiped by the whole angelic realm.  An Orthodox vespers hymn of this feast proclaims, "The angels were amazed to see a Man so exalted."  In many icons and other depictions of the Ascension, Christ's robes are tinted with red, indicating the shedding of His blood for the redemption of the world, and also the ascent of that life-giving blood into heaven (Isaiah 63:1-3; see also Psalm 24:7-10).

Our Gospel comes to an end in today's reading.  But this is not an "end" in a conventional sense, and it's not an "end" also because of the ways in which the Greek of the Gospels renders our understanding of what "end" truly means.   For in the language of the Gospels, and also in the truth of the story of the Gospel and Jesus Christ, "end" has a particular meaning.  In Luke 22:37, Jesus says that "the things concerning Me have an end."  This word for end is τελος/telos in the Greek.  Telos does not mean "end" in the sense of the English word.  Telos, rather, means "end" in the sense of fulfillment.  It is an end because it is fully completed, it has gone as far as it can go, the fullness of a drawn out process -- that means only that all the things of Christ are fulfilled.  And that "end" of Christ is Ascension, which is but a beginning, and a beginning to an infinite and absolute change that we cannot comprehensively know nor categorize, so much does it affect the very foundation of all things, including the spiritual world and the Kingdom.    Telos is an end in the sense of the aim, purpose, or goal of something.  And here we come to our sense in which this is the "end" of the story of Christ.  It begins the "end times" in which we still live, in which the Kingdom of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in the world (the Promise of My Father) continue their unfolding, and the mission of the Church.  It is the "end times" in which Christ's glorified humanity becomes a part of heaven, of the Kingdom, and the angels are astonished, for even they did not expect this kind of end -- which is in reality a new beginning which is always being fulfilled.  It is a revelation of our very natures and what they might be made for.  In the Ascension, we find the hope of Christianity, for if humanity in the person of Jesus Christ is glorified, then we, too, may follow, as He has taught us:  "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (see John 12:31-33).  Christ's Ascension as an "end" teaches us that all of our "ends" may also be but beginnings, for in Him all things are transcended.  We are not left merely with an ending, but rather a kind of infinite beginning that traverses all limitations in and of the nature given to Christ even as Jesus, in His humanity, and therefore to the rest of us.  The gift of the Holy Spirit will secure for us an infinite kind of creativity, whereby we are assured that when we are crucified by the world, when we carry our own crosses and something dies for us in our lives, whatever it may be, we still have a future -- with faith -- that we can't calculate in its possibilities.  We have a future that transcends our own expectations of limits and ends, for we are clothed with purpose, a future fulfillment, a face and identity we don't yet know (Revelation 2:17).  For the Holy Spirit and Promise of the Father becomes an infinitely creative and un-limiting force, one that connects us with a whole communion of saints, a Kingdom, and a living Way to go forward and to fulfill our true nature.  This is the nature of the life in Christ, which we secure through the communion He has given us, the Eucharist ("thanks" in Greek), and our faith -- for all of which we must be truly thankful, if we can but carry the cross to realize that any worldly end is just the start of a new beginning for us as well.  We live in this time of fulfillment.  We must remember that all good things take time; this living way is not a magic trick, but one which unfolds.  Let us continue to find its meanings and new starts -- and not to fear even its "ends."

Is it not written in your law, "I said, 'You are gods'"?

 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?'  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."  Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?  If He called them gods, to whom word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."  Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.

And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  And many believed in Him there.

- John 10:31-42

 Yesterday, we read that after Jesus healed the man blind since birth, and His interaction afterward with the leadership (see the readings of Friday and Saturday ), there was a division again among the religious leadership because of these sayings.  And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad.  Why do you listen to Him?"  Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon.  Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"  Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.  And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch.  Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt?  If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."  Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe.  The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.  But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.  I and My Father are one."

 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?'  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."   We remember that the term "the Jews" is used as a sort of political party affiliation, to denote the leadership in the temple (it is a reflection of the time in which John's Gospel was written).   The Pharisees respond to Jesus' statement, "I and the Father are one" (see yesterday's reading, above).  They clearly understand the impact and meaning of this statement, that Jesus reveals Himself as divine.  He is therefore accused of blasphemy and for this they took up stones again to stone Him (see this reading for the earlier instance).

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?  If He called them gods, to whom word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?"  My study bible says of this teaching by Jesus that people who receive God's grace in faith will partake of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and can rightly be called gods.  St. John Chrysostom paraphrased Christ as effectively saying, "If those who have received this honor by grace are not guilty for calling themselves gods, how can He who has this by nature deserve to be rebuked?"  The quotation from Scripture, "I said, 'You are gods,'" is from Psalm 82:6.

"If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."  Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.   Jesus once again cites the witness of the works He's done, such as healing the man blind since birth.  Once again, also, He escapes their arrest.  My study bible says it affirms that He goes to His Passion voluntarily and according to His own will.  They cannot arrest Him until He is ready (7:30; 8:20; see Luke 4:28-30).

And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  And many believed in Him there.   Jesus remains distant from Jerusalem and the leadership in the temple.  Once again, John's Gospel gives us the contradicting opinions among the people - and especially their difference with the leadership.  Here, many believed in Him.

Jesus' ministry takes its course.  Those who are opposed to Him are implacably opposed.  There is really nothing He can do or say that is going to change their opinion.  Their focus isn't really on God or on questions of God's representation on earth somehow.  It's on their own authority, the laws and customs they are there to uphold and to enforce.  The real question behind everything is Jesus' authority.  It's the first question He's asked after cleansing the temple.  They want to know all about how He can establish His authority, and it is this that they resist to the end.  It is this resistance that ends with repeated accusations of blasphemy.  Jesus returns repeatedly to the works He's done; for which of them do they accuse Him?  But they cannot answer the works at all.   Essentially, they are ignoring His works altogether, in order to continue their accusations of blasphemy.  As was noted after Jesus healed the man blind from birth, with the faithful (such as that healed man), faith becomes stronger with pressure and persecution -- but those who wish to deny only do so more vehemently.  It's a strange thing about allegiances.  In Jesus' terms, everything is about a basic kind of love -- what we love the most.  It all depends on where our true heart is.  He claims that if these people had known His Father, they would know Him, because He is sent by the Father.  But they cannot hear His words, and they don't want to.  They have other priorities that are more important to them.  I think it's important to understand that there are all kinds of ways we may hide our real motivations, even from ourselves.  It is why Christianity has traditionally prized humility as the greatest of the virtues.  Humility is our best bet for remaining honest with ourselves, and for truly examining our motivations and interests, and what "love" we put first in life.  So much depends upon honesty, not fooling ourselves about ourselves.  Love and truth, where Christ is concerned, go hand in hand.  They are inseparable and both are qualities of God.  Prayer is a way to keep ourselves humble, used effectively.  Forgiveness is another way.  Both are done in dialogue with God, "giving up" the things that get in the way of faith, and our first true love that sets right all the others.  How do you truly love the Lord who leads you to love itself?

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

 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 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 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 . . .  In the Synoptic Gospels, the Last Supper takes place on the day the Passover lambs are killed.  In John's Gospel, the killing of the lambs takes place at the same moment Jesus, Lamb of God, dies.   My study bible says, "The Mystical Supper is the fulfillment of the Passover meal (the synoptic tradition), and Christ's death is the fulfillment of the Passover lambs being slain (John's tradition)."

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.  Luke 22:8 says these two disciples are Peter and John.

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 says that Christ emphasizes both that His betrayer is one of the twelve and that he is one who dips with Me in the dish -- not so much to identify the person but again (as in yesterday's reading) to emphasize the level of betrayal, committed by a person who is one of his closest friends (see Psalm 55:12-14).

"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."    While divine foreknowledge in prophecy may prepare for something, a note reminds us here that it doesn't take away Judas' moral freedom nor his accountability.  It says, "For God, all things are a present reality; He 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."  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.  The Greek for "gave thanks" has as its root eucharist (Greek ευχαριστεσας).  My study bible tells us that this immediately became the word used to refer both to the Liturgy and the sacrament of Holy Communion.  Even the Didache, said to be the teachings of the apostles, and written before the end of the first century, 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 tells us, "This is my body," and "this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many."   There are varied doctrines on the Eucharist, but most agree that by His words and affirmation, we know that He is present in the Communion, distributed to each and shapes the Church.  Just as Christ's birth as Incarnate Jesus remains a Mystery via the Spirit,  so the Mystery of how the Eucharist works and happens isn't really explainable but rather the work of God via prayer.  He is "our Sacrifice" given for us, and remains perpetually so.  For this gift and all that it means and brings always, we are ever thankful.

The hymn sung by Christ and the Apostles at the end of the Last Supper is a psalm from a group of psalms traditionally sung after the Passover meal (Psalms 116-118).  If we take a good look at those psalms they are all about the great mercy of the Lord, given in many ways and particularly in each psalm, on many levels.  As so often works in Scripture, and particularly those words from Scripture which are uttered by Christ, we have in these psalms a great expression of the Eucharist, the mercy and love of the Lord for which we always "give thanks."   As individuals, He hears our voice and our supplications, He inclines His ear to each of us.  In trouble and sorrow, we call upon the name of the Lord.  He saves us and deals bountifully with each.  Psalm 116 asks, "What shall I give back to the Lord for all He rendered to me?  I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord."  This is what we do in the Eucharist, we offer His gifts back to Him.  He blesses them and offers them back again to us.  Psalm 117 tells us, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; Praise Him, all you peoples, for His mercy rules over us; and the truth of the Lord endures forever."  Psalm 118 proclaims, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever" (my italics).  We call it "the Last Supper" but it's only "last" in the sense that it perpetually unites us with the end of the age, that which is beyond what we know, the fullness of His Return and His promise to do so.  It is "the eighth day" in His presence with us, the day of the eternal life of His new covenant, for which He's given Himself as our sacrifice.  Jesus says, "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."  The eternal promise is that we will be there with Him, that His mystical presence is with us.   Let us be truly thankful, and rely on His mercy!  Let us note that He sits at table "in the presence of His enemy" who was His friend, but still the "cup runs over."  So it is in our lives, even in the midst of trouble.