Reading:
Matthew 26:20-35
Take, eat...Drink of it, all of you.
During these last weeks of the Christian year, the lectionary guides us through end times issues. Our Lord throughout the Gospel of Matthew uses different parables to explain His return. In today's lesson our Lord is leaving to His Church the most blessed gift that He could give to them...His very Body and Blood.
Jesus knew that He was going to be betrayed as discussed in v. 21. He had His face set stedfastly to go to Jerusalem where He knew that He was going to die and offer Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. But He wanted to give this gift to the Church.
In the Sacrament of the Altar, Jesus comes to the us today. He is there under the veil of bread and wine to give to us His very Body and Blood for the strengthening of our faith and the forgiveness of sins. This covenant was not being sealed with the blood of goats and other animals that only pointed to Jesus, but rather it was being sealed with the Blood of Jesus Christ Himself. This is what we partake of every time we come to Holy Communion. We hear the Pastor tell us the words, given and shed for YOU! This is sealing you into God's covenant and assuring you of God's grace and favor towards you because of Jesus Christ.
"O Lord, in this wondrous Sacrament You have left us a remembrance of Your passion. Grant that we may so receive the sacred mystery of Your body and blood that the fruits of Your redemption my continually be manifest in us; for You live and reign with the Father and Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen"
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