The Body and Blood of Christ

Gospel Reading: Mark 14:12-16; 22-26

12 On the first day of the Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to Jesus, 'Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the passover?'

13 So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 'Go into the city and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him,

14 and say to the owner of the house which he enters, 'The Master says: Where is my dining room in which I can eat the passover with my disciples?'

15 He will show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make the preparations for us there.'

16 The disciples set out and went to the city and found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover.

22 And as they were eating he took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. 'Take it/ he said 'this is my body.'

23 Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks, he gave it to them, and all drank from it,

24 and he said to them, 'This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many.

25 I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.'

26 After psalms had been sung, they left for the Mount of Olives.

Gospel Meditation

We can approach this passage from two perspectives. On the one hand, it can help us celebrate the gift of the Holy Eucharist as told in St Mark; on the other, we can let the special way St Mark tells the story of the Last Supper help us reflect on the symbolism of the sacrament.

Verses 12 to 16 tell the story of how Jesus prepared for the feast. The apostles asked him , 'Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the passover?' Jesus7 answer gives us a context which will help us understand how the Last Supper fits into our own lives.

The Supper was part of a passover meal; it was not some­thing that happened by chance. It took place in the context of the great feast. This feast has given Jesus' Last Supper a special place in our Christian lives. We must be aware of this.

These verses also give us an insight into Jesus' way of operat­ing. He had friends everywhere, even in places like Jerusalem. He could rely on them. Indeed he depended on them to provideall that was needed to celebrate the great feast of the passover.

St Mark is stressing here a version of the Last Supper which is in continuation with the account presented by the Book of Exodus. We can therefore apply some of the points made there to our cel­ebration of the Eucharist.

In verses 22 to 24 we meditate on St Mark's account of the events, and we avoid focusing on the other accounts, or allow­ing them to influence our meditation. The author notes that Jesus took the bread 'while they were eating'. This reminds us that in its original form the Eucharist had a place in people's or­dinary lives.

After saying the blessing, Jesus broke the bread, then said 'take it' and added, 'this is my body'. We need to reflect on this, the body of Christ which we receive in the Eucharist is his real body. It is the one we venerate in our daily lives, the one we re­late with in our normal aspirations and desires, the one we meet in all our difficulties.

In the following verse we see that Jesus had already 're­turned thanks' when he said the next words. After they had drunk the wine, he told them, 'this is my blood'.

Here again, we have a definite statement - this is blood of Christ. Everything we believe about his blood we can now say of the Eucharist. We re­late to it as we would normally do for his blood, remembering all our instincts about what blood is intended for.

Jesus adds that this blood is that 'of his covenant' and we must take some time to meditate on this. The blood of the covenant was what united people with their God and made them one.

It is said that the blood 'is to be poured out for many'. This has made a deep impression on our Christian life. It refers first of all to the many people who will be touched by the Eucharist -Christians of every denomination who feel that their God cares for them wherever they are.

It also includes all of humanity; all human beings will be affected by this teaching in some way or other. It will make them more conscious that God is close to them, that he follows them in every mood and in every atmos­phere.

We must look at verse 25 very specially. It is unique to St Mark. We must ask ourselves, starting from our own experience, why did Jesus say these words. They are clearly there to make the link between what happened at the Last Supper and what happens in heaven. This is an aspect of the Eucharist which we tend to neglect. Here we are invited to remember it.

Feel the drama of verse 26. Jesus clearly wanted to link the events of the supper with what happened afterwards. He took the decision to go out in the company of his disciples. He would do this resolutely, with two goals in mind.

The first was to con­front the reality of God who was asking him to sacrifice his life on the mountain. The second was to confront Judas and his newly accepted adversaries from the Roman Empire. He would now meet them on the Mount of Olives.

Both these things are powerful reminders to us that we need to link what happens at the Eucharist with the reality of our lives later on. They will have many applications for the centuries of the Eucharist which followed. They should always be there to protect us against false interpretations.

Prayer

Lord, on this great feast we thank you for the times when we gather as disciples to celebrate your Passover, and you are present with us, saying Take and eat, this is my body,' then saying This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.'

'No one takes my life from me; I lay it down of my own free will,
and as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up
again.'
John 10:18

Lord, when things are going wrong for us, we panic, we act as if we are no longer in control.
We thank you for people like Jesus.
Even as he entered Jerusalem, knowing that there he faced the hostility of many and that they were determined to put him to death, he remained in control of his destiny.
He knew that he had friends in that hostile city and could plan the celebration of the Passover.
Lord, a time comes in life when we have to give ourselves as spouses, parents, church ministers, public servants.
We have to say to those we serve, 'Here, take it, this is my body'; we have to say, "Here, this is my blood, the sign of the covenant between us;
I am pouring it out for you and through you for many others’
Lord, you always seem to send us friends who stand by us in difficult times.
We quarrel among ourselves, they let us down from time to time, but the meals we share in times of crisis seal a sacred covenant between us, so that we can leave together for our Mount of Olives.

'There will have to be an incubation of the Christian mystery in the originality of your people, so that in the future its native voice, clearer and more sure, may join in harmony with the various voices of the uni­versal church.'
Pope Paul VI to the Bishops of Africa in Uganda, 1969

Lord, your will continues to be that every community of disciples should eat the body and drink the blood of your incarnate Word, so that they may experience the Covenant in a new way,never again to be content with the old, as they drink the new wine of your kingdom.

Do you really wish to pay homage to Christ's Body? Then do not ne­glect him when he is naked. At the same time that you honour him here with hangings made of silk, do not ignore him outside when he perishes from cold and in nakedness. For the one who said, 'This is my body' also said 'When I was hungry, you gave me nothing to eat.'
John Chrysostom

Lord, remind us always that when Jesus tells u 'Take it, this is my body' he is also speaking of the poor  whom we meet on our life's journey,and when he says,'This is my blood which is to be poured out for many’ he is also speaking of those who suffer innocently today.

'If humankind on this planet has a future, then theology and religious institutions have to collaborate in promoting communities of prayer,
understanding and redemptive praxis.'
Matthew Lamb, theologian

Lord, we pray that church communities today may live again the experience of the Last Supper, becoming communities where members give their body and blood in the service of one another and of all men and women, where they dream of the day when they will drink new wine in your kingdom, and where, having sung their psalms, they will go out together to confront the world.