Matthew 26:14–27:66

Meditatio (Reflecting)

Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.

Oratio (Responding)

Todays gospel is the narrative of the passion of our lord, It takes 20 minutes to read through. There is enough material here to write a book, and in-fact many books have been written covering just this. I would like to focus on the cups of the passover. Scott Hahn in his book “the fourth cup” he breaks down the cups of the passover and the cups in jesus’ passover on the eve of his passion. The jewish passover meal consisted of a family getting together to have a meal of a roasted lamb, and 4 cups of wine that were imbibed at different times of the seder meal. Each cup was drunk after a prayer remembering the four expressions of deliverance promised by God “I will bring out,” “I will deliver,” “I will redeem,” and “I will take.” Jesus participates fully in the first 3 cups and only partially of the 4th. In the readings today we hear of Jesus drinking the 3rd cup and then they left the upper room singing the Hallel psalms. The Hallel psalms are the last prayer that is sung before the 4th cup is drunk. So we know that he did not finish the passover. Why is this. Well we must reflect back on what the original passover was about. It was about the lord saving his people so that they could pray and worship in the way that God intended. God did not save them ONLY because they were enslaved, but mostly because Pharaoh was not allowing them to worship according to jewish tradition. Remember Moses’ first requests was for a day free from work to go out into the desert to worship. Freedom from slavery to Pharaoh was only suggested after all of the other requests and plagues were rejected. It was always about freedom to worship. Pharaoh’s refusal of all of the requests and obstinance in the face of all the plagues is what caused the passover, and the exodus. It was not what Moses wanted. So with that in mind, we fast-forward to jesus at the passover dinner. This passover was not a normal passover, Jesus as a new Moses, is creating a new passover, and a new exodus. This time the Pharaoh is us, and the obstinance is our attachment to sin. The passover meal is the institution of the holy eucharist, and the exodus is about freedom from death due to sin. Jesus leaves the upper room before the 4th cup is consumed, because for Him, His new passover was not over, the sacrifice is not complete, because in this new passover, Jesus is the lamb of this sacrifice, and his crucifixion on the cross is how this lamb is to die. The institution of the eucharist is the new meal to be consumed, and the passover is God saving us from His hatred of sin. Those of us that partake in this new passover meal of the eucharist at the holy mass, are then saved from god’s wrath against sin, and preserved from the judgement by which we should rightly be judged. So finally we come to the foot of the cross, right before His death. Jesus says “i thirst” and the soldiers give him a sponge with a cheap wine and he takes a sip. This marks the end of His new passover, the 4th cup has been drunk…, but not fully. The new tradition has been started, and it will sustain us until the end of days when Jesus returns. It is then that all of the faithful will be gathered in with him in heaven, and then we will have a feast unlike anything we could imagine, and then we will all drink of that 4th cup fully, together for all eternity. The story of salvation is one of the most amazing things you will ever study, and it is the source of all goodness truth, and beauty. In this short passage I have only scratched the surface of this amazing story, It can truly take a lifetime to explore it all, but that is the reason we were given the time we have, so that we can come to know and love the lord better. It is an amazing journey, I invite you to explore it all for yourself, it will change everything in your life, and bring you that peace that surpasses all understanding. It is an amazing journey.

Contemplatio (Contemplating)

Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.

Resolutio (Resolving)

Oh lord, help me today to share your word with another, and open up the mystery of your amazing word. Amen.