From the first moment, Jesus’ disciples understood that their last Passover dinner with Jesus was not an ordinary meal. Not only was it a moment of farewell, but it was also there that Jesus dictated his final Will before his death. A Will often carries instructions on the future use of the property of a person, after his death. Jesus, in his final Will, dictated through the images of bread and wine, gives away all that he possessed — his blood and his body — his whole person. A Will gets legal sanctity after the death of the author of the Will. And this bread and wine shared will be a sign of the New Covenant that God was going to make with humanity.
The concept of a covenant between God and his people was nothing new to the disciples. All the Jews were familiar with this concept because they had read about it in the scripture that God had entered into covenant with their forefathers. God had entered into covenant with Abraham and Moses. Covenants are signed with blood to show the weight of the commitment they are entering into. Hence, in the Old Testament covenants, the blood of the animal was used to mark the contract. But the people were unfaithful and soon broke those covenants.
Now Jesus speaks of a New Covenant. But this time, it would not be signed with the blood of an animal, but with the blood of Jesus himself. And they realised that that last Passover meal with Jesus was a key moment in Jesus’ life and theirs. The events that have taken place during this supper would never be forgotten. The disciples would repeat the act of sharing the bread and wine as a constant reminder for them of the Will of the Master, that he is truly present with us in Body and Blood.
Today, we continue to celebrate that supper, where we repeat the words of Jesus about the bread and wine that has become a living sign of God’s love for us. In the Mass, God makes us all brothers and sisters. He invites us to live in love and justice, to make peace among ourselves and to work for peace in the world.
The bread that is Christ and the chalice of his blood create a community of “blood-relatives” with Christ and with each other, to constitute the new people whose only law is the service of their brothers and sisters to the point of giving their own lives as “food” to satisfy every form of human hunger. Here we meet as brothers and sisters and no one feels excluded, because we are all God’s children. And we give thanks to God because, in Jesus, God has freed us from death and sin.
For your reflection
Is the celebration of Mass a joyful occasion to meet the brothers and sisters? Or do I try to escape it because it is a boring and meaningless rite?
In the early Christian communities, baptism was administered in the name of Jesus. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, turned to the people and urged them to repent and be baptised “in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven” (Acts 2:38). The custom of baptising in the name of the Trinity was introduced later. It is the formula that Matthew puts in the mouth of the Risen One. It reflects the liturgical practice of the second half of the first century A.D.
The scene told in today’s passage is set on a mountain in Galilee (v.16). The mountain, in biblical language, indicates the location of the revelations of God. And the invitation is to climb the ‘mountain’. It is not to climb ‘a’ mountain. It is not a material mountain. If you do not climb the mountain, if you stay on the plain, you can be an admirer of Jesus, consider him an extraordinary person, who has made sublime life proposals, who has died on the cross … but then we stay there.
If we do not go up that mountain and we do not start to live the Beatitudes at his side, together with him, we will never fall in love with Jesus. That’s why the need to climb that mountain. This is the first mountain. First live the beatitudes of the one who donates all his goods, who is in love with justice.
The second mountain is that of the Transfiguration. You have to climb that mountain. It is there where you will see the true identity of Jesus. The one in his loincloth of the slave, who washes the feet of the disciples, but now is seen on the mountain, in his royal glory.
God is a mystery of love. He has revealed himself to us as a love that creates and liberates that offers us happiness.
In Jesus, God has made us his children; he has made us members of his family, heirs of his grace. Just as Jesus has entered into the glory of the resurrection, we too are promised a share in his glory. That is why the Spirit of God makes us cry out “Abbá”, as Paul says in the letter to the Romans.
God has shown himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Beyond our understanding and our ideas, with our hearts we understand and experience that God is love. He is love between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And he is love for each one of us. God is love and can do nothing but love. There is no other way to understand him than by loving.
For your reflection
If living as a Christian is to love as God loves, how do I love those around me? Do I love them as God loves me? What do I do to prevent hate, resentment, violence—anything that is opposed to love—from being present in my life?
Father Fernando Torres CMF
www.ciudadredonda.org
Translated by
Father Alberto Rossa CMF
