Knowledge of Jesus: Day Two

Agnus Dei with Vexillum, photo of stained glass by Rebecca Kennison

Day twenty eight at Fish Eaters.

Day twenty eight at The Catholic Company.

Today's reading is selected from chapter 26 of the Gospel according to Matthew. It's the lead up to the passion of Christ. The Passover supper with Jesus and his disciples is the Last Supper wherein Jesus changes the bread and wine into his Body and his Blood. It is the institution of the Eucharist, a sacrament of the Church ("The Eucharist is 'the source and summit of the Christian life,'" CCC 1324). Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with him to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prays,

My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. (Mt 26:39)

Jesus unites his human will to the divine will of the Father, carrying out the prayer he taught to his disciples, "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It is a joining of many themes throughout Scripture to this moment: the suffering servant in Isaiah, the ram offered in place of Isaac in Genesis, the sacrificial offerings by Abel and Melchizedek in Genesis, the sacrifice of lambs and the blood of the lambs on doorposts in Exodus, and many more. The Shepherd becomes one with the sheep he shepherds and the Paschal Lamb who is sacrificed to save them.

The first move is that God comes down to unite with us to give us life, and we should unite our lives with him. "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mk 8:34).