Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my meditation today is "My Beloved, Who Pleases Me." I read from Matthew 12: 15-21 (NLT). All quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission.
15 But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them, 16 but he warned them not to reveal who he was. 17 This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him:
18 “Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen.
He is my Beloved, who pleases me.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not fight or shout
or raise his voice in public.
20 He will not crush the weakest reed
or put out a flickering candle.
Finally he will cause justice to be victorious.
21 And his name will be the hope
of all the world.”
The "they" in verse 15 are the Pharisees. Following several encounters with Jesus in which He disagreed with their interpretation of what was permissible on the Sabbath, the Pharisees had called a meeting to plot how to kill Him. Jesus, on the other hand, continued to minister to the people, healing all the sick among them. To demonstrate the stark contrast between the Pharisees and Jesus, Matthew quotes from the Holy Spirit's inspired words to Isaiah. In sum, Isaiah tells us Jesus is the one whom God prefers, that He chose Him and poured out His Spirit upon Him, and His name will be the hope of all the world. But what is the justice that Jesus proclaims that will be victorious in the end? I can only conclude from the context of the chapter that the justice has to do with the decision people make with respect to who Jesus is. Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God and put their faith in Him will be saved. Those who do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and reject Him will be condemned. This is fair as God offers to all the opportunity to weigh the evidence and make a personal decision. No one can make this decision for you or force their will upon you! God's message is perfectly clear as told to us by His Son, Jesus, "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3: 16 NLT). When it came to the redemption of humankind, God made no exceptions. The penalty of sin is death, and because all humankind has sinned (Romans 3:23), all humankind must die. But because of His great mercy and grace, God permitted His Son, Jesus, to die in our place so that we might live. This gift of grace is not automatically applied like a coupon at checkout. We must confess with our mouths before men & women that we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, accept Him as our Savior, and obey His commandments. Assembling today to partake of the bread and drink from the cup is not one of Jesus's commands; it is His polite request that we might remember how He suffered, died, and was resurrected to life for us. Let us pray.
Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Abba, Father, as we read these accounts of Jesus' ministry, our hearts ache with the opposition He experienced, culminating with condemnation by His own people, and torture and death at the hands of the Roman Empire. Few would be willing to persevere under those conditions, choosing instead to leave their opposers to their own self determined fates! But that is not what Jesus did. He walked the walk up until the very end, such as His love was for us. Jesus is Your beloved, who pleases You, even to this day as He waits patiently for Your command to return to Earth and take us home. We so need to partake of the bread and drink from the cup because we need to remember Your Son, Jesus, and what He did on our behalf. These brief moments in communion with Your Son, Jesus, helps to shut out the noise of the world and focus on what is most important. In His name I pray. Amen.
Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26: 26-28 (NLT).
26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.
27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.
And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"
Until next time, from Numbers 6: 24-26, "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."
Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories. The benefit of creating an account in one of the directory apps, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart, is that you can add this podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. I do not receive compensation of any kind when you download and listen to my podcast. Please note there is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!