Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my meditation today is, "My Father and Your Father." I read from John 20: 11-18 (NLT). All Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation and are used with permission.
11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
16 “Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
Of the four gospels, only Matthew and John record actual words spoken by Jesus on Resurrection Sunday. This brief account by John is more personal and records a conversation between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. He entrusts her with the following message, "…But go find my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Why might Jesus add "your Father" and "your God" to His message? Jesus had just spent three years in a 24/7 relationship with His apostles, and they observed that Jesus had a similar type of 24/7 relationship with His Father. Now that He is returning to the Father, Jesus wants to assure them they would now have a Father-Son relationship with His Father too. From this day forward, God would not only be the Lord God; He would be my God to all who believed in the Son. Jesus knew that His death on the cross would be the final sacrifice for sin for humankind. At the same time, He knew He would usher in a new relationship between God and man that was no longer severed by sin. We take delight in bringing honor to our earthly fathers on Father's Day. Likewise, we take delight in bringing honor to our heavenly Father. We bring Him honor when we honor His Son. One of the ways we honor His Son is when we meet together to partake of the bread and drink from the cup to remember the death of Jesus on the cross. 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. We are so blessed to have You as our Father and our God. We know our new relationship was made possible by the death of Your Son, Jesus, on the cross. He made all things right. Today, we bring the honor due to You by remembering Your Son, Jesus, as we partake of the bread and drink from the cup. 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, "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his 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, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. 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!