The Last Meal of Jesus Mk 14:12-25

GOSPEL OF MARK SERIES.

The Bible: Gospel of Mark icon.

During 2019, each week, I will write a weekly post about the Gospel of Mark, as I review and explore each of the 16 chapters and how it may be applied in our daily lives. If you are following this series for the first time, you will find this series under Scripture- New Testament- Gospel of Mark. 

Click here to read the first post in the series. I have written this series in different years (2012, 2015, 2018) with some irregularity, but am determined to complete this series this year since I am more than half way through this Gospel.

My goal is to understand and pray the Gospel of Mark. I hope you will join me on this journey as we travel through the liturgical season.  In today's post we explore chapter 14:12 -25 which is called The Last Meal with His Disciples

THE LAST MEAL WITH HIS DISCIPLES. (14:12-25). 

Mark presents the last meal of Jesus with His disciples as a Passover meal of thanksgiving, and tells the story of its preparation as a way similar to the preparation for the entry intro Jerusalem. (11:1-6).  Marks says nothing explicitly of the killing of a lamb and the other things needed for a Passover meal.

In the evening when they take their places around the table, Jesus announces in strong language ‘’truly( amen), I say to you’, that one of the twelves eating with Him will betray Him.

This last meal of Jesus with His disciples is framed before and after, by their infidelity.  He speaks first of His betrayal by one of them and later of the public denial of Him by another.  Jesus is not threatening His disciples, but emphasising the unfaithfulness among His close followers who gather to eat with Him at the same table.

The last of meal of Jesus reaches its climax in the ritual actions of Jesus with bread and wine taken from the table.  These gestures of Jesus and His accompanying words have been recognised from the earliest years of Christ faith as the institution of the Christian Eucharist or thanksgiving meal.

Jesus took some bread from the table, said a prayer of praise to God over the bread, and then broke it for His disciples to eat.  He told them that this eating together was the visual embodiment of His own person in the world.  Then He did the same with a c up of wine, which He called own blood fo the covenant (ex 24:8) to be poured out by Him for all.

At the end of the meal Jesus emphatically assures the twelves that He will eat with them again in a new manner, when the Kingdom of God has come, that is, when God show the fullness of His power in glory.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In our journal and/or our discussion group we may wish to reflect on this passage as follows:

• Name the key points that you have learnt about the person of Jesus in this passage of scripture?

• Imagine that you are the disciples- What do you see and hear and feel. What can I learn from this?
• Imagine sitting at the table with Jesus and being told that you are going to betray Him. hat do you feel?
• Imagine being the one of the disciples watching and listening to the action of Jesus at the meal. What questions do I want to bring to Jesus? 
•  What is reading the Gospel passage with the eyes and ears of disciple mean to me?

• How does Jesus make clear His teaching to me in this passage?
• Consider a situation in your life today where the teaching of Jesus needs to be applied. Why is it difficult to be challenged on a long-held view and be open to viewing it differently? 

• Consider how much my faith means to me especially related to the Mass and what does my faithfulness/unfaithfulness to my church/parish mean to me and others?

• What are the areas in my life I need to bring to Jesus in the light of this teaching?
  
  
• Am I willing to look into myself with honesty and ask how much do I grasp what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus in the light of this teaching? 

Collect for 16th Sunday Year C

COLLECT SERIES. 

COLLECT

THE MASS: COLLECT SERIES ICON.

The Collect for the  16^TH Sunday of the Year C reads as follows:

Show favour O Lord to your servants and mercifully increase the gifts of Your grace,

That, made fervent in hope, faith and charity,

They may be ever watchful in keeping Your commands.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

One God, for ever and ever.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS. 

In making this prayer tangible for during the week, the following reflection questions emerged:

1.    Name the areas of your life/incidents that God has shown you favour?

2.    Have you thanked God for these areas of favour?

3.    What areas of your life need God’s favour?

4.    Why I do need the gifts of God’s grace?

5.    Do I know the commands/commandments of God?

6.    How will be ever more watchful in keeping the commands/commandments of God?

GOSPEL REFLECTION.

Today’s Gospel is the story of Martha and Mary.  It is not a story of either or but a story of both.  This is great news.  There is a Martha in all of us- one who gets things done, an organiser, one who makes things happen.  However sometimes that Martha forgets that she needs to be like Mary- to find balance and listen to Jesus.

Jesus is not saying of course that Mary should not help Martha and that she can sit back and do nothing.  So for the Mary in us who might wish for someone else to do the work, to volunteer to help as we sit back and watch others.  No, this is not what is meant here by Jesus.

However what Jesus is really saying is that we should not allow the work to be first in our lives- rather allow Him to be first and then by listening and being at peace with Him, we will then have things in right order- God first and then work/life but it will be work/life with Him not work/life without Him.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Maybe you can relate to this Gospel when you think of busy time at work. You are under pressure to meet a deadline. Your boss is pushing to get something done.  Maybe you get up early to do work on it. Maybe you  go to bed late working on it.  It may be necessary but if you stop to think- did you bring Jesus into this situation. Did you ask His help, His assistance- did you even mention this task that you need to do or that has to be done.  Sometimes, we can forget and get so distracted by the tasks that we do not stop to be like Mary and bring our concern, our task, our life to Jesus and allow Him to bring balance to it.

Let us be a Mary this week and sit before Jesus with our lives.

Allow Jesus to create right balance of God first and then us and our lives.

Eternal Promises.

REFLECTION AND PRAYER SERIES.

My reflection and prayer series is about sharing reflections and Prayers which have impacted upon me and have provided food for thought. I hope that they will also nurture your soul and spirit.

My Scripture reflection is 

''Unless the Lord builds the House, its builders labour in vain” 
(Ps 127:1)

Christ The Redeemer.

My post is called:

                                                              Eternal Promises.

Let me build my house of life

upon eternal promises

The Word of God, which will not fail

in storm or discontent.

Preparation of the Gifts Part 2

ABOUT THE MASS SERIES.

The Mass: About the Mass Series Vol 2.

The Mass follows the rhythm of the celebration of the Last Supper. Three parts are distinguished in it: the bringing of the bread and the wine to the altar, the prayer of thanksgiving, and the distribution of Communion. The General Instructions of the Roman Missal (2007) said: 

‘1. At the Preparation of the Gifts, the bread and the wine with water are brought to the altar, the same elements that Christ took into his hands.

2. In the Eucharistic Prayer, thanks are given to God for the whole work of salvation, and the offerings become the Body and Blood of Christ.

3. Through the fraction and through Communion, the faithful, though they are many, receive from the one bread the Lord’s Body, and from the one chalice the Lord’s Blood in the same way the Apostles received them from Christ’s own hands’. (p.27).

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE.

Historically, an ancient custom of the Church was that the people provided the bread and wine for the Eucharist. In the 3^rd century in Rome, the deacons carried and presented to the bishop the gifts brought by the people from the special tables in the transepts of the Basilicas. By the 7^th Century, the Pope received the bread from the aristocracy; his assistants collected bread from the people. As the Roman Liturgy spread to other lands, this rite became a true procession of all the people who brought bread and wine, and also at times oil, candles, wheat, grapes and other items of precious value to them.  Since this procession was a counterpart of the communion procession in which the transformed bread and wine were received back, those who presented gifts were expected to receive the Eucharist.    

However, with the decrease in the number of communicants, as well as the change from the leavened to unleavened bread in the 9^th century, contributed to the gradual disappearance of the procession, and from the 11^th century the presentation of bread and wine by the people was replaced by the giving of money.  

CURRENT PERSPECTIVE.

Since Vatican 11, the procession has been restored in a simple form, as representatives of the congregation bring up the bread and wine together with other gifts for the poor or for the Church.    

    

The logistics of the ‘taking up of the collection’ varies from parish to parish.  Some parishes only have one collection, whilst others have two collections.  When there is one collection, it mainly consists of contributors using Thanksgiving envelopes.  These envelopes are divided into Priests Offering on one side and Thanksgiving envelope on the other side.    Whether there are one or two collections, it is appropriate that the collection is taken up at this time.    

The Annointing at Bethany Mk 14:1-11

GOSPEL OF MARK SERIES.

The Bible: Gospel of Mark icon.

During 2019, each week, I will write a weekly post about the Gospel of Mark, as I review and explore each of the 16 chapters and how it may be applied in our daily lives. If you are following this series for the first time, you will find this series under Scripture- New Testament- Gospel of Mark. 

Click here to read the first post in the series. I have written this series in different years (2012, 2015, 2018) with some irregularity, but am determined to complete this series this year since I am more than half way through this Gospel.

My goal is to understand and pray the Gospel of Mark. I hope you will join me on this journey as we travel through the liturgical season.  In today's post we explore chapter 14:1 -11 which is called The Anointing at Bethany.

THE ANOINTING AT BETHANY.

The story of the suffering and death of Jesus begins with his anointing. It is done during a meal at Bethany by an unnamed woman.  Bethany was a village close to Jerusalem, at the top of the Mount of Olives on its eastern side.

The act of the woman at the beginning of the story of the passion of Jesus parallels the devotion of the women at the end.  After watching His death and burial, women come to anoint the body of Jesus (16:1-8).  The faithfulness of women frames the unfaithfulness of men in the passion story.

In the woman’s gesture, Jesus is symbolically proclaimed as the anointed one, or the Messiah of God. With thoughts of His approaching death before Him, Jesus points to a further depth of meaning in what the woman has done.  Neither she nor the others could have understood the full significance of her action as an anointing for His burial.

Jesus strong affirms that her act will later be remembered wherever the gospel of His death and resurrection proclaimed by His disciples. (14:9).

The story of the woman’s act of faithfulness is framed between the plot of the priests and scribes to kill Jesus (14:1-2) and the unfaithfulness of Judas, one of the twelve (14:10-11).

The lack of understanding in those present, apparently disciples and friends, is mentioned.  Some grumble at what they consider to be a waste of money. The cost of such a jar of ointment, at three hundred denarii, was about one year’s wages of an ordinary worker.

Many think the whole passion narrative was the first part of the story of Jesus to be told or written down in the first Christian communities, so that the events of chapters 14-16 may have existed as some kind of continuous story before Mark put it into his Gospel. It is good to remember that the evangelists were inspired by the Holy Spirit as they wrote too.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS.

In our journal and/or our discussion group we may wish to reflect on this passage as follows:

• Name the key points that you have learnt about the person of Jesus in this passage of scripture?

• Imagine that you are the disciples- What do you see and hear and feel. What can I learn from this?
• Imagine being the woman anointing Jesus being aware of what others around thought of you and the anointing. What did she feel an why did she stay focused on her task?

·         Imagine being the one of the disciples listening to Jesus about His teaching. What questions do I want to bring to Jesus? 

·         What is reading the Gospel passage with the eyes and ears of disciple mean to me?

• How does Jesus make clear His teaching to me in this passage?
  
  

·         Consider a situation in your life today where the teaching of Jesus needs to be applied. Why is it difficult to be challenged on a long-held view and be open to viewing it differently?

• Consider how much my faith means to me and what does my faithfulness/unfaithfulness to my church/parish mean to me and others?

• What are the areas in my life I need to bring to Jesus in the light of this teaching?
  
  
• Am I willing to look into myself with honesty and ask how much do I grasp what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus in the light of this teaching? 

Collect for 15th Sunday of Year C

COLLECT SERIES

 

THE MASS: COLLECT SERIES ICON.

COLLECT

The Collect for the 15th Sunday of the Year reads as follows:

O God who show the light of Your truth to those who go astray,

So that they may return to the right path,

Give all who for the faith they profess are accounted Christians

The grace to reject what is contrary to the name of Christ

And to strive after all that does it honour.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son

Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

One God, for ever and ever.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS.

In making this prayer tangible for during the week, the following reflection questions emerged:

1.What does the light of God’s truth mean to me?

2. How do I go astray from the light of God’s truth?

3. How can I return to the right path this week?

4. What is contrary to the name of Christ?

5. How will I do God’s name honour this week?

6. Why do I profess myself to be a Christian and am I a light of Christ to others?

GOSPEL REFLECTION.

The Gospel today of the Good Samaritan brings to play a number of points to consider.

Firstly, those who passed on the other side good people, even people of faith. However, they lacked a very important ingredient. Sadly, they thought of their own needs first and were not prepared to give of their time, resources and effort. They were not prepared to stop and think of someone else first.

The Good Samaritan did give not only his money (resources) but his time and effort. He gave out of love for his fellow human being. He understood the expression ‘’ there but the grace of God go I’’.  He not only gave out of love for his fellow human being but because He loved God and wanted to express His love for him.

Most people are not wealthy and often living from pay check to pay check.  Financially, things can even be incredibly tight.  However, even if and when we cannot give financially, we can give of our time and our effort out of love for God and our fellow human beings.  Time is a precious commodity and time is money in many cases.

How many times are we like the Good Samaritan or how many times are we like those who would not help?  How can we live out this Gospel this coming week? Why not discuss it in the family and see how you, as a family can implement it.

Here is one example: A young child may be untidy in his/her room.  Someone else is picking up after him/her after he/she plays with the toys.  Provide your child with the skills to put the toys away after she has played.  Putting them away for him is quicker but does not teach the child how to put toys away in the box. Set realistic tasks for the child to achieve but teach him/her that putting them away is helping mum/dad who provided the toys and in putting them away without grumbling is showing them that they love you and love God. God provided you as adults with the resources to buy the toys for the child to enjoy.

Here is another example: There is a colleague at work who is struggling to do a task.  He/she does not have the skill set yet to do the task.  Are you going to allow this colleague to continue to struggle and walk on the other side- blind in your heart to the need of your colleague?   You could do this or you could be like the Good Samaritan and give of your time to show your colleague what to do and how to do the task. You could give some of your skill set as gift to this person. You could give your effort to help this person.

Remember whatever we have been given is from God to use. We can show God our gratitude by thanking Him and by using the gifts He has given us. When we use our time, our effort, our skills to help someone else, we are showing God that we love Him and we are honouring Him.

Give financially, give time, give skills, give of your efforts- why… God gave first to me-to you. Let us honour Him and love Him by loving others especially when they are in need.  The need may be small but the gift in God’s eyes is great because we have given out of love for Him and honoured Him.

Who will YOU be a Good Samaritan to this week?

Resting in God's Promises

REFLECTION AND PRAYER SERIES.

My reflection and prayer series is about sharing reflections and Prayers which have impacted upon me and have provided food for thought. I hope that they will also nurture your soul and spirit.

My Scripture reflection is 

''The Lord will keep you from all harm-

He will watch over your life”
(Psalm 121:7)

Christ The Redeemer.

My post is called:

                                                             Resting in God’s promises. 

We can rest within God’s care-

He doesn’t slumber.

We can wait, for all His promises are true,

We can count on His safekeeping-

He’s our Shepherd.

And what the Lord has promised, He will do.