Read Matthew 26:17-35 and 1 Corinthians 6:13-20
I. The Last Supper
a. Passage (Matthew 26:17-35)
- Jesus Christ and His disciples were having a supper to observe the Passover. He explained the symbolism of the bread and the wine being His body and blood and how we should use those to remember Him. During the meal, Jesus told His disciples that one of them will betray Him. He also told Peter that he will deny Jesus three times before the rooster crows.
b. Reflection
- The Lord's Supper is one of the famous scenes in the Bible. When we imagine this time, we all assume that it is a joyful evening. This meal is actually not as jubilant as we think. We call this the "Last Supper" for a reason. Not only is this Jesus' last meal before he was arrested, tried, and crucified, but it is also a meal where He let His most trusted followers know that one of them will betray Him and that Peter will deny Him, not once but three times. As we all know, it was Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. So what is the symbolism of Judas in the modern society. Judas was appointed as an apostle, learned from Jesus Himself, involved in numerous ministries and healing, and preached the gospel but he still lost trust in Jesus and betrayed Him. He dressed like the other disciples, preached and ministered like them, yet he still had the enemy use him and succumbed to temptation. Just like Judas, there are many out there who claim that they are Christians, go to church every Sunday, carry and read the Bible, and sing worship songs with hands up high, but deep inside, their hearts are corrupted by the things of the world. They value money and earthly possessions more than their relationship with God. When they are offered an "opportunity to prosper", they turn their back on God and even hand Him to the enemy. Let us examine our hearts for "we can only have one master". We can either serve God or earthly possessions, we cannot serve both. Finally, let us examine the true meaning of this meal. The Lord's Supper is also called the "Eucharist" or thanksgiving, for we give thanks and praise to God for all the blessings He has given us including the death of His only begotten son for our sins. It is called a "Communion" because we partake on it as a community of believers in remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us. As we participate in this meal, let us express our gratefulness to our creator and give Him the glory and praises that He truly deserve.
II. The Body, temple of the Holy Spirit
a. Passage (1 Corinthians 6:13-20)
- As a continuation to the previous verses, Paul reminded the Corinthians that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is a gift from God and we should respect it and use it for His glory.
b. Reflection
- We should all know that the body is as important as our soul. Some think that as long as we take care of our spirit, our bodies really do not matter. Whatever we do with our bodies affect our souls.We are reminded that our bodies are temples of God whom the Holy Spirit dwells in. Our body belongs to God and has one purpose: to give glory to Him who created us. We need to take care of our bodies and avoid sexual immorality and other abuses. We need to stop polluting our bodies by not taking drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes. Not only are we killing our bodies, we are also wasting the resources, God had blessed us, that we could have used in ministries and the spread of His word. Another abuse that we do not look at is being a workaholic. Some of us have 2, 3, or even 4 jobs and we do not get enough time to rest our bodies. We are doing this to succeed here on earth and gain more earthly possessions We need to trust in the Lord that He will provide for all our needs. All other "wants" are unnecessary and will just pull us away from God. We start to miss church, forget to pray, and depend on our own strengths to live. Remember in Philippians 4:19,
"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus"
III. Proverbs for Today / 10:31-32
The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,
But the perverse tongue will be cut out
The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable
But the mouth of the wicked what is perverse
IV. Old Testament Reading
Numbers 10, Numbers 11:1-23, and Psalms 51:1-19
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