STATION 1 - The Last Supper
At Lakewood Alliance Church (4001 - 5th Avenue)
Scriptures for Reflection:
Mark 14.12-26
12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”
19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”
20 “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Reflection:
The Festival of Unleavened Bread, as part of the Passover celebration, is a remembrance of God’s deliverance of his people from slavery in Egypt.
As Jesus shared this meal with his disciples, one of whom would betray him, he took a loaf of bread and declared that the bread represented his body. Just as the Passover Lamb was offered as a sacrifice at the festival, his body that would soon be offered as a sacrifice.
In eating this meal with his disciples, his friends, Jesus was re-interpreting what this meal represented for them by substituting himself in place of the Passover Lamb, a sacrifice that would set them free from sin and death and give them eternal life.
If you were sitting at the table with Jesus, what would you have thought when he said one sitting there would betray him? Would you think there is no way that could be you? Or would you see the brokenness in yourself and wonder if he was talking about you?
Know that this journey Jesus walked to the cross, he walked with full knowledge of your whole being - the good and the bad - and he walked it in love for you, so that you too could be set free from slavery and for life.
At the Station:
At this first station, you will receive a small loaf of bread that you will carry with you throughout your pilgrimage today.
As you take the bread, take a moment to reflect on the gift that Jesus has given you. A gift offered to you and me even when Jesus can see our whole being, every thought, every action, every desire. A gift given even though Jesus knows the ways we may fail him.
Receive the bread as a gift given with the fullness of God's love for you. Bring the bread with you and hold it as you take time to read and reflect at each of the stations.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, as I begin this journey with you through the stations of the cross, I ask that you would show me what is true of you - your character, your love, your faithfulness; and also show me what is true of me.
Jesus, open my eyes to the significance of your suffering on my behalf and the beauty of the gift you offer me.