Sixth Sunday in Lent: Passion Week

Bottom Line Spirituality: Worldly and Godly Thinking

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Godly Abiding Spiritually in Jesus Changes the Meaning of What we See Worldly When Not Abiding in Jesus.

Spirituality is our innate ability to feel the difference worldly or godly thinking makes to the way scripture translates to our daily life and relationships.

Luke 22: 14-23, 56 “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

This could be called the last meal of Jesus with His Apostles.  He tells them He has been eager to eat with them because He will not eat again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

The Passover meal starts with the lighting of the candles and the breaking and hiding of a piece of the Afikomen. Afikomen means “after the dinner” and refers to a kind of cookie dessert. The children search for the broken piece after the meal. Whoever finds it gets a special treat. Then they all were involved in the sharing of a desert.

Each person has a cup for the meal. There are four times the cups are filled, each with special meaning. There is a place set for Elijah to come with a plate and a cup of wine as well. The door is left ajar for him to come as a sign the Messiah has arrived.

The Scripture tells us Jesus took a cup, and after giving thanks said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves.” This cup is the final one of the four Passover cups. The meal is over. Jesus says,” I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

Then He took bread, and when he had given thanks, He broke it and gave (the pieces) to them, saying, "This is My Body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me."

Now where did He get this bread after the meal? It was the Afikomen. There are a lot of different Jewish and Christian opinions about what was going on. The most plausible is what Jesus said. “This is my Body”. You have to remember, the bread represented the manna they used to eat in the wilderness. “Manna” in Hebrew means “What is it?” They did not know what it was so that is what they named it. Once they came into the land, the manna ceased. The tradition was the manna would come back as a sign of the Messiah. When Jesus said, “This is my Body,” He was telling them the “What is It” they were looking for was now spiritually Present with them in His body.

“After supper He took the cup”, means the Passover continued to be over. He said, "This cup that is poured out for you is the New Covenant in My Blood.” Where did He get the cup from?  It was the Elijah Cup that no Jew to this day has ever drunk from.

Can you imagine the shock the Apostles had when He used the Elijah Cup? It was like a Eucharist I led during the Viet Nam War. At an outdoor service, I took the cup of wine and poured it out on the ground. It was a shock to several there. I followed by pointing out that some of them were shocked more at the pouring of the wine than the pouring of the blood of all the people in Viet Nam. Their shock was nothing like the one the Apostles had. The Apostles were totally unprepared for what Jesus did.

Today, we are still unprepared in many ways for what Jesus has done, is doing and will do. Among those things is the fact that He said He would not eat or drink until the Kingdom had come. The next thing He did was to eat and to drink. The kingdom is here! Now!

Philippians 2:5 “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

Spirituality can change our life. When we consciously feel His Presence, we have the Wisdom of the Mind of Christ which we cannot have when we are out of His Presence and in our old life.