More...The Language of Covenant Love

After supper was over, he lifted the cup again and said, 

“This cup is my blood of the new covenant I make with you, and it will 

be poured out soon for all of you." 

 Luke 22:20

Probably the most stunning and beautiful moments in my life came when my husband, Alan, handed me a beautiful little card in which he’d written a sentimental request, “Will you marry me?” As I gasped, he handed over a perfectly fitting diamond ring. With a nearly shouted “Yes!” I became engaged. While it looked dramatically different, Jesus, too, extended a covenant proposal to His followers.

In the night before Jesus’ death, when the disciples sat down with Him to celebrate Passover as they had certainly done on at least two prior occasions, the last thing they expected was for Jesus to deviate from the only Passover script they’d ever known. Yet when the time came for Jesus to break the middle piece of flatbread, or matzah as it is commonly known, He added a new line, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19b) While this may have caused them some discomfort, what Jesus did after they’d taken their bite of bread probably took their breath away. “After the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant.’” (Luke 22:20a) I imagine the disciples must have gasped, for this was way outside the normal conversation of the Passover seder. So far out, in fact, that they likely wondered why Jesus would speak the language of a marriage proposal to them!

According to Barb Peil, “when a Jewish man proposed to a woman, he passed her a cup of wine. If she drank from it, she accepted the proposal and they were engaged.” (You Bible - 100 Days with Jesus - Passion) That cup of wine in Jesus’ hand and His declaration of a new covenant would have indicated to the Jewish minds of His followers that He was making a proposal of marriage to them. This very well could have left them confused. “Jesus, why are you toasting us with a marriage proposal during Passover? Aren’t we supposed to be remembering as is the custom of the Law? Why this change, Jesus?”

In case His disciples missed His point with the glass of wine Jesus continues with more of His intimate marriage proposal language during His final hours with His disciples, framing His deep, sacrificial love for them. “In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3) “Preparing a room” is the language of marriage, the language of intimate love.

A part of the expected marriage tradition in Jewish homes in those days was for the bridegroom to prepare, or construct, the room to which he would bring his bride at the appointed time. Extended families often lived together. Additions to the main home structure would be added to make room for new family units. The marriage would take place when the Father determined the room was adequately ready for the new couple. And in those days entering into marriage was ceremonious only in that there would be a procession leading to the new room. The bride and groom would step across that threshold and enjoy passionate, intimate relationship with each other as they consummated their marriage.

Not only has Jesus imparted a marriage proposal of sorts with the offering of wine as part of a new covenant, He now increases the intimacy of the conversation by telling His disciples that He is making their room ready and will come to get them when that room is ready, when the Father says it’s time!

In the last few hours of His life He wanted His followers to know that this wasn’t the end. He had a bigger, better plan in mind. He gave them hope and something for which to look forward.  He wanted them to have More.  He wanted to give them More than they could ever imagine.  When Jesus calls you to be His own, He uses the language of passionate love. He invites you into intimacy with Him. He is the bridegroom every heart longs for! He is the passionate lover who lays down His life for His bride.

Now whenever I come to the table, to take communion, I remember Jesus' proposal...and I smile.  I am forever the bride awaiting my passionate, self-sacrificing groom!  I drink the wine and I accept His invitation to be His own.  I renew my commitment to follow Him the rest of my life.

Imagine at this moment that Jesus is handing you a cup of wine - because He is. “This cup is my blood of the new covenant I make with you,” He says.  How will you respond?

Notre Dame Has Fallen...But God's Spirit Has Not

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner 

self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is 

preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 

 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are 

unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that

are unseen are eternal. 

 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

This afternoon I watched in shock as the most iconic church in the world succumbed to flames. Notre-Dame de Paris, or simply Notre Dame, had stood largely complete since the early 13th century, its towers beacons of hope and its flying buttresses lending to its grandeur. Tonight it is but a shell of its former self...literally.

As I watched in disbelief while the flames licked away at the centuries old structure, ironically at the climax of the church calendar, I couldn’t help but juxtapose the reality that the stuff of this life is all temporary but God remains forever, a permanent fixture in an ever changing world. The apostle Paul put it this way, “the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Victor Hugo published his book Notre-Dame de Paris, more commonly known in America as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in the early 19th century in hopes that the cathedral, which largely lay in disrepair at the time, might receive some attention (which it did). Lindsey Ellis, a researcher on Victor Hugo, said of Notre Dame, “In Hugo’s eyes it was the summation of human ingenuity. Hugo’s idea was the building will outlast the time it exists in.” She added as a result of the fire, “that’s just not true anymore.” When something as significant as a medieval cathedral which has stood through many lifetimes falls, it might just shake your world.

In my lifetime, as I’m sure you’ve observed in yours, things wear out or get broken or lost. Life happens. In Paul’s life his bold proclamation of the gospel brought him jarring consequences. In your lifetime, you likely have encountered difficulty as well. But Paul tells us to not lose hope:

We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. 

 (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 

 (2 Corinthians 4:16b-18)

Jars of clay was Paul’s way of saying “Life as you know it is temporary.” You may be experiencing temporary affliction, but it’s nothing when we compare it to eternity. 

 Have this hope: “the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)

 Notre Dame has fallen...but God’s Spirit has not.