The New and Eternal Covenant, April 9

Responding to the honest question of Thomas pertaining to direction in the fourteenth chapter of John's gospel, Jesus replies, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He was, in that moment establishing himself as the pattern his disciples were to follow in life and in death. We are often enamored with the patterns others leave us, choosing to mirror our lives after the qualities of another that appeal to us or challenge us at some level. In these last days of Lent, as we view the upper room, the Garden, the cross, and the empty tomb, the example to be followed is found in Jesus alone. In humility he washes the disciple's feet, serves them a final meal, allows himself to be handed over to his betrayer, endures the travesty of the Sanhedrin trial, and carries his own cross upon which he dies. He exemplified in those last days and hours the servant attitude that he called his disciples to follow, and he established a meal that has been observed again and again and will continue to be observed until he returns. The bread and cup, symbolic of his broken body and shed blood, remind us each time we receive it, of God's great love and the willing sacrifice of God's servant Son. In remembrance of Him, we receive...and in commitment to follow Him, we serve. "Do this," He said, "in remembrance of me."

JKA