Phillips: count the cost

Thursday, March 28, 2013
    Maundy Thursday
Meditation:
    “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
    “We can,” they answered.
    Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.
    —Matthew 20:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is joy and strength, of course, in this holy food and drink, but it is also an inevitable joining of forces with the vast Scheme of reconciliation and redemption. Now, there is something in our natural selves that may well make us wary of such a contact. The man who in his heart intends to go on being selfish or proud, or who has already decided how far his Christian convictions should carry him, is probably obeying a sound instinct when he keeps away from this glorious but perilous Sacrament. For, if the truth be told, men are often willing to put their trust in a god who in the end must be triumphant, simply because they want to be on the winning side; but they are not nearly so ready to bear any part of the cost of that winning. Yet the fellowship of the broken bread and the poured-out wine can mean no less than that.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Appointment with God, New York, Macmillan, 1954, p. 26 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 20:22-23; 8:19-20; 10:22; Luke 14:28-33; 1 Cor. 11:27-29; Col. 1:24; Heb. 10:37-38
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I prepared for the judgment of communion? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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