Saturday, January 29, 2011

Mark 14:12-26; Family Meal

There is so much to think about in this section that I have a hard time keeping one train of thought. The richness of the Jewish tradition, the breadth of behind-the-scenes emotions and the cryptic Old Testament allusions all draw me in. Yet, during this reading, it was simply the question of the disciples that prevailed in my mind. “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

The Passover was a family meal shared in the home. The question of the disciples brings up the necessary inference of ". . . because we are all homeless." Jesus was traveling with a small group that had indeed become his family. They had no plot of land to call home but they had each other to call brother and sister. It was with these that Jesus chose to share his most significant meal.

I hold strongly to old ideas of family. My wife, children and I eat together daily, spend holidays together, travel together, etc. Yet living far away from extended family has taught me that family can be more than blood relations.

So I ask myself with whom would I share my last meal on earth? What twelve people would I ask to spend special time with me? Who has become my family in my journey here? How have I treated them? How have I influenced them? Do they know they are significant to me?

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