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A Reflection from the Fuel Daily Readings App from Holy Thursday 2021. Click here to read the reading.
Jesus died on the Feast of the Passover. This is no accident or coincidence. It’s one of the biggest events of the Jewish calendar for a reason. The Passover feast revisits the “Great Escape” of the Jewish people from Egypt, when the angel of death took the life of every first born in Egypt but “passed over” those whose homes had been smeared with the blood of a lamb. (Sounds pretty gross, huh?) So Jesus’ very bloody death on this Feast is a clear sign that He is the actual Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (yep, that’s what we say in the Mass). For when the angel of death took the life of the first-born Son of God, death passed over us who deserved to die through our sin.
Why would Jesus do such a thing? Because He loved us “to the end”, as the gospel of John says. We find St Peter struggling to accept Jesus’ loving service (“You shouldn’t wash my smelly feet, Lord!”) but we have to! Jesus has already died for us – our role is receiving what He did for us.
So when we come to the celebration of the Mass, we remember our own "Passover". We who consume the Body and Blood of Christ are smeared with the Blood of the Lamb and thus death “passes over” us. When we receive Holy Communion, we are choosing to let Christ into every part of us so that we can be truly saved.
Let’s not be like Peter and argue with the Lord who wants to love us into life – let’s just receive his ultimate act of service with deep gratitude in our hearts and on our lips.
+ Lord Jesus, thank you. Thank you for suffering for me, for dying for me, for giving yourself in the Eucharist for me. Increase my awareness of what it cost you to love me into life: everything. Amen.