Jesus’ disciples went everywhere with him, but they were more than just followers; they were friends. He shared his life with them, ate with them, laughed and cried with them.
We all need friends around us. Even in a crowd we can sometimes feel very alone. Perhaps there is someone you know who needs a friend today. A smile, a kind word, a cup of coffee together could be something that changes someone’s life – maybe that someone is you!
After washing his friends’ feet, Jesus sat down to supper with his closest companions. This was only one of the many meals they shared during his ministry.
Jesus knew quite well that he had made enemies and that in another part of the town they were planning his death.
At this meal he did something very simple and said something very unusual, intending that in the future his friends should be able to remember him by it. The amazing thing is that, two thousand years later, he still has his friends – vastly more now than then – and that they still remember him in the same way.
Paul tells us:
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’
In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
At the Last Supper Jesus gave the Church its central of act of worship. This is the one thing he asks his friends to do to proclaim his saving death and the forgiveness of sin, despite the full knowledge that Judas, one of his closest friends, would betray him and that the others would desert him in fear
Read the story - Luke 22:14-20
Try praying
God, I pray that I will look around
and be ready to be a friend
when someone is feeling alone.
I thank you that even when I am feeling alone
I know that you are with me.
Amen.