Day 5: Hope in the preparation

Read: Matthew 26:26-29 & Luke 22:42

On Thursday evening, Jesus and His disciples prepared to share the Passover supper. That meal would be the last of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The room was prepared. The table was set. Jesus prayed a blessing over their meal, and as the bread was broken and the cup passed, He gave those elements new significance. He equated the broken bread to His body, broken for them in death. A cup of wine now illustrated the power of a blood covenant: His blood shed for them.

But if you look closely, Jesus also gave a prophetic picture of hope after His death, alluding to His resurrection.

He told His disciples that the next time He would drink from the vine would be with them in His Father’s Kingdom. Right there, in that moment, Jesus gently reminded them that the grave is not the end, but a means to the future. As He prepared for death, He also prepared His friends for a new life they had never experienced.

Sometimes we face things in life that are unfair and unjust, just like Jesus did. Jesus even prayed that God would take away this ‘cup of suffering’ from him. He knew the pain of betrayal and was preparing for the sins of the wolrd to be placed on him for our freedom. But even in this hard time Jesus had his eyes fixed on God. He still gave it back over to God and surrendered himself to the task set before him.

Even on the eve of betrayal, persecution and death, Jesus revealed His plans to give each of us a hope and a future! He experienced it all to show us all that EVEN when we go through the worst things in life, there is still hope!

Are you in the fight of your life? Have you been waiting on the fulfilment of a promise? The word of the Lord for you is this: lift up your head! God is using this season, as difficult as it may be, to prepare you for what is to come.