MATTHEW 26:28
This is my blood, which confirms the covenant
between God and his people. It is poured out
as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.
HUNGER FOR RECONCILIATION
T he film Places in the Heart tells the story of Edna Spalding, a mother of two whose husband, Royce, is accidentally killed by a boy named Wiley. Set in Texas in the 1930s, the final scene takes place in a church Communion service.
We watch as the bread and wine is passed to each person. In the front row sits Edna’s sister, who’s been in the process of divorcing her husband but who now lovingly holds his hand. Next, we see Moses, an African American man who’s helped Edna with her farm. In that segregated era in the United States, it’s a surprising sight. After Edna takes Communion, we see something else shocking—she passes the bread and wine to her husband, who’s alive again, and he then passes them to Wiley, his killer.
Some viewers have burst into tears at that final scene because it portrays the reconciliation we all hunger for. As Jesus explained, the Communion bread represents His body and the wine His blood, broken and shed to reconcile us to God (MATTHEW 26:26–28). Every time we remember Jesus in this way, we announce His death until he comes again (1 CORINTHIANS 1:26). And as that reconciliation is passed on to others, marriages are mended, races are united, and victims and killers become friends. One day, Christ will even reunite the living with the dead (V. 29; COLOSSIANS 1:20).
Each of us needs reconciliation with God and others, and such reconciliation is available because of what Jesus has done for us.
SHERIDAN VOYSEY
Whom do you need to reconcile with? How can Christ’s sacrificial acts guide you toward that reconciliation?
Jesus, thank You for allowing Your body to be broken and Your blood to be shed to reconcile me to God and others.
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | MATTHEW 26:26–29
26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”
27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it,
28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.
29 Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
