Table Meditation (Gospel) for Proper 19B – 15-Sep-24
15-Sep-24 (Mark 8:24-38)
"Who do you say that I am?" Jesus asks the disciples. How would they know? Where did they learn it? They learned who Jesus was from watching him -- watching him as he healed those with sicknesses and infirmities, watching him as he taught and argued, watching him as he reached out to the outcasts and the forgotten. They would learn one of the most important lessons of who Jesus was at the Table we will remember in just a moment. At that table, Jesus spoke about giving his life for the sake of all. He spoke about how sin and death would seek to conquer him, but through his sacrifice, sin and death would lose their power on us. So here we are remembering that with the table before us. What does it show you? Who do you say that Jesus is?
Let us pray.
Prayer:
God, whose nature shone through all that Jesus did and said, show us again who Jesus is, as we remember him now. Thank you for the great gift he gave us in breaking the power of sin and death for us. Thank you for these symbols of bread and cup that remind us of the cost. As we take the bread and cup, renew your Spirit in us, that we may carry the good news of who Jesus is and of your love for all shown in him to our world which cries out to know of it.
In the name of Jesus, our Christ, AMEN