A Drink in the Kingdom of God

Matthew 26:27-29, Mark 14:23-25, Luke 22:14-18

Then [Jesus] took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

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Then [Jesus] took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

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When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

In each of the synoptic gospels, Jesus not only says that this is the cup of the new covenant, but he also says that he will not drink it again until he does so in the Father’s kingdom or in the kingdom of God. While there are no specific references to Jesus’ drinking anything after the resurrection, he undoubtedly did. Since there are several times that he asked for food or provided food to his disciples, one can easily presume that he also drank something. Since wine was often the preferred drink with a meal at that time, he probably drank from the fruit of the vine with his disciples on those occasions. If he did so, then the words he spoke at the Last Supper were fulfilled.  The kingdom of God had indeed come into the world.

From the gospels, we know that Jesus had said that the kingdom of God was at hand, and that he had instructed his disciples to announce it to the people as well. Now, when we drink of the cup of his Precious Blood, we drink it in the Father’s kingdom. We drink it with Christ in the kingdom of God. We need to recognize that we live in God’s kingdom, here and now. We do not wait for it to come at the end of time or at the end of our earthly lives. We drink it now in the kingdom of God!