We are in the third week of our message series we are calling Next Door: The Art of Neighboring. The premise of this series is that God wants us to be a source of goodness and grace in our neighborhood.  Throughout the course of this series we’re working to change our thinking and take some initial steps towards allowing God to use us in our neighborhood.  
It is not always easy to be a good neighbor even when we want to.  And yet, Jesus commands us to love our neighbor.  Nothing could possibly be more basic to his teaching. It’s one of the most basic precepts to following him.  And whenever we follow what Jesus says there are always blessings in it for us.
Today we are moving on to another step you can take when it comes to the art of neighboring.  This step is the most challenging one yet.
To help us we are going to look at a passage from the Gospel of Mark just before Jesus’ death.  St. Mark writes, “On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples said to him, ‘Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?’” (Mark 14:18).
The Passover was one of many feasts that the Jewish people celebrated annually. Throughout the Old Testament God commanded his people to gather together to mark significant historic events of his goodness and grace. And some of these celebrations, like our own, included eating and drinking.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus himself observed the Passover and the other Jewish feast. He also regularly spent time in fellowship with friends often over meals.  Many of his most important teachings were delivered over meals. In fact, he spent so much time at dinner parties that the religious leaders unfairly accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard.
These same leaders were not only astonished at how much time Jesus spent at meals but by who he dined with. They were outraged that he would eat with tax collectors and sinners.
Getting back to the passage from today’s Gospel, Jesus continues, “Go into the city and a man will meet you. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, the Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”  Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there” (Mark 14:19-20).
The Passover supper was governed by ancient traditions reaching back to the story of the Exodus in which God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  Each household had a lamb sacrificed, and they ate it.  Interestingly, in the Last Supper account in St. Mark’s Gospel, no lamb is mentioned.
St. Mark writes, “While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” (Mark 14:22)
Jesus tells the apostles that the bread is his body.  It doesn’t represent his body.  It’s not a symbol or sign of his body.  Jesus is not suggesting a metaphor.  THIS IS MY BODY.
Through his passion and death on the Cross Jesus becomes the Lamb who is sacrificed. That’s why there is no lamb at their Passover dinner.  Jesus is himself the lamb: The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  By asking the disciples to take the bread that is his body, he is inviting them to receive the sacrifice and the grace this it brings.
“Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.” (Mark 14:23)
All ancient covenants were sealed with blood. That’s the first reading, referring to the Exodus, “Then Moses took the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkled it on the people saying, “This is the blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.” (Exodus 24.8)
It sounds strange to us, but the blood was meant to show the seriousness of a bond. Like blood relatives, it is a bond that can’t be broken.  A family bond.
Jesus says that the new covenant will be sealed not with the blood of an animal sacrifice, but his own blood on the cross. And he says that his blood will be shed for many.  Many does not mean that Jesus only shed his blood for somepeople, or church people, or religious people.  But for as many people, as many as are willing to receive his sacrifice.
That even means the people in your neighborhood. In fact, every single one of your neighbors, even the mean ones, even the crazy ones, even the ones who don’t like you, the ones who put up fences to keep you out, are people for whom Jesus died.
Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  The Eucharist is the source and the summit of our faith. Without the Eucharist there is no Church. With it, we are formed into a community, unified for a purpose.  We receive Christ so that we become like him: to share the good news of God’s love in the world.
But where to start, how to begin? We can pray. We can pray for neighbors we know, and those we don’t.  Last week, we laid out the challenge to get to know some of our neighbor’s names.  And then, praying for them by name, and greeting them by name.
But we can do more, too.  If you are Italian you already know this: you always begin with food.  Set a date on a calendar and a goal that by the end of this summer you are going to do something to show love of neighbors through food.
No kidding, through food.  Maybe for you that means inviting a few people over for dinner you have not previously invited, or not invited in a long time. Maybe you can host a barbecue and include not just people you know but people you’re just getting to know.  Maybe its sending a dinner to someone who is facing some special challenges just now, or just baking a batch of cookies for them.
God uses a meal to build his Church to reconcile and renew the whole world. We can follow his lead and take this simple step too. And then trust God to use it in some way, that maybe we can’t even see or ever know to do something sacred with it.