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

At the Last Supper, Jesus gives thanks a second time. Like the shared loaf of bread, drinking from the same cup was a symbol of fellowship. Jesus says it is the blood of the covenant or a new covenant. All ancient covenants were sealed with animal blood as a sign of their seriousness. Jesus says that the new covenant will be sealed not with the blood of an animal but his own blood on the cross. Jesus says that the liquid in the cup is no longer wine, but his blood that forms a bond with all of humanity. We become family with God through the new covenant that is made possible by Jesus’ death and ratified by receiving him in Communion. 

He says that his blood will be shed for many. Many does not mean that Jesus only shed his blood for some people. Many is a Jewish idiom that expresses a vast multitude or for all.

It means that Jesus shed his blood for the people in your neighborhood. Every single one of your neighbors, even the crazy ones, even the mean ones, even the ones who don’t like you are people for whom Jesus died. He shed his blood for them. He paid for their lives with his life. He wants them to be part of his family. As Christians, our challenge is to constantly look at people through this lens – that they are so valuable to God, he sent his Son to die for them.

Pray today that you would see the people in your neighborhood as so important that Jesus shed his blood for them.