SpOL082 COMPASSIONATE SERVICE

SpOL082 COMPASSIONATE SERVICE

During the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples shared a cup of wine, symbolic of the blood that Jesus would shed on the cross. The cup from which they drank has come to be called "the Holy Grail,” the object of much speculation and wild mythologizing. Of course, no one knows for sure what became of the cup from which Jesus and the disciples drank, but the legends abound, even attributing miraculous powers to the Grail and special blessing to whoever might locate it and unlock its supposed secret powers.

The term “Holy Grail,” itself, has come to represent an elusive quest for something of great value.

One early legend about the Grail says it was taken to England, where it became the object of an ongoing quest by King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Some versions of the legend hold that when a knight managed to find the mysterious castle where the Grail was kept, he was treated to a lavish feast and then allowed to ask a question about the Grail. If he failed to ask the right question, he was thrown out of the castle!

One knight, named Percival, had the wisdom to ask the right question: "Whom does the Grail serve?" Percival perceived that the Grail's purpose had something to do with serving others and not with enriching oneself.

As Christians, we already have our “Holy Grail.” We have salvation, and not only salvation, but in Christ, our heavenly Father has made us his own children and given us an eternal inheritance in his kingdom. But all this is not merely some great treasure for us to consume on our own selfishness.

Belief in Jesus Christ calls for action! Having been blessed with salvation, we are free in Christ to give ourselves as he did to the compassionate service of humanity! Paul urged the church at Philippi to:

…do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,… (Philip 2:3-7NIV

Most of the knights in the Grail legend were concerned only with finding the Grail for what it would bring to them. But we, like Percival, know the right question, "Whom does the Grail serve?"

God called us into the joy of his life so that we might be servants to one another, just as Jesus humbled himself and became one of us, sharing with humanity the good things of God.

I’m Joseph Tkach, speaking of LIFE.