Tomorrow, being the first Sunday of the month, it is Communion, and as is my practice I have been writing a new liturgy to fit with our service.  This time I found myself wondering how Jesus felt that night as he gathered his frineds for the meal that would be his last.  Presuambly he knew what he was going to tell them, or at least had an idea.  He knew, or had a pretty good inkling, of what lay ahead of him (whether we think he was prescient or whether it was just self-evident that events had reached an inevitable conlcusion).  So how did he feel?

Was his stomach churning as he climbed the stairs?

Did he taste the lamb prepared for his meal, or might he as well have chewed a piece of leather?

Did his voice quiver, even everso slightly, as he spoke words he'd spoken many times before?

Did his hand shake, if imperceptibly, as he tore the bread?

Did the wine slop in the cup as he gave an involuntary shiver?

Did the words of the psalm pierce his heart as they foretold his pain?

If I'm honest, the Jesus of my imagination has always been strong at this point.  I have 'seen' him agonise in Gethsemane and I have 'heard' the cry of dereliction from the cross.  But until now it has never crossed my mind that, "on the night of his arrest the Lord Jesus experienced anxiety as he took bread...."