In several mystical writings of the 12th-13th centuries, and later in Hollywood movies, the cup Jesus used in the last supper, came to be called “The Holy Grail.” Sir Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table searched for it, believing it had healing powers. Indiana Jones ran around the world trying to find it, and a chapel in Valencia, Spain, believe they “possibly” have it.
“Grail” is of old French origin, “Graal”, meaning a cup or dish. True, a cup was used by Jesus during the Passover meal: “In the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood”’ (Lu. 22:20). Its power was found in its contents, “the fruit of the vine” (Lu. 22:18), not mystical powers, but in great spiritual implications.
As Christians we have found the “Holy Grail;” it is the spiritual cup which we drink of every Lord’s Day. It is the weekly “cup of blessing” in which there is “a sharing in the blood of Christ” (1 Co. 10:16). We do so as a weekly remembrance of the blood shed for us on the Cross. The healing power of this cup is that it brings our broken lives back to the cross each Sunday, to be reminded of the forgiveness found at the foot of the cross, in the blood stained soil of Golgotha.
-Dennis Doughty
