Largest Price Ever Paid for Services

One of the traditions of churches of Christ that I like is taking the Lord’s Supper every Sunday.  Some say that it would be too often to celebrate the Lord’s Supper that often, but I don’t agree.  The Lord’s Supper is the center of our worship service every Sunday at the congregation where I attend and things get deep and concentrated during this time.

“Jesus sat amidst all the joy of the wedding feast sipping the coming sorrow so that today you and I who believe in him can sit amidst all this world’s sorrow sipping the coming joy.”

Edmund Clowney, quoted by Timothy Keller, Encounters with Jesus, P. 80

Matthew 26.

26 While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and [h]after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

I saw this familiar story in the Pond Church of Christ online bulletin:

In a small mid-western town lived a young widow with her five-year-old son who had been born blind. After months of saving money, the young mother traveled to an eastern city to see a doctor whom she was informed could give sight to her son. When told that the mother was not able to pay the normal fee, the surgeon replied that restoring the boy's sight was first priority. Following several successful operations and long days and nights waiting to remove the bandages from the boy's eyes, a smile of delight came upon the boy's face as he beheld his mother for the first time. "Mother", said he, "you are more beautiful than I could ever dreamed you could be"!

When the day came to leave the hospital, the lad wanted to give the doctor something, but the only thing he had was a small teddy bear, which had been his companion since infancy. One arm was gone, one leg had lost it's stuffing, one eye was missing, but the bear was still the dearest possession he had. Nonetheless, he gave it to the doctor and the doctor, under protest, reluctantly accepted it.

When the boy an his mother arrived back home, a huge package awaited them in which was the biggest and finest teddy bear money could buy. However, in the surgeon's office, carefully placed in a glass container sits a little brown battered teddy bear with one arm, a limp leg and only one eye. On a card in front of the bear are these words:  "The largest single fee I ever received for professional services".

Larry Wishard