INTRODUCTION:

            Jesus and His disciples were eating the Passover meal when we finished last time I spoke.  Jesus had just announced that one of the disciples was going to betray Him.  This truth caused the disciples to be grieved and each one asked if he was the one.  Jesus knew His betrayer was Judas and after handing him bread dipped in the mash of fruit and nuts Jesus sent him out to do what he had set his heart to do, to carry out the wicked deed of betraying the Son of God into the hands of those who were determined to kill Him.

            Judas is now gone, and Jesus turns His attention back to the eleven remaining disciples and Jesus transforms this Passover meal into the Lord’s Supper and by doing so He signaled the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.  Jesus’ words in this passage of Scripture brought to an end all the Old Testament ceremonies, sacrifices, and rituals, because all those symbols of the Old Covenant pointed to Christ; and in His death they were perfectly fulfilled and replaced.  Let’s pray and then get into this morning’s passage of Scripture.

--PRAY--

 

SCRIPTURE:

            Turn in your Bibles this morning to Mark 14:22-26.  Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.

     Mark 14:22-26,

            “While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is My body.’  And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.  Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’  After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Mark 14:22–26, NASB95)[1]

THE BREAD (Mark 14:22)

            As we read the words of Jesus when He transformed the Passover meal into the Lord’s Supper we are at the brink of the most important event in all of human history.  Jesus left us with an important truth and a physical observance to remember what He did for us by going to the cross and dying for us.  Just how and when Jesus instituted this new observance is apparent from the order of the Passover meal.  When the meal has been completely laid out before them with the roasted lamb as the centerpiece, the host, whose is Jesus, the one true Passover Lamb, would relate the exodus and interpret what each of the foods on the table represented.  The bitter herbs represent the bitter slavery and affliction which they suffered under the Egyptians.  The ground apple and nut mash, by its color and consistency, reminded them of the misery of making bricks for the Pharoah.  The roasted lamb brought to their remembrance the lamb’s blood on the doorposts and lintel of the house, their eating the lamb within the house recalled the death angel passing over them as it destroyed the firstborn in all of Egypt.  We do not have a record of the words of Jesus as He spoke of that event that took place centuries ago and how God delivered them from Egypt.  As Jesus spoke these words He prepared the disciples for what He would say next concerning the true Passover Lamb who was about to give His life for the world.  When Jesus finished His explanation of the exodus, while they were all eating, Jesus took some of the flat, crisp, unleavened bread, and blessing it by giving thanks to His Father, He broke it and handed a piece of bread to each of the eleven disciples.  Having done this Jesus said, “Take it, this is My body.” (Mark 14:22b, NASB95)[2] Eating bread without yeast not only symbolized the Israelites hasty exodus from Egypt, but it also symbolized their separation from the corrupting influences of sin, idolatry, and worldliness which they were leaving behind as they departed Egypt.  Sin, idolatry, and worldliness were all symbolized by leaven.  Jesus gives them this same bread and in doing so He gives it a new meaning.  Jesus now used it to serve as a symbol of His sinless body, which would soon be offered as a sacrifice for sin to satisfy or propitiate the Father’s wrath against sin.  The breaking of the bread did not signify the nature of Jesus’ death, since none of His bones were broken during His execution, it was simply broken so He could give each disciple a piece. 

            What did Jesus truly mean when He said, “Take it, this is My body.”  Jesus was not saying that the bread was literally His body and teaching the Roman Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation saying that the bread actually becomes a part of the body of Christ.  Jesus was speaking figuratively when He called the bread His body.  So, what did this figure mean?  Simply put, bread referred to the life of Christ, the incarnation, that God took on a human body.  In the Incarnation at Bethlehem (which means incidentally “house of bread), Christ, the bread of life, took on a human body.  He demonstrated His divine life to all the world by living a sinless life in that human body.  He bore our sins on the cross while in that human body.  He triumphed over the grave by bringing that body back to life, and He now lives in a glorified body at the right hand of God the Father where He intercedes for us.  As members of His Body, we share that life.  This is why Paul says in 1st Corinthians 10:16, “Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16b, NASB95)[3]  Thus, through the bread we see Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection life.  Our partaking of the bread symbolizes our real participation in His life.  If we are believers, we all partake of the life (the body) of Christ.  This is what the bread means to us.

            The bread also means we participate in each other’s lives.  Paul goes on in 1st Corinthians 10:17 to say, “Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:17, NASB95)[4]  The second earthly benefit of the bread, in addition to underscoring our participation in Christ’s life, is sharing in the lives of one another.  The Lord’s Supper promotes the communion of the saints.  That is why when I tell you to take a moment to examine yourselves, I say, to deal with anything that may hinder your communion with the Lord Jesus or one another.

            What are we announcing or proclaiming to one another and to the world around us as we take the bread?  We are proclaiming that we are partakers in the life of Christ—that we really have received and are participating in His life.  We are proclaiming that, on account of being partakers of His Body, we participate in the life of one another.  Our partaking is not only a proclamation, but an invitation to partake.  It is meant to make those around us hungry for the bread of life.

 

THE WINE (Mark 14:23-24)

            When the meal was complete, Jesus took in His hand the third cup of wine, the first two had been consumed.  We read that when He had taken up the cup, He again gave thanks to God the Father.  He then handed the cup to them, and they all drank from it.  Jesus said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark14:24, NASB95)[5]  Just as the bread symbolized His body, the red wine in the cup symbolized His blood.  In order for a covenant to be established there had to be the shedding of blood.  But unlike the animal sacrifices required for the Noahic, Abrahamic, and Mosaic covenants, the New Covenant required the precious blood of the spotless Lamb of God to be shed in death for the eternal benefit of the many whom Jesus Christ would redeem.  The parallel passage in Matthew 26:28 adds that not only was Christ blood shed for the ratification of the New Covenant but also Christ shed His blood for forgiveness of sins.  This truth is the basis of the New Covenant, that we can come to God, be redeemed and reconciled to God by faith in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection on our behalf.

            What did Jesus mean when He declared, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many”? (Mark 14:24, NASB95)[6]  The red wine in the cup represented Jesus’ atoning blood.  When Jesus declared that it was being poured out for many, He was alluding to Isaiah 53:12, which speaks of the Messiah as one who “poured out Himself to death.” (Isaiah 53:12b, NASB95)[7]  This describes a violent death.  The “many” refer to those who would benefit from His atoning death.  Just as the Old Covenant under Moses had been sealed with the blood of sacrificial animals, the shed blood of Jesus Christ sealed the New Covenant, whereby men, women, and children would be saved from God’s wrath against sin by resting their faith in the atoning blood of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

            At the end of this meal, with just the bones of the Passover lamb on the table, Jesus’ words confirmed the prophetic declaration of John the Baptist, that He was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29, NASB95)[8]

            The cup is meant to drive home to us who have put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ the objective truth of our redemption as those who partake and share fellowship in the blood of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ, the Son of God shed His blood for our sins!  The benefit of partaking and sharing cup, in the words of theologian John Calvin, is: “The godly ought by all means keep this rule: whenever they see the symbols [the bread and the cup]…to think and be persuaded that the truth is surely present there.  For why should the Lord put in your hand the symbol of His [blood], except to assure you of a true participation in it?”[9]  In other words, as we take the cup we will benefit most by saying in our hearts, “Yes, I really am forgiven” and resting in that objective truth.

            On the cross, the Lord Jesus died as the perfect substitute, bearing the sin and guilt of all who would come to Him in faith for forgiveness and salvation.  He endured the penalty of God’s wrath, satisfied divine justice, and ratified the new covenant of forgiveness and salvation.  Jesus Christ’s death was the final payment for sin, so that there is no longer a need for ongoing animal sacrifices.  That was clearly demonstrated by the tearing of the veil at the entrance to the Holy of Holies and the promise of the Lord Jesus regarding the complete destruction of the temple in A.D. 70.

 

THE PROMISE (Mark 14:25-26)

            Jesus concluded the first celebration of the Lord’s Supper with a promise to His disciples.  Jesus declared, “Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (Mark 14:25, NASB95)[10] The fruit of the vine is just another term for the wine they were drinking at the Passover meal.  Earlier that same evening, in the parallel passage to this one in Luke 22, Jesus said to the disciples in verse 16, “for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:16, NASB95)[11] These words in Mark and Luke were spoken by Jesus to assure the disciples that He would return, and that He would one day celebrate the Passover with them again in His millennial kingdom.  Think of the meaning the Passover will have that time, it will be a celebration of the true Passover Lamb, the One who died for the sins of the world.

            Until Jesus Christ returns to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, we are to continue to celebrate the memorial meal of His table.  This means, the regular celebration of the Lord’s Supper not only looks back at His death but also looks forward with eager anticipation to His coming again.  The previous evening, on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, Jesus had instructed His disciples concerning the end of the age and His glorious return.  Now on the night before His death, He reassured them that the cross did not represent the end of the story.

            As the Passover meal and celebration concluded, Mark tells us that Jesus and the disciples sang a closing hymn, most likely the final Psalms of the Hallel, Psalm 115-118.  Psalm 118 is a fitting benediction as it speaks of the lovingkindness of God being everlasting.  Let me read some of this Psalm to you which would have been the final one sung by Jesus and the disciples.  Verses 1-9: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Oh let Israel say, ‘His lovingkindness is everlasting.’  Oh let the house of Aaron say, ‘His lovingkindness is everlasting.’  Oh let those who fear the Lord say, ‘His lovingkindness is everlasting.’  From my distress I called upon the Lord; The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me; Therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in princes.” (Psalm 118:1–9, NASB95)[12] Verses 14-29: “The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation. The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I will not die, but live, And tell of the works of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, But He has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; The righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, And You have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. This is the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and He has given us light; Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I give thanks to You; You are my God, I extol You. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.” (Psalm 118:14–29, NASB95)[13]  No refrain could be more appropriate in light of the imminence of the cross, the greatest display of God’s lovingkindness. This is what Paul declared in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, NASB95)[14]  Though the Messiah would be rejected by Israel’s religious leaders and then by the people, He would rise victorious on the third day.

            Mark concludes that after singing the end of the Hallel, they went out to the Mount of Olives.  There, Jesus would pray fervently to His Father that the will of God would be accomplished.  Soon the Lamb of God would be arrested and unjustly convicted.  The most significant and the most important moment in all of human history was but a few hours away.

 

CONCLUSION:

            This morning, we have witnessed how Jesus transformed the Passover meal into the Lord’s Supper.  A memorial meal that He left for us to remember His death on our behalf until He returns.  It is not only a remembering of what was accomplished in His death, but it is an anticipation of what is yet to come, when we will eat the Passover meal with Him in His millennial kingdom celebrating the true and living Passover Lamb who saved us from the wrath of God by paying the price for the forgiveness of our sins.

            This morning, we are going to celebrate the Lord’s Supper as He instituted it for us.  We are going to participate in Jesus’ life as we eat the bread that represents Jesus’ body, that God took on human flesh to be like us, so He could be the perfect substitute on our behalf and satisfy the wrath of God against sin.  As we eat and drink at this table we will be sharing in each other’s lives as we participate in Christ’s life.  As we drink the juice we will remember the truth of our redemption and the price that was paid on our behalf.  We can say in our hearts, “Yes, I am really and truly forgiven because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.”  As this truth penetrates our hearts we must give all thanks and all glory to the One who is the object of our faith and our celebration, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.  As we partake of the Lord’s Supper we proclaim to all those around us the Lord’s death until He returns as He promised.

 

[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[9]McNeil, John T., ed., Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 2, trans. Lord Lewis Battles. Philadelphia, PA : Westminister, 1975, P. 1371.

[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.