Mark 14:12-26, Sharing in the Supper of Our Lord
Introduction:
In our last lesson we noticed the preparations being made for the death of Jesus. The chief priests and scribes have been plotting to arrest and kill Jesus and now an opportunity has fallen into their laps. Judas has come into their midst and asked them how much they would pay him to deliver Jesus to them. For thirty pieces of silver, Judas will now look for an opportunity to turn Jesus over to the Jewish leaders. Therefore, the stage is set as we move closer to the arrest of Jesus. To get a feel for the nearness of Jesus’ arrest, it seems that we are less than 36 hours before that horrible event. Jesus has a few more things He must do before He allows Himself to be taken by unlawful hands.
Preparations For Passover (14:12 -16)
Disciples’ question
It is now the day to make preparations for the Passover feast. The phrase, “when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb” suggests that the day is Wednesday. Though the first day of unleavened bread was to be on Thursday, according to Exodus 12:6 the lamb was to be sacrificed on the 14th day, which was Wednesday. There is evidence that the 14th day of Nisan may have been loosely referred to as the first day of unleavened bread. To the disciples, it seems that they are not ready to keep the Passover remembrance. Therefore, the disciples ask Jesus, “Where do You want us to go and prepare the Passover so You may eat it?” Jesus sends two of the disciples into the city to find a man carrying a water jug. According to the culture of the day, this was an apparently unusual occurrence. Most commentators note that it was the women who would be the ones to carry the water. For the disciples to see a man carrying a water jug would be something that be very obvious and bring much attention. Jesus tells the disciples to tell the owner of the house that the Teacher’s time is near and is in need of the guest room. It would be in this room that preparations could be made for the Passover.
Jesus in full control
What we are seeing is that Jesus is still in full control of the situation and circumstances. This declaration about the room is very similar to the preparations Jesus had made about the colt of a donkey being ready for His triumphal entry into Jerusalem . All things had been left ready for Jesus and His purposes. As we noted in previous lessons, we must also consider here that the events that are happening are not out of our Lord’s control. We do not have the will of man overriding the will of God. Man could do nothing to Jesus if Jesus chose otherwise. We have seen this truth earlier in the gospel accounts where we would learn that it was not Jesus’ time yet when the people would come to arrest Him or kill Him. All of this was according to the foreknowledge and plan of God.
Prediction Of Betrayal (14:17 -21)
The coming betrayal
In verse 17 we read that evening has come, which according to Jewish time would be the 15th day of Nisan, or Thursday. Jesus is with His twelve apostles and they are at the table eating. One would imagine that this would have been an ordinary dinner with some ordinary conversation. However, Jesus is about to change all of that with some startling words. “I assure you: one of you will betray Me--one who is eating with Me!” I imagine these words just caused everyone to freeze. Imagine these words as the cutting nature of this statement would sink into the hearts of His disciples. One of these men who had been with Jesus for all of these years was going to betray Jesus, someone who was sitting right there. Can you imagine them all beginning to look at each other, wondering who it may be?
Finally, the disciples are getting so distressed about this statement that one by one each disciple begins to ask Jesus, “Is it I?” Even Judas himself said these words to Jesus “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Oh, the hypocrisy of Judas to say these words to Jesus. Judas has already made the agreement and has been paid the money. How cold and hollow those words would have sounded coming from Judas, whom Jesus knew to be His betrayer. What an amazing amount of restraint Jesus showed when Judas says these words to Him! Think for a moment what your reaction would have been to this hypocrite’s words! Yet Jesus maintains control and gives more information. “It is one of the twelve--the one who is dipping bread with Me in the bowl.” Can you imagine as all the of disciples look to see who Jesus gives the dipped bread to? Jesus takes a piece of bread, dips it in the bowl, and hands it to Judas. This would be to fulfill prophecy made about one thousand years beforehand, “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9). There is nothing more heartbreaking than a close friend in whom you trust to turn against you and put the knife in your back. Judas, a close friend of Jesus and one of the twelve, would lift his heel against the Christ. Even greater than this, the dipping of bread was an act of hospitality. It was something that was done among friends in the Middle Eastern culture as a sign and bond of friendship, fellowship, and affection. Instead of Jesus directly saying that Judas is the betrayer, He uses the dipping of bread, the act of affection and fellowship to point out the betrayer. It would be the same as in our culture saying the one who I shake hands with and give a hug is the betrayer. Can you imagine hugging your betrayer? Yet, this is what Jesus is doing symbolically by dipping bread with Judas. Through this act, Jesus is saying in the most loving way, “I know what you are doing.”
Prediction of Betrayer’s Outcome
That moment when Jesus said that one of the twelve would betray would have been a great moment of self-examination and reflection. Consider how each person would have examined their heart to see if it could be remotely possible that they would be the one to do such a horrible act. Could it be that I would be willing to trade in Jesus, to sacrifice, for my own personal advantage? It would be a time for reflection. But Jesus is not finished. Jesus goes on to prophesy about what would happen to the one who would betray Him. Jesus says that the Son of Man will go into this betrayal knowingly and willingly, just as the scriptures have been written about Him. But woe to the betrayer, for it would be better if he had never been born. Jesus predicts that Judas will not be repentant of this act, thus losing his physical and spiritual life. Despite all of these warnings, Judas goes out from this scene and brings the Jewish leaders to Jesus to turn Him over for arrest. Even though Jesus has directly stated that Judas would be the one to betray Him, Judas continues to hand Jesus over. Even though Jesus has shared a meal with Judas and has been his friend for all these years, Judas continues to hand Jesus over. Even though Jesus pronounces a woe upon the betrayer that it would be better that he had never been born, Judas still carries out his plan for thirty pieces of silver. The penetrating words of Jesus could not break through to the callous heart of Judas. Tonight Jesus would be betrayed, stand trials in the middle of the night, and by noon the next day be on the cross.
The Lord’s Supper (14:22 -26)
Institution of the supper
Now that Judas has left to bring the Jewish authorities to Jesus, Jesus now turns His attention to the remaining eleven disciples to instruct them concerning an important ordinance. This instruction would be to remember what was about to happen in just a few hours. Jesus first takes the bread, blesses and breaks it, and gives it to His disciples. Allow me to quickly point out that when it says that Jesus blessed the bread, He did not call upon God to make the bread holy or set it apart for the feast that was about to be partaken of. The Matthew account, instead of using the word “blessed,” says “gave thanks,” which is the meaning of the word “blessed.” When we are partaking of the Lord’s supper, it is not necessary for us to ask God to bless the bread. I am not sure what that would entail for God to bless it. What Jesus has done is He has given thanks for the bread, which is what we are to also do with the bread.
Jesus goes on and says, “Take it, this is My body.” Luke’s account says, “do this in remembrance of Me.” Jesus says that the bread we eat is to remind us of the body of Jesus as it would be sacrificed on the cross. It seems obvious to me that Jesus was not saying that the bread the disciples were eating was Jesus’ literal body, since He was currently reclined at the table in His body. Jesus was saying that the reason one is to eat the bread is to remember the body of our Lord.
Jesus continues by taking a cup, and after giving thanks, He gives it to His disciples. Again, notice that Jesus does not tell us to ask God to bless the cup by setting it apart or making it holy. Jesus was telling us to give thanks before partaking of the contents of the cup. Being that this is the time of Passover, we know the content of the cup was fruit of the vine. After giving thanks, Jesus said, “This is My blood of the covenant, which was shed for many.” Let us notice that what is to be remembered with the fruit of the vine is different than what is to be remembered when taking the bread. Jesus centers the remembrance around the necessity for blood to initiate a new covenant. This language is the same as what we read in Exodus 24:8. “Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord made with you in accordance with all these words.’” A testament or covenant cannot be ratified and enacted without blood. Thus, to initiate the law of Moses, animals were slain and the blood was sprinkled upon the people thus binding them to the covenant. This is exactly what Jesus is referring to when He uses the same language, “this is My blood of the covenant.” In Hebrews 9:13-18 we see the writer of Hebrews use the same language to describe how the blood sprinkled upon the people purified them. The blood of Christ is sprinkled upon us so that we are purified under the new covenant. The writer of Hebrews goes on to show that a covenant cannot take effect without blood. Therefore, we are not so much focusing upon the suffering and death of our Lord as we are with the bread when we partake of the fruit of the vine. Instead, we are focusing upon the effect of that sacrifice, which is the issuance of a new covenant and the purification we receive because His blood has been sprinkled upon us. The writer of Hebrews furthers the imagery in Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” The covenant that prophesied a day when forgiveness of sins would be offered to all people has come. That covenant was established because Jesus died so that we could be made clean. As we partake of the Lord’s supper this morning, let us remember the suffering of the body of Jesus and effect the death had for each of us, which is a new covenant which purified His people from sins.
Conclusion
Requirement of the new covenant
Jesus said that we do these things in remembrance of what He did for us. This was such a significant event, one that changed the face of the history of man. We see from the scriptures like Acts 20:7 that the followers of Christ came together on the first day of the week to do these things in remembrance of Him. Let us never take lightly what we are doing when we partake. Let us never have our minds lost on other things when we partake of the bread and fruit of the vine. Let us never just partake of it as simply bread and drink as simply fruit of the vine. Let us always remember and focus upon what these things represent. It is a time in our worship that we usually spend the least amount of time, but deserves all of our minds and hearts. Without that sacrifice, we would still be under the old law. Without that sacrifice, we would be dead in our sins with no way to have forgiveness. Thus, Jesus said in Matthew 26:28, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Why would we not want to remember this as much as possible in our lives? Some fear that partaking weekly can cause the partaking to become merely habitual and ritualistic. Let that never be the case, for we err if that is how our hearts treat this feast. But how forgetful we become when we allow large amounts of time to pass by. Some religious groups remember the Lord’s death monthly, quarterly, or annually. The scriptures show the Christians partook every first day of the week. But consider what happens when we do not remember weekly by considering what has happened with the remembrance of September 11th. After the first anniversary there was a large amount of news coverage, tears of remembrance, and all sorts of images broadcast to recall the horrible events of that day. Did any of you notice how the second anniversary that took place this year had far less discussion and fanfare? Humans are forgetful, and time simply sucks the importance of an event from our minds. Our Lord knew what He was asking for that we remember this on the first day of the week. We are forgetful people and this is too important to forget. The death of our Lord was the greatest tragedy known to man, and yet it was the event that gives us all hope. We must always remember what our Lord did every moment we breathe.
Proclaim the Lord’s death
In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul recalls the establishment of the Lord’s supper. But Paul then goes on and tells us some other things we must consider when we partake. “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26 ). When we partake of these things, each of us becomes a preacher of Jesus Christ. All of us are proclaiming that the Lord has died. Each of us is making a commitment to the Lord that until He comes again, we will continue to proclaim what the Lord has done through His death. Therefore, Paul says in verse 28 that each one must examine himself before partaking. Consider the self-examination that must have taken place before the Lord’s supper when Jesus said to His disciples that one of them was going to betray Him. There had to be some deep soul-searching as they considered if it could be them. We must examine ourselves so that we eat and drink in a worthy manner.
What is interesting is what must be done by those who are unworthy. Suppose you have examined your life and you see the hypocrisy inside. You see that you are not living as Christ has asked you to live. You may have not received forgiveness of sins because you have not been immersed in water. You may have had an uncaring attitude toward Christ and what He has done for you. God does not want you to leave; He wants you to change. It is time for each of us to open our heart to God’s will and begin to do the things He has said. We must submit ourselves to God’s will by turning from our sins and being baptized. Then we must continue to submit to the Lord, confessing our sins when we stumble. None of us can live up to the great sacrifice of our Lord. The sacrifice is too great for any of us to be deserving. But God has not asked us to be deserving. God wants you to turn control over to Him and obey today.
