Mark 14:22-26
Mark 14:22-26
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Jesus is eating the Passover meal with His disciples.
It has already been established that Judas would betray Him.
We also mentioned last week that virtually everyone around Jesus, including those around this table, will abandon Him in the hours to come, leaving Him alone to bear the weight of our sin on the cross.
In order to fully appreciate what is about to take place, we have to have a working knowledge of the traditional Jewish Passover meal.
As I’ve mentioned in previous weeks, the Passover was a commemorative meal. It was designed to remind Israel of what God did in rescuing them out of slavery in Egypt.
In this meal there were different elements that represented different aspects of their slavery and deliverance.
For example:
Bitter herbs reminded them of the bitterness of slavery.
Stewed fruit, which had the color and consistency of clay, evoked the way they had to make bricks as slaves.
The passover Lamb represented the lamb’s blood that was smeared on their doorposts so that when God’s wrath passed through Egypt and brought the plague of death, everyone who had the blood of the lamb would be passed over and spared.
For centuries, the Jews had celebrated this feast as a reminder and as an act of worship unto God for delivering them into freedom.
The disciples there with Jesus in that upper room would have been exceedingly familiar with the elements of this feast, with the symbolism, with the stories… This was tradition for them.
But this Passover would be very different. In fact, this would be the most significant Passover meal ever eaten, and the last legitimate Passover meal ever eaten. Because, in this Passover, Jesus fulfills and re-defines this historic meal.
Every other Passover was a symbol and a shadow of a coming reality. Now the reality is here.
In previous Passovers, lambs were killed not just in commemoration of the time God’s wrath was turned away in Egypt but in anticipation of when God’s wrath would be turned away for good.
Every other lamb was a foreshadow of the one True Lamb who would come to absorb the totality of God’s wrath once for all time.
That’s why in 1 Corinthians 5:7 looks back on the cross and declares “... Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.”
The basic idea with animal sacrifice under the Old Covenant was that an unblemished life could be killed as a substitute for the sinner. But Hebrews 10:4 tells us that in reality it was impossible for “the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins”.
Animal sacrifices were inadequate. Then why do them? Because they functioned as a powerful foreshadow of Christ, who is adequate.
And so here we are in the upper room with Jesus and the disciples.
And as the meal progresses, we are going to see Jesus take traditional elements of this meal and create a new institution that will forever commemorate for believers what He did on the cross.
Mark 14:22–25 (ESV):
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them,
It was customary for the head of the household to take the bread, which would have been unleavened bread (because the Israelites didn’t have time to wait for their bread to rise before they fled Egypt), and to recite a blessing over it.
“Praise be Thou, O Lord, Sovereign of the world, who causes bread to come forth from the earth.”
This is traditional up till this point.
But here’s where things take an unexpected turn:
and said, “Take; this is my body.”
In Paul’s retelling in 1 Corinthians 11, it says, “this is my body which is for you”... and some manuscripts add “broken for you”.
In Luke’s parallel account it says, “this is my body which is given for you”, and the verb “give” is often used in respect to sacrifice.
Also in the 1 Corinthians 11 text, Paul summarized the giving of the bread and the cup by saying, “as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”.
So it seems pretty clear that what Jesus was doing here was turning this bread into a memorial of His sacrificial death, and also of the fact that He would be present with the disciples in a spiritual sense whenever they (or we) celebrate communion.
Seems pretty straightforward.
However…
As many of you know, that simple statement, “this is my body” would become one of the most hotly debated phrases in the history of the Church.
What did He mean when He said, “this is my body”?
Interestingly, the original Aramaic read, “this, my body”. The “is” is implied. Which has led to all kinds of disagreement on how exactly the bread relates to the literal physical body of Christ.
Let me give you the four dominant views.
Some would say He meant it literally. And that from now on, whenever Christians partake of the bread, they are literally eating (in some mysterious way) the body of Christ. This view is called “transubstantiation” and is held by the Catholic church.
“Trans” means “change”, and “substantiation” means “substance”. To change substance. They believe the bread turns into the literal body of Jesus.
Because they believe this, they believe when one eats of it, they are taking in the body and blood of Christ and are receiving grace. It is a means of grace.
Others adopt the view espoused by Martin Luther called consubstantiation.
Con, meaning “together”, and substantiation meaning “substance”.
The idea here is that rather than changing completely, the substance of the bread and wine ‘coexists’ with the body and blood of Christ. Jesus is present in, with, and under the bread and the wine. The analogy is that of a sponge filled with water; the water and the sponge are distinct, but together.
Yet another view, famously suggested by Zwingli (swiss theologian during the reformation), is the Memorial view.
The idea that Christ commanded us to “do this in remembrance of Him”, and that is all it is; an act of remembrance, albeit a very important and sacred one. The bread and wine are merely symbols that remind us of what Christ did on the cross.
The fourth (and last view I’ll mention) is Calvin’s view. This has become known as the “spiritual presence” or “real presence” view.
He argued that the Roman Catholics were going too far, but Zwingli wasn’t going far enough. It was more than just a memorial; it was bringing us to the presence of Jesus Christ and His benefits.
For what it’s worth, I would probably most closely resonate with Calvin’s view; that bread is a representation of Christ’s body, not the literal body, but that there is also a certain profound spiritual reality that is happening as we are taking it. It is not a means of Grace, but it is a reminder of Grace, and we are experiencing the presence of Christ in a profound way.
Regardless, I think I stand on solid ground when I say: The most important thing is Jesus’ imperative in verse 22: “take”. When we take communion, it is a solemn reminder of what Christ has done for us as our Passover Lamb… of our desperate need of Him… and it is to be done, as Paul says, “until He returns”.
Following the main meal, the host would then rise and say something like, “Speak praises to our God, to whom belongs what we have eaten,” to which those present replied, “Praised be our God for the food we have eaten.”
Then he would take the cup––probably the third of four cups during a traditional Passover–– and pronounce this prayer: “May the All-merciful One make us worthy of the days of the Messiah and of the life of the world to come. He brings the salvation of his king. He shows covenant-faithfulness to his Anointed, to David and to his seed forever. He makes peace in his heavenly places. May he secure peace for us and for all Israel. Amen.”
And so Jesus, it says…
23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.
This third cup of Passover corresponded to Exodus 6:6 where God said, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.”
That’s exactly what Jesus would do on the cross. He would bring ultimate redemption.
And, in the very context of this meal and this chapter of Mark, it’s obvious that this redemption was desperately needed.
As one commentator wisely noted: The theme of “all” echoes throughout the rest of this chapter. Here, they “all” drink. In verse 31, they “all” swear allegiance to Jesus. In verse 27, they “all fall away”. And in verse 50, they “all fled”.
This further reminds us that this is not a meal based on merit but based on grace. They (and we) need this redemption.
And so here, in verse 24, is the climax…
24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
All through redemptive history, God has related to His people through covenants. A covenant was a formally binding agreement, and it would be ratified by the shedding of blood, as a way of expressing the seriousness of the promise.
When the Old Covenant was ratified in Exodus 24, it says…
Exodus 24:8 (ESV): 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
The basis of that Old Covenant was that God would protect and bless His people as long as they upheld His law. In that way, it was bilateral.
But God had promised that a day would come when He would enter into a New Covenant with His people.
The prophet Jeremiah describes this New Covenant…
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV): 31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
So unlike the Old Covenant, which was bilateral (or conditional on both parties), the New Covenant is unilateral. God Himself fulfills all the conditions of the covenant.
And rather than being based on external laws that we have to obey, God writes the laws on our hearts… He gives us new hearts that love Him.
Unlike the Old Covenant where our sins were counted against us because of our failure to obey, under the New Covenant, our sins are forgiven because Christ has atoned for them Himself.
This is why the author of Hebrews could confidently affirm that the New Covenant is “much more excellent than the old” (Hebrews 8).
And so for Jesus to stand up during this traditional meal and declare that the New Covenant had arrived… and was going to be ratified by His blood… would have blown their minds.
25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Notice the promise inherent in that statement: “when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
In other words, Jesus was absolutely confident that one day He will be celebrating with His people in His fully consummated Kingdom.
This is part of the function of taking communion is to anticipate Jesus final return. Remember 1 Corinthians 11? “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes”. We look back on the cross in communion, and we look forward to the Lord’s coming as well.
26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
This would have been Psalm 118… which is so rich with meaning when taken against the backdrop of Jesus’ impending crucifixion…
Psalm 118:1–29 (ESV): 118 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
5 Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me free.
6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
7 The LORD is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
10 All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
12 They surrounded me like bees;
they went out like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
15 Glad songs of salvation
are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
16 the right hand of the LORD exalts,
the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the LORD.
18 The LORD has disciplined me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.
20 This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
23 This is the LORD’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save us, we pray, O LORD!
O LORD, we pray, give us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We bless you from the house of the LORD.
27 The LORD is God,
and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
up to the horns of the altar!
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God; I will extol you.
29 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!