Mark 14:12-26 The Love Feast
Good morning and welcome back!
Thank you so much for your love and prayers for our family while we have been in quarantine, we are all well and are very glad to be out of the house and able to interact with people again! I’d also like to thank Nate for rightly dividing the Word of truth for us last week, I pray you were all encouraged as I was in considering your own newness through renewal and your progress in sanctification.
And as Nate mentioned we are going to continue in our exposition of the Gospel of Mark in our study together this morning with chapter 14, verses 12-26, that’s page 850 in the pew Bibles.
It’s no coincidence that we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper this morning, though it was unintentional on my part, as we are going to be focusing on the institution of this great sacrament.
I hope you all have some bread and drink set aside for this purpose at home. My initial intent in scheduling Communion for this week had a lot to do with emphasizing unity, the common unity that we embrace when we all eat this bread and drink this cup.
As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
And that idea could certainly use some emphasis given the events of the last few days and weeks. But I don’t think that exactly what the Lord has in mind for us this morning. The idea is not false, it’s not wrong, that common unity does truly exist and should be emphasized, but that is not the express purpose of the Lord’s Supper.
So let’s look at the text, Mark 14:12-26.
12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13 And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, 14 and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
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.
Let’s pray.
This account very closely parallels the account of the triumphal entry.
Jesus instructs some of the disciples to go to the city and someone will meet you and give you what you need for what is going to happen next.
With the Triumphal entry it was a colt that had never been ridden tied up and waiting for them, and this time it was a man carrying a jar of water to lead them to where they could prepare and celebrate the Passover together.
I have always considered these two events to be miraculous, that God had preordained these things to be there at the moment the disciples needed them and I’m not sure I’m ready to give up that idea.
It only occurred to me in the study preparing for this morning that I had ever even heard anyone suggesting that Jesus had arranged these things beforehand. I guess my flannelgraph is just a little more miraculous then pragmatic.
The fact that there was a man carrying a jar of water was a much more clear sign in the first century than it would be today. During the time of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread there were millions of people in the city of Jerusalem, how on earth would the two disciples be able to identify the right man carrying the water jug? How many other guys could there possibly be fitting that description?
It turns out that carrying water jars, in the first century, was women’s work, a man would only carry skins filled with water. A notion that in the age of “amen and a-women” must be very popular.
No matter what your opinion on the subject, this was a sign that was much more obvious to them then than it would be to us now.
The other Gospel writers tell us that these two disciples were Peter and John, and they found things just as the Lord had told them and they prepared the Passover in that upper room.
17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
It has always amazed me that when Jesus tells the twelve that one of them will betray Him that one by one they asked Him, “It isn’t me, is it?”
They don’t point fingers at each other, nobody was placing blame, nobody says, “I think Judas is sus-spicious.” They humbly ask the Lord, “is it me?”
And though we all know that it was Judas from what we read in verses 10-11 of this chapter, Jesus doesn’t immediately point him out specifically in our text, He simply says, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
Jesus and the disciples would not have been arrayed like Davinci’s painting of the Last Supper all on one side of the table as if posing for a picture. We do know from the other Gospel accounts that John was on Jesus’ right and Judas was on His left, in a seat of honor.
Judas was neither hero nor victim. He was not a hero for being used by God as the instrument that brought about Jesus’ death for our benefit, nor was he a victim of cold predestination as if he had no choice but to act like a robot.
Judas, motivated by greed, acted on his own accord and accomplished the will of the Father.
He was lost for the same reason that millions of other people have been, are, and will be lost: he did not repent of his sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It would be better for him if he had not been born. That’s no joke.
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.
It struck me that the original Passover was eaten on the way, in haste. The Israelites had escaped from Egypt but they had not yet reached the Promised Land. Their redemption was not yet complete but they were looking forward to its completion.
The Lord’s Supper was instituted in the same way, on the way. The process of their redemption had begun but would not be completed until Jesus died and was raised.
And when we celebrate it now, we do it to remember what He did, yes, but also to proclaim His death while looking forward to His return when our redemption will be complete.
Luke adds the words in his account, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” What is it that we are to remember?
The word remembrance is not just recollection of past events, but a participation in past events. We too, like those disciples take in the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf by faith.
The bread and the wine (or juice) does not become the actual flesh and blood of Christ as our Catholic friends would have us believe. John Calvin called that doctrine known as “transubstantiation,” a monster!
The bread is still bread and the juice is still juice but faith gives that bread and that juice new purpose.
The bread and the cup are symbols of the body of our Lord and the blood of the New Covenant, the new arrangement made by God between us and Him and eating and drinking them are symbolic of our faith.
It is no longer an arrangement of works that brings us to Him but faith in His Son, that mankind, that individuals, either choose to accept or reject.
As I was writing this week the Lord made it clear to me that my remembrance was incomplete.
I remembered the Lord, I remembered His sacrifice on the cross, His body given, His blood poured out.
But the Spirit spoke to my heart: “Remember how much I love you.” The words pierced my soul. “Remember how much I love you!”
It’s not just a matter of God so loving the world back then that He gave His only Son back then…
Remember how much He loves you right now.
As we eat the bread and drink the cup today, let’s remember just how much He loves us.
(say a blessing) “Take and eat, this is my body.”
(give thanks) This is the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many.”
Amen.
Let’s sign a hymn like they did that night!
