The Lord’s Supper (Mark 14:22-25)
My mother-in-law loved to cook, and she was an excellent cook! Each Christmas, Ann prepared far too much food. But each member of her family got to pick one side and one desert: I always knew there would be broccoli casserole and red velvet cake waiting on me.
Don’t each of you have a favorite meal—maybe it’s one your wife makes or it’s one your mother or grandmother made? You might be an excellent cook yourself. Perhaps you order from your favorite restaurant for special occasions.
Jesus prepared a favorite meal for his people: The Lord’s Supper. Each retelling of the Lord’s Supper provides a different nuance, and Mark’s account makes one truth obvious: “The Lord’s Supper is all about Jesus.” Notice how Mark emphasized Jesus:
- Jesus took bread (v 22)
- Jesus blessed the bread (v 22)
- Jesus broke the bread (v 22)
- Jesus gave the bread to the disciples (v 22)
- Jesus said to the disciples (v 22)
- “This is my body” (v 22)
- Jesus took a cup (v 23)
- Jesus gave thanks for the cup (v 23)
- Jesus gave the cup to the disciples (v 23)
- Jesus said to them (v 24)
- “This is my blood of the covenant” (v 24)
- “I say to you” (v 25)
- “I will not drink again” (v 25)
- “Until . . . I drink it new” (v 25)
Scripture (Mark 14:22-25)
verse 22:
In first-century Judaism, the head of the household blessed the bread and wine before any meal. Mark, thus, presented Jesus as the host.
verses 23-24:
The Lord said the cup was his “blood of the covenant.” A bloody sacrifice was used to ratify covenants, and the blood indicated that failing to live by the treaty would result in death.
verse 25:
Jesus would only drink the fruit of the vine again in the kingdom of God. Scripture presents the fellowship of heaven as a feast. “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined” (Is 25:6). “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 8:11).
Application
“The Lord’s Supper is all about Jesus.” What does Mark’s telling of the Last Supper say about Jesus and the Lord’s Supper?
One: The Period of the Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper recognizes the Period of the Passover; this meal took place “on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb” (Mk 14:12). The Passover meal reminded the Israelites of that night when God’s mighty hand delivered them from Egyptian bondage. The Christian, likewise, remembers how that Jesus delivered him from the bondage to sin: “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7). On the first day of the week, you remember that Christ died for you and redeemed you from sin.
Two: The Parts of the Lord’s Supper
Jesus instituted his Supper with two Parts.
One: The Body of the Lord’s Supper
Jesus “took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body’” (Mk 14:22). Jesus’s body was required for his death—he existed as a spirit prior to his conception in Mary’s womb, and spirits do not die.
But, in the flesh, Jesus died for you. “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6). “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3). As you eat the bread, you’re declaring your faith in the death of Jesus’s physical body for your sins.
Two: The Blood of the Lord’s Supper
“And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many’” (Mk 14:23-24).
Jesus’s blood brings the remission of sins. “In [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph 1:7). “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Pet 1:18-19). As you drink the cup, you recall the blood which purchased your redemption.
Three: The Paradise of the Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper anticipates the heavenly Paradise: “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” (Mk 14:25).
The Lord’s Supper anticipates that great feast in God’s Paradise: “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). Are you anticipating God’s Paradise this morning, or do you need to claim that anticipation as we stand and sing?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.