Mark 14:22-25
Please turn in your copy of God’s
holy scriptures to the New Testament to Mark’s gospel. Our reading
is Mark chapter 14, verses 22 through 25. This is Mark’s gospel
account of Jesus at the Last Supper taking the Passover meal. and transforming it into the
new covenant meal. It’s no longer an old covenant
observation, but now a new covenant observation. And so right before
the eyes of his disciples, uh, he says to them, the new covenant,
which was prophesied in the old Testament, particularly in the
book of Jeremiah is now being fulfilled in your very eyes. Uh, one of the questions you
may have in your mind is when does the new Testament era officially
begin, some may say with the birth of John the Baptist, others
with the birth of Jesus, some with the death of Christ on the
cross. Many will say that the era of the New Testament begins
here when Jesus ushers in the new covenant with a new covenant
sign and seal being the Lord’s Supper. Let us give our attention
to God’s holy word. Mark chapter 14, beginning at
verse 22, it says, and as they were eating as Jesus and his
disciples, He took bread and after blessing it, broke it and
gave it to them and said, take, this is my body. And he took
a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they had
all drank of it. And he said to them, this is
the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly,
I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine
until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God. Let us pray together. God be
gracious to us now in these next moments as your word and your
sacrament feed us and nurture us. We do pray that our faith
would be strong, that our eyes will see, that our ears would
hear, that our hearts would perceive and understand. And we pray that
the touch and the taste and the feel and even the hearing of
your word, your word read and preached and your word visible
through the sacraments would be meaningful to us. Oh Lord,
let this not be moments of empty time, but moments of great importance
to each of us as you feed us and nurture us spiritually. This
we pray in the strong name of Jesus, the Lamb of God slain
before the foundation of the world for us. Amen. Some of you probably have a memorable
meal of it’s etched forever in your minds, the touches, the
taste, the smells, the feeling of that particular meal. And
maybe it’s because of the flavors, the ingredients that went into
it. Maybe it’s because of the company that you kept at the
table at that particular time. Maybe it’s because of the reason
for the meal, a celebration, an anniversary, a birthday, a
wedding feast, whatever the occasion, maybe that may be what’s so memorable.
We have these special meals that recall to us when we smell a
certain smell or see a certain item or remember a certain event,
we can recollect in our hearts and minds what a special time
that was. Well, God knows that we are a
forgetful people, and he knows that in the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, he must do things for us that remind us of his
death, of his sacrifice, and of his love for us. And so the
Lord’s Supper is just such a meal. It ought to remind us we have
the frequency of monthly Lord’s Suppers, it ought to remind us
through the touch and the taste and the smell and the textures
and the familiarity that this is a meal that reminds us of
all that God in Christ Jesus has done for us. As we just read
a few moments ago, the Passover was quite an observance, quite
a celebration, quite a custom in the life of the Old Covenant
people. The Passover was eaten in haste
as the Israelites left Egypt, fleeing from Pharaoh. It was
a time when they slaughtered an animal, when they put its
blood on the doorpost and over the lentil of the door so that
the angel of death might pass over their house and spare their
firstborn children and livestock. It’s literally the first feast
in Egypt. It was kept yearly. It was the
first thing they were to do every year is to remember all that
God had done for them and to observe the blessings that they
have in him. Some time ago, I remember hearing
from a person of the Jewish faith, two simple words that I think
are very helpful in remembering why God institutes observances
and rituals and sacrifices. And basically two things, to
remember and to observe. To remember all that God has
done and to observe the blessings that come. And so it’s good for
us from time to time as we prepare to take the Lord’s Supper to
remember all that is meant in the Lord’s Supper. The first feast in Egypt was
this Passover meal. And now the first feast of the
Christian church is this special meal that once was the Passover,
but now is the Lord’s Supper. It’s a special meal with its
smells, its taste, its textures, and its traditions and meanings. Now I want you to understand
that what Jesus does in the Last Supper, what Jesus does as he
takes the cup, as he takes the bread, and what was ordinarily
a Passover observance, is rather radical. He’s saying to them,
this is the last Passover for tomorrow, the true Passover lamb
will fully and finally make satisfaction for the sins of his people. Now,
do you think his disciples understood that? No, they had zero clue
what he was saying, but he was telling them in a very clear
way. I’m going to die and I’m going to die for you. At the
Last Supper, Jesus was taking a meal that had been observed
for centuries, even millennia, and he’s now making it the meal
of the New Testament church. And he’s transforming this old
ritual into something new and something meaningful. The old
covenant was now passed and the new covenant was being inaugurated
and enacted by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. Now, as we
approach the Lord’s table today, and as we consider this little
passage from Mark chapter 14, I want us to understand four
basic things about the Lord’s Supper. Now, I don’t know what
you think of when the Lord’s Supper is going to be served.
I’m sure some of you think, wow, the service is going to last
about 15 minutes more. Better adjust my oven or my restaurant
reservations. You may be thinking of this is
a special day. You may have all kinds of things
that go through your mind. You may not understand it. There
could be all kinds of things going on in your mind, but I
want us to understand that it is a meal not to be missed. It is a meal that Jesus provides
for us. because we need it and because
it nourishes and helps us. So four very brief things we
should consider about this meal. First is it is a sacrament. Well,
what is a sacrament? Sacrament’s a fancy sounding
word. A sacrament is something that Jesus tells us in the Bible
to do. Jesus tells us in the New Testament
that there are two sacraments in the New Testament church,
baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Other traditions may have other
sacraments, but we believe that Jesus only commanded two, baptism
and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism to be done once in life,
the Lord’s Supper to be done over and over. In our particular
congregation, it’s up to the elders, and so we believe that
monthly is the appropriate frequency. Some observe the Lord’s Supper
quarterly, Others yearly, some weekly. We believe that monthly
is sufficient for our growth in grace. But it is a sacrament,
a holy ordinance commanded by Christ. And so we believe in
our local church that a monthly observance of the Lord’s Supper
is the appropriate way for us. It is a sacrament that Christ
has provided. He knows what we need. He knows
our forgetfulness, our weakness. He knows that we need reminders,
that we need nourishment and strength. And so he provides
for us in the sacrament. And so we come, we approach the
Lord’s table with faith. Faith to know that Jesus died
for us. Faith to understand that we’re
sinners in need of his grace. Faith to believe that somehow,
some way, that in this little bit of bread and this little
cup that he is going to feed us, not physically. Yes, we’ll
swallow and drink. But that he will feed us and
nourish us spiritually by faith. The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament.
The second thing we should understand is the Lord’s Supper is also
a seal. God is sealing in us and to us
his promises. Many of you ladies in the room
are wearing an engagement ring. And at the particular time when
your husband gave you that ring, he gave it to you as a seal of
his promise. I promise to be your husband. I promise to be faithful to you.
I promise to marry you. I promise all that comes with
marriage. Remember that God has made a
covenant promise to his people. He has promised to be our God
and that we will be his people and that the dwelling place of
God will be with men. That’s our ultimate goal is to
make it safely to heaven where we will dwell with God. And so
God through the sacrament is sealing to us his promises. It’s one thing for him to say,
I love you. It’s another for him to say,
I redeem you. And it’s another for him to say,
I’m going to prepare a place for you. And there where I am,
you someday will be with me also. The Lord’s Supper is a good reminder
to us that his promises are yes and true and sure and even amen
in Christ Jesus. And so it’s a seal to us that
God will keep his word. He will keep his promises to
us. The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament.
The Lord’s Supper is a seal. And the third thing is the Lord’s
Supper has signs. In the Lord’s Supper, we take
bread, we take in our case, grape juice. Now, historically and
biblically, the scriptures teach that Jesus took bread and he
took wine. And I understand we have our
southern sensibilities where some have issue with alcohol
and all that business. But we take bread, we take the
cup of the vine, the fruit of the grape vine, and we use these
signs to represent the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus took bread. He took bread from the Passover
meal, likely unleavened bread. He took the cup of wine that
they were using to observe Passover. And he said, this cup is the
blood of the new covenant. This bread is my body, which
is given for you. And so there is something in
the Lord’s supper that we can handle. We can touch it. We can taste it, we can smell
it. It goes in our bodies and down our throats. It goes in
our nostrils. Our senses are fully on display. And God uses these signs. He
uses this bread and he uses this wine to remind us that in the
Passover, there was a great exodus from the tyranny of Pharaoh and
enslavement and bondage. But in the Lord’s Supper, there’s
a greater exodus through Jesus. Moses was a wonderful redeemer,
but Jesus, an even greater redeemer, as he rescues us from darkness
and sin and enslavement to the ways of this world. And so in
these signs, in this bread and in this wine, the emblems of
Jesus’ suffering and death are on display before our eyes. And
so at the Lord’s Supper, there’s all kinds of things taking place,
all kinds of imagery and remembrances taking place in our hearts and
our minds. There are smells and tastes and
touches. But in the Lord’s Supper, we’re reminded of Jesus, the
suffering servant that Isaiah foretold. Jesus was wounded for
our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement that was due
to us for our sins, he received. And remember that wonderful phrase
in the servant song of Isaiah, by his stripes, we are healed. Now I’d imagine some of you have
taken on debt in your life. You’ve bought a house or a car
or funded your education or something. And there was a moment in time
where you became free of that debt. Your debt was paid off.
But you understand when we have a debt before God, and that debt
is our sin, It’s a debt we can never pay. It’s a debt that we
owe and it can never, ever, ever be paid off. Try as we might,
hard as we may work, good deeds we might do, whatever you can
dream up, it won’t be good enough. But Jesus alone can pay that
debt. And so in the Lord’s Supper,
we recognize through the bread and the wine and through the
Holy Spirit at work, that we owed a debt that we could not
pay. And Jesus paid a debt that he did not owe. He has washed
away all our sins. We are free from the wrath of
God and the curses of the eternal life without God, which is promised
to those who are not found in Jesus. So the sacrament, the
seal, the signs, there’s a final thing for us to consider. It’s
a supper. It is literally the Lord’s supper.
Now, I know in your minds and hearts, when you think of supper,
you think of sitting down at a table, you think of larger
dishes, not just a little wafer. You think of a taller glass of
drink, probably iced tea or something of that nature, but you think
of more food. But think of the supper in this
way. It’s a covenant meal. It’s the covenant people of God
gathered together around a table for a meal. And the meal is not
necessarily in the bread and the cup that we drink. Yes, God
uses those signs by faith. But we are communing together
in peace. We are communing together in
the blood and the unity that comes in Christ Jesus with all
his gifts and graces to us. And we are communing together
under the umbrella of God and his love. and we are communing
together in a way that gives a glimpse of the great way we
will commune together in heaven. Remember Jesus says, this is
the last time I’ll eat this meal with you. He’s gonna leave, he’s
gonna go to heaven, but he says, there will be a great feast in
heaven and I’ll drink the cup of the new covenant and I’ll
eat this meal with you again there. And so it’s for us a monthly
reminder. that there’s a bigger supper
coming. There is a bigger meal coming
where all the covenant people of God will be gathered together
in heaven. Untold numbers, redeemed by Jesus, eating together before
the great throne of almighty God. It’s a supper. It’s a special
meal. And I hope that you’ll take in
the smells and the taste and the textures. I hope that you’ll
take in your heart and mind the emotion of what Jesus has done
for you. and that you’re with your covenant
family, those who together in Christ are heirs in Jesus with
all that he has done for us and promised to do. I hope you’ll
be strengthened and encouraged and reminded and nurtured in
the faith. You know, sometimes we get busy
and we don’t eat. Oh, you know, we joke sometimes,
we’ve never missed a meal, but you know how it is on chore day
at your house, you get busy and you start working and next thing
you know, it’s two o’clock and that piece of toast you ate at
breakfast is wearing off. We get busy and we don’t eat.
Our heads hurt, we get a tummy ache, we long for something to
eat. Friends, this is a meal not to
be missed. This is a meal that we desperately
need, more than physical food. Remember, Jesus says, if you
eat from the bread of heaven, if you drink from the water of
life, you’ll never thirst and you’ll never go hungry again.
Friends, Jesus promises that in this meal, he will feed you. By faith, he will feed you in
a special and meaningful way. There’s a lot of mystery to the
Lord’s Supper. There’s a lot we don’t know and understand,
but we know that when we leave the supper, that Jesus has been
with us and he has fed us and he has nurtured us. Friends,
this is a meal not to be missed. And so we come to this table
in faith and say, Lamb of God, feed me. Let us pray together. Our gracious God, we thank you
for this meal we’re about to eat. We thank you that it has
been provided for us so richly and so freely. And we thank you
that You give us faith to understand it. You give us zeal to come
to the table. And we pray now that this meal
would nourish us and strengthen us and encourage us. May it lift
our hearts again towards heaven. And we pray now that you would
take this bread and this cup, these common elements. May they
be set apart for uncommon use. May they be set apart for holy
use. Lord, use these to feed your people as you promised to
do. This we ask in the name of Jesus, our great savior. Amen.