Jesus’s Final Night

Announcements:

Sitting up front

Wednesday Nights start up January 21st

JHM/HSM Ice Skating January 23rd

Introduction:

If you had 24 hours to live what would you do?

We have been on a break from the Gospel of Mark for over a month

In the coming weeks we are going to be wrapping it up

As a brief recap, we’ve seen:

Jesus enter the scene

Preforming miracles

Stumping religious leaders

His growth seemed unstoppable

And right at the pinnacle of his ministry success

He starts to head towards Jerusalem

Where the religious leaders want him dead

He starts sharing with his disciples how he is going to be betrayed, crucified, and raised from the dead

And today—We are at the point in the gospel story called the last supper

The final night of Jesus’s life before he is crucified

So lets jump in

Scripture Reading:

Mark 14:12–26 CSB

12 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover lamb, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare the Passover so that you may eat it?” 13 So he sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.” 16 So the disciples went out, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 17 When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be distressed and to say to him one by one, “Surely not I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve—the one who is dipping bread in the bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.” 22 As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” 26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus’s Final Night

So here we are in the final hours of Jesus’s life

This is the calm before the storm

In less than 24 hours the following will take place:

Jesus dines with his closest friends

They leave out the city to the Garden of Gethsemane

Jesus toils in prayer over what will take place

Jesus is betrayed by Judas and captured by the religious leaders

He is dragged from the religious leaders to the Romans and back for hearings where he is falsely accused

Even his closest friends reject and abandon him

He is kept up all night

He is condemned by the Jewish people as they choose to free a murderer instead of Jesus

He is publicly beaten, humiliated, spit on, laughed at, and tortured

He carried his cross outside of the city

And he is hung on the cross for all to see

In torture and agony

And he takes on the sin of the world—and dies in our place

All of this will happen in the next 24 hours for Jesus

Knowing all of this: How would you spend your last couple of hours?

Ask

He decides to spend it with his closest friends

The same friends he knows will betray and abandon him

We see that Jesus is a true and faithful friend

Even when we are not

In John’s Gospel he writes:

John 13:1 CSB

1 Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

And before we jump into the story, know this:

Jesus has the sort of love that is complete

He doesn’t love half-heartedly

His love isn’t finicky—up and down

It’s not dependent on our love towards him

He loves us till the end

Here we see the deep faithful love of Jesus

There is nothing else he would rather do in his final hours than spend time with his dearly loved friends

The Passover Meal

So He decides to spend his final night dining with his friends—but it is not just any meal—it is THE meal

The Passover Meal was a defining meal for the Jewish people:

It’s like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the 4th of July all in one — (Tradition, Religion, National)

~The Story of the Passover~

The tradition of Passover

And as we will see, this is no coincidence

Jesus is leading his people in a new Exodus

And not just freedom from the oppression of Egypt

But freedom from Satan, sin, and death itself

The first exodus was only a shadow of what was to come

All of the passover lambs pointed to Jesus—the true passover lamb

So Jesus takes this holy tradition and repurposes it for its true meaning

He is establishing a new covenant between God and mankind

~expound on covenants~

Adam

Noah

Abraham

David

And this new covenant had been talked about by the Prophets

The New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31–34 CSB

31 “Look, the days are coming” —this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration. 33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them” —this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.

And we are invited to take part in this new covenant

Not one of rules and regulations

The Old Covenant was insufficient

But one where God’s teaching is written on our hearts

And knowing he is going to leave, Jesus gives us a very tangible means of remembering him, and this new covenant— a shared meal

The Bread and the Cup

Not a fancy feast—but an ordinary reminder of basic sustenance

On his final night with his friends, he is giving them a way to remember him—and the reason he came

“Do this in remembrance of me” 1 Corinthians

How many of you are a little confused about communion?

So what is so special about the bread and the cup?

The Bread

The Bread represents Jesus’s body that was broken for us

Before a time of small communion wafers—we broke bread—ripped it apart—shared it with each other

Which in doing so we remember Christ’s body that was broken for us

Not just metaphorically—but physically

He was beaten, bruised, whipped, flayed, and crucified

His body was broken for you and me

But why bread?

It is plain, available to all, and sustains us

As we eat the bread we remember that just like the food we eat sustains us

It comes into our body—is digested by our body—we absorb and use the energy provided by it

We remember our complete dependency on Jesus

Just like without food we would shortly starve and die—without Jesus we would wither away

As we eat the bread we remind ourselves of our utter need for Jesus in our lives

And as we eat the bread we remember both of these truths:

Jesus’s body that was broken for us

The sustenance that Jesus provides and our dependency on Him

The Cup

Believe it or not—Jesus didn’t drink Welch’s Grape Juice— The cup — It was wine

And in Jesus’s words—This wine represents the ‘blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many’

There is so much imagery here—Just like the bread represents the body of Christ—The wine represents the blood of Christ

Why Blood?

Blood seals covenants

We are sealed

Blood represents life and vitality

Not only was his body broken—but he gave his life for us

Blood secures forgiveness

OT Sacrifices

Why Wine?

Throughout the Bible there are two main metaphors for wine — Wrath/Judgement & Joy

As we take the cup we remind ourselves of the cup of wrath that Jesus took at the cross

That He took on the sins of the world

He endured the full wrath of God so that we wouldn’t

And simultaneously—the cup we drinks represents joy

Bread is neccesary—Wine isn’t

God doesn’t just give us what we need to sustain us

Keeping us barely hanging in there

God gives us joy—This is grace (mercy vs grace)

Psalm 104:14–15 CSB

14 He causes grass to grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, producing food from the earth, 15 wine that makes human hearts glad— making his face shine with oil— and bread that sustains human hearts.

In Christ, God both sustains us and makes our hearts glad

Conclusion

So I know there is a lot of symbolism in this meal—but I don’t want us to get lost in it—Turning it into a mental exercise

Communion is a deeply personal and powerful way of reorienting our lives to Jesus

In the main service we do it every week—and as I’ve been praying about it—We want to do it here too

And I just want to say a few things—If you ever have any questions—please ask me

I know for a long time communion was something kind of confusing to me—So I understand

And I just have one final thing I want to say—there are two sacraments that Jesus has given us as his followers

Sacraments are physical and visible rituals that symbolize a greater spiritual truth

Does anyone know the two sacraments?

Baptism and Communion

Both of these are commanded by Jesus

And I think because we don’t see Communion in the right light—We miss the point of baptism to

How many of you have been baptized?

You see baptism is the entry way into the faith

Just like I have talked about how the last supper/communion is symbolic

Baptism is a symbolic ritual that shows we have been washed and born anew

And if you haven’t been baptized we will be having a baptism at the end of the month

But like I said it’s the entry way

You don’t have to be a mature believer, you don’t have to have everything figured out

Just the simple and true faith of who Jesus is and what he came to do

Communion is the other sacrament

It is a way in which we constantly come back to Jesus again and again

You see the Christian life is hard, and we fail all of the time

Communion is the way we recenter ourselves on Jesus

I know lots of people that have been baptized and followed Jesus, but have fallen into sin, back slidden

And they think what they need is another baptism—a fresh start

But the truth is we don’t — we need the forgiveness of Jesus not another baptism

And in communion we remember who Jesus is and what he came to do

All of the stuff I’ve been talking about

He is our sustenance

He is our joy

His body was broken for us

His life was given for us

And on his last night, in his final hours of peace before the storm

He gives us this way to remember him

And God’s people have been remembering Jesus through this for thousands of years

Just like the passover meal reminded the Jewish people of the Exodus from Egypt and their liberation from slavery

Communion is our reminder of Jesus, his work on the cross, and our liberation from Sin, Satan, and death itself

Recalibration:ship off a degree

So I don’t know where each of us are in our lives right now

Maybe things have been going great

Maybe this winter break was very difficult

But all of us are in deep need of Jesus

We need his sustenance — running a car on Orange Juice

We need his joy

We need forgiveness

And we need strength to forgive others

So every time we take communion this is what we do it for

The Greek word ‘Eucharist” which means “thanksgiving”

So take this time to meet with Jesus to thank him

Thank him for all he has done for us

To remind ourselves of the unbreakable covenant of love

He will never leave you or forsake you

And one last thing:

If you’re here and you don’t know Jesus

Or at least in this way—You haven’t recieved his life and forgiveness

Please come talk to me or Bianka—Nothing would bring us greater Joy to introduce you to him