Mark 14 12-26
The Last Supper: A Place for a Feast
Text: Mark 14:12-26
Dear Christian Friends,
On the eve of his death, Jesus’ was concerned only for his disciples. While Satan was preparing his temptations and Judas was whispering his betrayal, while the soldiers and guards stood ready to follow him to Jesus and the Sanhedrin was preparing their kangaroo court, Jesus had his disciples in his heart. He knew how frail and frightened they were. He wanted to give them extra support and strength.
And that night Jesus was not looking only at His eleven disciples. He was also looking into the future at us. So he showed his tender mercy in a remarkable and miraculous way. He took them, and still takes us, to another “Place of the Passion,” a place of a feast as He institutes His Holy Supper. In His feast God comes together, communes with sinners.
1. Bread and wine—body and blood
If you are sitting at a dinner table ready to eat a meal and you are wondering just what you are eating, all you have to do is look at the food. Chicken is chicken. Potatoes are potatoes. Beans are beans. If you want to know if there are any other ingredients present that you can’t see, you have to read the label. For instance …
If you want to know what Jesus gives us in His feast, we have to start by looking at it too. “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them” (vv. 22,23). When we partake of this feast, bread is still bread and wine is still wine. But there are added ingredients in this meal that we do not see. So, we look at the label. We look at the Savior’s words. “[He] took bread and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’ Then he took the cup . . . and offered it to them . . . [saying,] ‘This is my blood’ ”(vv. 22-24). In this special meal, Jesus gives us his own body and blood, the same body that was nailed to the cross, the same blood that was shed, miraculously joined to the bread and wine. How can bread and wine be the body and blood of Christ? We stand by the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, “This is my body. . . . This is my blood.”
2. God—sinners
Do you sometimes find yourself eating the wrong kind of foods? Many people enjoy eating junk food. Unfortunately, eating a lot of that stuff causes a person to take in too much fat and cholesterol. What each of us really needs is a well-balanced diet so all our bodily systems function properly. We need to eat food that has solid nutritional value so our bodies grow and maintain their strength.
Our souls need nourishment too, so that our faith can grow in its strength. There is a lot of spiritual junk food available in the religious marketplace. A person can fill up on the “Twinkies” of social action and civil rights as it served up as the main course in some churches today. You can fatten up on the “cupcakes” of self-indulgence, self-reliance, or self-fulfillment. But there is only one food that has real value for our souls, and that is the forgiveness of our sins.
When we want to be sure that food for our bodies has value, we check with the experts, the nutritionists. They have the expertise to tell us not only what is in certain foods but also to determine what benefit there is in them. We take their word for it. The same is true in this special meal. When we want to be sure that this sacramental meal has real value, we check with the only expert there is, the Lord Jesus himself. He tells us not only what is in this special meal but also the benefit it has for us. We take his word for it.
Our Lord tells us: “Take eat; this is my body [given for you] . . . This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many [for the forgiveness of sins]” (vv. 22-24; Lk 22:19; Mt 26:28). The word covenant is the key. A covenant is an agreement. Normally there are two sides to an agreement. If you agree not to throw a hymnal at me, I’ll agree not to throw one at you. That would be a two-sided covenant, a two-sided agreement. But when Jesus made this covenant with us, he did not make a two-sided agreement. It is just a one-sided promise. He says: “You don’t have to do anything. He bids us to come to His table, empty handed. Come to His table with your sin. Come with your guilt.” Hosea prophecies about Christ, “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them”. (Hos 14:4).
Yet, sometimes we struggle long and hard against the desires of our sinful nature and lose the battle. Then we wonder if God still loves us. That’s when we need this special meal for the special assurance that God still loves us. Because we are struggling, tempted, and weak, we go to the Lord’s Supper to touch and taste, to eat and drink in a personal way our Lord reassures us, “Your sins are forgiven.”
In this place of a feast God and sinners come together and sinners receive the eternal life giving food given and shed for them.
3. People—people
I find it hard to grasp how a politician can attend a state dinner with his political opponent and actually smile and digest the food. A person would have to be a terrific actor to pull it off. It’s tough for us too when we find ourselves sitting across the table from the person that we dislike or disagree with for one reason or another. A meal like that would be uncomfortable. We may even loose our appetites and feel sick to our stomachs. On the other hand, some of the most pleasant times in our lives may center around a relaxing and enjoyable meal with dear friends and relatives. Relationships are strengthened, and expressions of love and mutual commitment are shared.
In the upper room, Jesus hinted at that kind of oneness. He said, “I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God” (vs. 25). There can be no closer link between friends than when they are joined with each other and Jesus in heaven. This meal is a foretaste of that oneness we will enjoy there. Then the Gospel writer adds, “When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” (vs. 26). Singing at the Passover meal was commonplace, a demonstration of the unity shared by those who partook of the meal. This feast of God is not only a place where God comes together with sinners; it is a place where people come together with each other. Whenever we participate together in this feast, we are indicating that we are one in faith, that we all believe and confess the same Christian faith. Sometimes we come together at this table like political adversaries eating with each other, or the uncomfortable situation of being in the company of people we don’t like or disagree with. Psalm 23 comes to mind, “You [God] preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies [the people around us], You annointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. As we receive forgiveness for our sins in Christ’s body and blood, we begin to understand what we have been given. In turn we look at each other, even our enemies around us at the Lord’s Table, with hearts that express forgiveness towards each other. The cup of God’s forgiveness overflows into the rest of our lives and relationships. In this feast of our Lord, God communes with us and we commune with each other. Through it God strengthens us in our faith and in our lives with each other as we are the community of Christ in the world.
The kind of reality we want and the kind of reassurance we desire comes to us from our Savior who comes to help us. He is a Savior who takes us by the hand and leads us to this place of a feast. Here He joins Himself, the payment for our sins, with something we can see, touch, and taste. Here he joins His love to our hearts. Here he joins us to each other so that at this place, whenever we partake of this feast, we understand the Apostle Paul’s words, “Though you have not seen [Christ Jesus], you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Pe 1:8,9). Come to the table of the Lord. Come to the Feast that He has prepared for you. Amen.