Jesus Prepared a Last Supper That Was Actually a First Supper -Good Friday

Mark 14:22-25 Text for tonight

Welcome and thanks for joining us tonight.

This the 2nd Good Friday that we’ve met on Zoom.

I hope this is our last one, I miss all of meeting together.

Mark 14:22–25 CSB

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.”

Message

Pray: Lord, on this holy day we remember that you took all our sins away; you bore in your own body our sins upon the cross. You took the punishment, the guilt, the penalty that were due to us.

We do not know what pain you had to bear for us in those hours in which you were separated from your heavenly Father’s love.

We are standing on holy ground as we ponder these truths.

We worship you that you did all this for your people, to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the spotless one who took on himself our guilt, our sin, our punishment.

Christ … the Son of God, who loved us and gave his life for us.

He has put us right with yourself. We have faith in you and that is credited to us as righteousness. Because of Christ’s death on the cross we are declared to be in a right relationship with you.

“Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven”—what amazing realities, what wonderful words!

We worship you heavenly Father for the gift of your Son, that Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, to bring us back to God.

Thank you, heavenly Father, that today is not the end. Christ rose from the dead to prove that his sacrifice was accepted, to prove that he really is the Son of God.

He has redeemed us. We have been bought at a price. May we therefore live for you today, offering ourselves constantly to you, laying down our lives for others. We pray in the precious name of Christ. Amen.

Jesus has already served His disciples on their last night together by washing their feet (John 13: 1-20).

Now He serves them again as He institutes what we call “the Last Supper”.

However, we could also refer to it as “the First Supper,” as it inaugurates the “new covenant” (Jer 31: 31-34; Luke 22: 20), which God made with us through the Lord Jesus, the true Passover Lamb who had been sacrificed for us (1 Cor 5: 7).

His death made possible a new and greater exodus (see Luke 9: 31), as we are set free from our slavery to sin.

If you remember a couple of years ago, we had the Jewish Christian lead us in the Seder service.

We can see the Passover meal was the proper occasion for the Lord’s Supper to be instituted:

It included four points at which the presider, holding a glass of wine, got up and explained the Feast’s meaning.

The four cups of wine represented the four promises made by God in Exodus 6: 6-7.

These promises were for rescue from Egypt, for freedom from slavery, for redemption by God’s power, and for a renewed relationship with God.

The third cup came at a point when the meal was almost completely eaten.

This third cup, I believe, is the one in verse 23.

The Passover meal is proceeding as usual when suddenly Jesus departs from the normal script.

What He says are the words of a madman unless He is the Son of God and the true Passover Lamb.

Breaking the bread and blessing it, He says, “Take it; this is My body.” He takes the cup, blesses it, and “they all drank from it.”

Then He says, “This is My blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many” (v. 24). The new covenant, like the old covenant, is a “blood covenant.”

That it is “shed for many” informs us that the new covenant, promised in Jeremiah 31: 31-34, is made possible by the death of Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant of the Lord” who “bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa 53: 12).

Hebrews 8: 1-13 speaks of the new covenant in greater detail.

Jesus told His disciples that each time they gathered in the future to celebrate this meal, they were to do it “in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22: 19; 1 Cor 11: 24).

It is almost impossible to overstate how shocking these words are.

Sam Storms helps us grasp the massive significance of what Jesus said: What Jesus requested, indeed commanded, His followers and friends to do subsequent to His death is nothing short of shocking!

It’s one thing to desire that your memory be preserved by your loved ones and that they continue to honor and esteem you throughout the remainder of their lives. . . . But it is altogether something else to command that your friends, family, and followers gather together regularly at a meal not only in your name but with you as the sole and exclusive focus. . . . Jesus commanded His followers, every time they broke bread together, to make Him the central point of their celebration and to recall and re-tell His life and death.

Were anyone to make this request of me prior to their death, I would probably conclude that the proximity of their demise had afflicted them with delusions of grandeur and megalomania.

Yet, this is precisely what Jesus commanded that each of His followers do in memory of Him! (Storms, “Passover Lamb”; ).

Jesus brings things to a close by refusing to drink the fourth and final cup.

It is the cup of consummation and life in the promised land of God.

For that cup He will wait.

First, He must drink to the last drop the cup of God’s wrath and justice.

Apart from it, no cup of blessing would be possible.

Take Bread and Juice,

First, with regard to the cup: “We thank you, our Father, For the holy vine of David your servant, which you made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory forever.”

And with regard to the *Bread: “We thank you, our Father, For the life and knowledge which you made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory forever.

As this the grains that made this bread were scattered upon the mountains and became one when it had been gathered, So may your church be gathered into your kingdom from the ends of the earth. For glory and power are yours, through Jesus Christ, forever.”

The last thing Jesus and His disciples did was to sing a song.

Conclusion In 1991 Christian songwriter and vocalist Twila Paris penned a song to accompany the observance of the Lord’s Supper by the Lord’s people.

It has powerful words for reflection and celebration as we consider the King, His supper, and His passion.

Switch screens and play video.

Good night and pray