Maundy Thursday

“Maundy Thursday” - mandatum novum- “new commandment”- John 13:34 “a new commandment i give you is that you love one another.”

When Jesus woke up Thursday morning, he would like not close his eyes again until he closed them in death of Friday afternoon.

The Focus of Thursday night was instituting of the Lord’s Supper.

Preparation for the Passover Meal

Jesus’s instructions show his omniscience in that he told the two disciples that when they entered the city, they would encounter a man carrying water. And they were to follow the man carrying a jar of water. This was strange because carrying water jars was considered to be woman’s work. But even with something as unusual as seeing a man carrying a jug of water, it still would have been very hard finding him, because of the thousands of people in the city for passover. This shows us that God is in control, hes providential; even hours before His death, Jesus is showing us that He is in complete control.

Eating the Passover and Instituting the Lord’s Supper

Mark presents us with another sandwich in verses 17-31.

The outer pieces of bread show the unfaithfulness of the disciples, and the middle demonstrates the complete faithfulness of Jesus.

VV. 17-21:

Mark’s account doesn’t go into depth concerning the details of the passover meal. Let’s get a quick overview of what happened at a passover meal:

The elements of the meal actually retold the story of the exodus.

The Passover Lamb reminded the Jews of the lambs blood smeared on the doorposts to escape the angel of death.

The unleavened bread reminded them of the swiftness of their redemption in that they had no time to bake bread before their departing egypt.

A bowl of fruit puree reminded them of the clay their ancestors used to make bricks during their captivity.

The bowl of saltwater recalled the tears of their slavery and the water of the Red Sea. The bitter herbs recalled the bitterness of the Israelites bondage.

Four cups of wine were consumed during the Passover meal. Each cup commemorated one of the four promises God made to His people found in exodus 6:6-7. 1. I will bring you out of Egypt. 2. I will redeem you. 3. I will take you as my people. 4. I will be your God.

First came a blessing for the festival and the first cup of wine. Next, the food was brought out. The youngest son would ask “why was this night different from all other nights?’ The father would answer by by retelling the exodus story and pointing to the items on the table and their symbolic meanings. Then there would be an explaining of psalm 113-14. After drinking the second cup of wine, the bread would be blessed, broken and distributed. The bread would be eaten with the bitter herbs and the bowl of fruit puree. The meal was eaten next. The meal included roasted lamb that had been sacrificed in the temple. At the end of the meal, the father would bless a third cup of wine, which would be followed by singing Psalm 115-118. The fourth cup of wine would conclude the meal. During this meal, the families would remember but also look forward to the future redemption of the Messiah

And as his disciples were quickly finding out, this would be the last passover meal in which they had to expect the future redeemer. He’s here.

First piece of the sandwich: The unfaithful betrayer.

The traitor was the one who dipped his hand in the dish, second, that man would have been better off if he hadn’t been born, third, this betrayal was ordained by God.

Ps 41:9 “even my friend whom I trusted, one who ate my bread, has raised my heal against me.”

It is worth noting that even though there is only one true betrayer, by daylight all the disciples will have betrayed Jesus in the sense that they all fell away when Jesus was captured.

The middle of the sandwich: Jesus’s Ultimate Faithfulness

vv. 22-25

v. 22, 7 GK verbs in this one verse: eat, take, bless, break, give, say, take) all of this is done by Jesus on behalf of the disciples, signifying his grace on their behalf.

This is my body

V. 23

This is the blood of the covenant. Calls us back to Exodus 24:6-11

In verse 6 the blood of the peace offering is thrown on the alter and in verse 8, thrown on the people, symbolizing cleansing, atoning, and uniting. The blood being applied to the alter and people confirms the covenant. Think about this language and how it applies to Christians.

In vv 9-11- Moses, Aaron, and his sons and the 70 elders partake in this peace offering for the purpose of fellowship and communion in the presence of God. They saw God, and they were unharmed. but what we see is only a partial vision of God. They only saw under his feet, or only his feet. They could not have seen God completely and lived.

Because the sacrifice of bulls are insufficient sacrifices to cover sin once and for all. The old covenant was established through the blood of animals, but the new covenant is established through the blood of Jesus, God’s begotten Son. So Jesus is explaining to the disciples that his death is going to be a sacrifice of atonement that establishes a new covenant with his people leading them in a new exodus from slavery to satan sin and death. Today, Jesus has complete access to the Father, because He is the Worthy One. He has earned His office as the Great High Priest. The only reason Christians have access to the Father is because Christ has access to the Father.

Passover: God remembered his covenant with Abraham. 2.Israel remembered their bondage in Egypt.3. Blood of a lamb was smeared on the doorposts of each family as a sign of obedience.

At the Lord’s Supper, a new covenant was established between God and his people. 2. We are reminded of our former slavery to sin, death and the devil, but through Jesus’s death we receive forgiveness and freedom from slavery to sin. 3. the blood of Christ, our passover lamb, has been shed for our redemption.

Dont miss verse 23; They all drank of it. Then, They ALL swear their allegiance (31), then they ALL fall away (27), and they ALL Flee (50).

The first Lord’s supper was attended by liars, cowards, deniers. Thats the bottom piece of bread in Mark’s sandwich. VV 26-31 we see the Disciples unfaithfulness through peters denial, the disciples falling away, and lying about not denying Jesus.

But this is such good news. The Lord’s table is not a table of works but of grace!! None of them were worthy to be included in New Covenant. Just like none of us are. But the blood of Jesus is SUFFICIENT.