OLD PASSOVER, NEW COVENANT
Opening Prayer
Lord, we believe that You are the Passover Lamb.
Read MARK 14:12–26
The Last Supper
12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: 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 preparations for us there.”
16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”
19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”
20 “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Footnotes:
a Mark 14:24 Some manuscripts the new
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
Reflect on the meaning of the Lord’s Supper for you.
Think Further
Just as He did at His entrance into Jerusalem (Mark 11:2), so now Jesus sends two disciples to prepare the Passover meal. It seems that Jesus has contacts in Jerusalem, and some of them recognize Him as their Master. The Passover setting places the meal in the continuity of Jewish history, but it goes beyond that. The Exodus was God’s great work of redemption for the Hebrew people. It established them as His people. The work of Christ on the cross is the new Exodus, as He leads his people out of the captivity of sin into a new life with Him. Here, the beneficiary is not merely Israel, but “many” (24).
In His words to the disciples, Jesus looks forward. He speaks of the bread as His body without further explanation, but the wine is clearly designated as His blood of the covenant. This is the new covenant about which Jeremiah had spoken (Jeremiah 31:31-34).The Exodus covenant was ratified by sprinkling the Israelites with the blood of sacrifice (Exod 24:8), but the Christian believer will partake of His death by eating bread and drinking wine. Jesus looks forward to the consummation of all things and to drinking new wine at the great feast of rejoicing when the whole harvest is safely home.
We may picture Jesus and His disciples singing a hymn – probably the second part of the Hallel (a Jewish prayer that recites Psalms 113-118) – and reflecting on the words as they walk to Gethsemane. At some point Judas slips away. The whole symbolism of the meal and the words of Jesus about the one handing him over registers nothing to Judas. What brings life to others brings death to Judas. He remains an awful warning to all.
Apply
Read at least one of the psalms that make up the Hallel and reflect on Jesus singing them at this time.
Closing prayer
Lord, thank You for instituting the ordinance of communion so that believers can commemorate what You did on the cross.
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