SURELY YOU DON’T MEAN ME?
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Opening Prayer
Father, engage my mind and my imagination as I read your Word today. Move my heart to greater thanksgiving and praise as I focus on the words and deeds of your Son.
Read MARK 14:12–26
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
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
- 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.
Reflect
What emotions do you feel most strongly when you participate in the Lord’s Supper?
Who’d be on your guest list for a celebration meal? I’d like to choose Bono from U2, Jurgen Klopp, Nicole Kidman, Stormzy, athlete Christine Ohurogu, and Bear Grylls. A mixed bunch, you might say, but each one claims to be a believer in Jesus Christ. My guests would be no more of a mixed bunch than those twelve who shared the Passover supper with Jesus. Among the guests was a doubter, a pair of ambitious brothers, a blusterer who would let Jesus down, and someone who had already initiated a plan to betray him. But each one had responded to Jesus’ call to follow him.
It was a bittersweet meal—a celebration of the redemption of God’s people from slavery in Egypt, but with the cloud of Jesus’ revelation (v. 18) hanging over the festivities. As they shared the bread and drank from the cup, at a meal they’d participated in for many years, each of the twelve would be engaged in self-examination, ‘Surely you don’t mean me?’ (v. 19).
Communion, mass, the breaking of bread—this is a familiar institution to us. Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 11:23–25, along with his commentary in the rest of the chapter, formalized what took place. In that room, around a table, looking into his disciples’ eyes, Jesus personally identified himself with the loaf broken by his own hands and the wine in the cup. Participation deeply involved each disciple. Passing bread and wine from hand to hand they took, they ate, they drank. Each one was asking, ‘Surely you don’t mean me?’ The next time you share the bread and the cup, remember that Passover supper and ask yourself what Jesus is thinking as he looks into your eyes, shares the bread, and passes the cup.
Apply
Strip away the institution, the ceremony. Share a simple meal with Jesus.
Closing prayer
Lamb of God, I am so grateful that I am welcome to partake from your table. Thank you for all you have done to make it so.
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