The Lord’S Supper
THE LORD’S SUPPER
MARK 14:22-31
What reminder do you need to take to heart from celebrating the Lord’s Supper?
The account of the Passover meal is confined to those essential details which showed how the church was to continue to perform the rite in memory of its Lord. The normal course of the meal would be as follows:
The narrative here does not even mention the Passover lamb and the symbolism of the Exodus associated with it (for the Christian symbolism see 1 Corinthians 5:7), but concentrates its attention on how Jesus attached a new significance to the bread eaten with the main course and to the third cup of wine and made a solemn vow in connection with the latter. In the saying over the bread the word “is” (which would in any case be omitted in Aramaic idiom; cf. 12:26) must mean “represents,” since Jesus himself was actually performing the act. The word “body” is variously interpreted to mean the flesh of Jesus or his whole self. The symbolism suggests that Jesus was thinking of himself as being offered in sacrifice like the Passover lamb on behalf of the disciples (1 Corinthians 11:24). The wine symbolizes the death of Jesus. Three thoughts are bound up with it. First, it is covenant blood (cf. Exodus 24:8), the new covenant, prophesied by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Second, it is therefore sacrificial blood, for the covenant is inaugurated by a sacrifice in which God and man are reconciled. Third, it is the blood of the suffering Servant of God who lays down his life “for many,” ie for all men (Isaiah 53:12; Mark 10:45). The sacrifice is vicarious and substitutionary, and the disciples receive its blessings symbolically by receiving the bread and wine. Finally, in his vow (14:25) Jesus looked forward to the full coming of the kingdom of God, which was possible only through his death, and to the messianic banquet of which the Supper is a foretaste: “You proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
After singing the appointed Psalms the little company went outside Jerusalem, and through the gloom of impending betrayal and desertion shines the hope of Jesus in his resurrection and the coming of the kingdom.