The Salvation Meal
Mark 14:12-26
Message #53
About our text today, R. Kent Hughes says, Jesus is preparing for the most important meal eaten in the history of the world.
Why? Because Jesus is going to illustrate with the Passover meal that he is God’s sacrificial, Passover Lamb, fulfilling God’s plan of salvation for all who would believe. This is the Passover meal that changes eternity for all who will put their faith for salvation in Jesus Christ.
Mark 14:12 (NLT)
12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”
The Festival of Unleavened Bread is the first day of Passover. The Passover lambs are either being sacrificed or being prepared to be sacrificed (depending on how you interpret the language). But one thing we know for sure, Jesus IS God’s once and for all “Passover Lamb” and he is about to be sacrificed for our lives on Passover.
Passover celebrates the Exodus (setting free) of the Israelites from the bondage of slavery in Egypt just as the cross sets us free from the bondage of slavery to sin.
The tenth plague God poured out on Egypt that finally set Israel free from their bondage (Exodus 11-12) was the Angel of Death that impacted every family in Egypt, just as death still impacts every family today.
But the Israelites were instructed to sacrifice a spotless lamb (after bringing it into the home and caring for it) and put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their house, thereby “covering the family” under the blood of the Lamb.
And that night, the Angel of Death “passed over” the home that was covered by the Blood of the Lamb, just as today, when we put our faith in Jesus, we are covered by his sacrifice on our behalf, and death literally “passes over us” and instead we are ushered from this temporal life straight into eternal life with God.
There is no death for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Death is beaten, death is no more. It is just a transfer – death passes over us because of God’s Passover Lamb and the sacrifice he made to pay for our sins to enable death to Passover us.
That is what Passover and the Passover meal are ultimately about, and that is why this is the most important meal ever eaten.
This is the meal where Jesus illustrates it, like a living parable, of the Passover, in the Passover meal, about the true Passover Lamb. See, the Bible is not contradictory, it is not hodge-podge, not a collection of books. It is one story. It’s one story written by forty authors on three continents, sixty-six books, one story. And we call it the “red thread” that runs through the Bible. That’s why Exodus is connected to Mark, to all the Gospels.
And so, again, Mark 14:12-13.
Mark 14:12-13 (NLT)
12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”
13 So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him.
It would not be hard to spot a man carrying a pitcher of water because men did not usually do that – women did. So, just as Jesus said, a man carrying a pitcher of water met the Disciples and they followed him to a home.
Mark 14:14-15 (NLT)
14 (Jesus still giving instructions) At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’
15 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.”
The whole scene has a real “covert operation” feel to it, doesn’t it? Because the most powerful men in Israel were determined to kill Jesus, and Jesus was determined to give his life for us as the Passover Lamb – but not before this meal. All of these events would happen on Jesus’ timeline, not man’s timeline, and not his enemy’s timeline.
And, it is possible the house the Disciples were “led to” was John Mark’s “family home” who is the writer of this Gospel. And if it is John Mark’s family home, then it is most likely the same upper room where the Holy Spirit was poured out on the one hundred and twenty Disciples on the Day of Pentecost. This was a Spirit-filled room for sure.
Continuing in Mark 14:16.
Mark 14:16 (NLT)
16 So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.
Luke says it was Peter and John who were sent to prepare this most important meal in the history of the world.
Mark 14:17 (NLT)
17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the Twelve.
Now, right here, and surrounding the rest of our verses today is where the famous Upper Room Discourse (teaching) occurs. That discourse takes up John Chapters 13-16 (four chapters) and is the most power-packed, condensed teaching of Jesus in the three years of the Disciple’s training. And so, this was a monumental night surrounding the Passover meal. Every minute and every word had eternal significance.
Because Jesus knew he was only hours from the cross and Jesus knew that his Disciples did not know that he was only hours from the cross.
Even as Jesus was explaining to them that he was the Passover Lamb, even as Jesus was showing them that the original Passover which freed Israel from the slavery of Egypt was a picture – a type of what he was about to accomplish – as God’s true Passover Lamb.
So, a lot happened at this meal. But Mark writes in a fast-paced “action style” and so he leaves the deeper theology for John to write, and Mark focuses on the action events.
And so, Mark goes right to Jesus calling out the Betrayer.
Mark 14:18-19 (NLT)
18 As they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.”
19 Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?”
All of the Disciples were “greatly distressed” because he knew he was the One because the betrayal had already started.
And so, they’re all asking, “Is it me?”
Mark 14:20 (NLT)
20 He (Jesus) replied, “It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me.
This is a huge statement because Jesus is saying it is one of you who is sharing life with me. It is one of you whose feet I have just washed (John 13). It is one of you that I have loved unconditionally. It is one of you twelve who will betray me – to my death.
And then, Jesus makes it clear, that this is God’s plan. There is nothing happening here that is not within God’s complete control. As Mark 14:21(a) says,
Mark 14:21(a) (NLT)
21 For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago . . .
This is the fulfillment of God’s Plan of Salvation first prophesied in Genesis 3:15 where the Lord God speaks to Satan at the fall of man in the garden, and speaking of this day, God says to Satan (Genesis 3:15), “He (Jesus) will Crush your head - but you will strike his heel.” Jesus is preparing to crush the head (or plan) of Satan by becoming God’s Passover Lamb that takes away the sin of all those who will be “covered” (by faith) under his sacrifice.
This is exactly how God ordained our salvation to occur. But still, woe to the one who does the betraying.
Mark 14:21(b) (NLT)
21 . . . But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”
Guys, Judas made this choice himself. God did not force him to betray Jesus. Did God know Judas was going to do this? Yes, of course, but God did not force him to do it, and Jesus gave Judas every possible opportunity to repent. Jesus loved Judas so equally that the other Disciples never had a clue. Jesus even had just washed Judas’ feet as an act of servant-love toward him.
And listen, if Judas had repented, he would have remained with the twelve and Jesus would have still gone to the cross at the perfect time.
But Judas made his choice to betray the love of Jesus and he certainly came to feel It would’ve been better if he had never been born.
And each of us has a similar choice to make. What are we going to do with Jesus? Are we going to believe who the Bible says he is and receive him into our life? Or, are we going to turn our back on him and betray him?
By the way, scholars say Judas betrayed Jesus because Jesus wasn’t doing what Judas wanted him to do. How many people do you know that have gotten mad at God because God didn’t do what they wanted him to do? And so, they turn their back on him and betray him.
The Bible says how we answer that question determines if we will spend eternity in the presence of God.
And now, in the context of all the monumental things happening at the Last Supper we have the event that instituted communion for us today. We need to stop making communion a “religious repetition.” We need to get much more “moved” by what communion means.
Using the Passover and the Passover meal, Jesus is going to communicate the most important truth you will ever hear in your life.
The moment you die, there will be no other decision more important than this one.
Mark 14:22 (NLT)
22 As they were eating (the Passover meal), Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it (tore it) in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it (meaning: take and eat it), for this is my body.” (Luke adds “which is given for you”)
This is a radical departure from the Passover Seder. The head of the family, (in this room it would be Jesus), leads the “script” of the meal. This is not what the Disciples were expecting him to say. There is some standard verbiage. Jesus is throwing it all out, and saying look here’s what this really is. This Bread is my Body. This was a shock.
Everything at the Passover meal has a significant and symbolic meaning. There were bitter herbs to remind Israel of the bitterness of slavery. The herbs were dipped in saltwater to remind Israel of the tears shed under their bondage.
And this unleavened bread was to remind them of the source of life that Israel consumed as they were freed from their bondage and leaven symbolized sin. So, the bread was unleavened to symbolize the sinless source of their new life and during Israel’s time in the wilderness this “sinless source of life” came down from heaven and they called it Manna. (The word Manna means “what is it?”).
And in John Chapter 6 – Jesus made it clear – he is that Manna from heaven. He is the sinless source of life that God provided from heaven.
And so, here at the Last Supper, Jesus makes it clear, this Bread in the Passover meal represents the “sinless source of life” that comes from God which is the body of Jesus Christ, bearing your sins on the cross. And Jesus says, take this in, receive the sacrifice I’ve made for you on the cross.
All the people had to do in the wandering was receive the Manna, and that’s all we have to do. The source of life has come down from heaven to bear our sins, to make a way for us to spend eternity with God, all we have to do is receive it. Manna was only good for a day. Tomorrow morning, you need more Manna from heaven. More Jesus every morning.
Mark 14:23-24 (NLT)
23 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many.
This – is the New Covenant that required the sacrifice of the life of Jesus Christ to be freely offered to us.
You see, for God to be God, he must judge sin. God cannot simply overlook sin or he could not be a holy God and the judgment for sin is separation from God – which we call death. But the New Covenant that Jesus is initiating right here, is Jesus paying the full penalty for our sin – in our place enabling God to offer us the free gift of escaping the judgment on our sin by us putting our faith in Jesus Christ and receiving his sacrifice for our sin.
Romans 6:23 explains it perfectly.
Romans 6:23 (NLT)
23 For the wages of sin is death (that’s where we’re at, without Jesus Christ – the Old Covenant), but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (that’s the New Covenant of Jesus paying for our sins on the cross - and us receiving eternal life by putting our Full Faith in him)
And so, the Cup becomes a symbol of the life that Jesus Christ gave in our place so that we could live for eternity with God.
And then Jesus ends this forever life-changing meal with the promise of another communion meal coming in the Heavenly Kingdom.
Mark 14:25 (NLT)
25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new (Matthew adds “with you”) in the Kingdom of God.”
And then, Jesus closed three-and-a-half-years of teaching his Disciples with a worship song on the way to the arrest and the cross.
Mark 14:26 (NLT)
26 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
Guys, when we take communion, we are stopping the world for a few minutes and we’re stopping all our religious motions and goings-on, and we are coming back to the single most important truth that we can receive in this life. Jesus Christ gave himself as an offering – as a sacrifice – to pay the full penalty for our sin.
And when we put our faith in who Jesus Christ is and in what he has done for us on the cross, the greatest exchange in all of eternity occurs. Jesus takes on our sin and he gives us his righteousness before God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Why? Because Jesus is going to illustrate with the Passover meal that he is God’s sacrificial, Passover Lamb, fulfilling God’s plan of salvation for all who would believe. This is the Passover meal that changes eternity for all who will put their faith for salvation in Jesus Christ.
Mark 14:12 (NLT)
12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”
The Festival of Unleavened Bread is the first day of Passover. The Passover lambs are either being sacrificed or being prepared to be sacrificed (depending on how you interpret the language). But one thing we know for sure, Jesus IS God’s once and for all “Passover Lamb” and he is about to be sacrificed for our lives on Passover.
Passover celebrates the Exodus (setting free) of the Israelites from the bondage of slavery in Egypt just as the cross sets us free from the bondage of slavery to sin.
The tenth plague God poured out on Egypt that finally set Israel free from their bondage (Exodus 11-12) was the Angel of Death that impacted every family in Egypt, just as death still impacts every family today.
But the Israelites were instructed to sacrifice a spotless lamb (after bringing it into the home and caring for it) and put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their house, thereby “covering the family” under the blood of the Lamb.
And that night, the Angel of Death “passed over” the home that was covered by the Blood of the Lamb, just as today, when we put our faith in Jesus, we are covered by his sacrifice on our behalf, and death literally “passes over us” and instead we are ushered from this temporal life straight into eternal life with God.
There is no death for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Death is beaten, death is no more. It is just a transfer – death passes over us because of God’s Passover Lamb and the sacrifice he made to pay for our sins to enable death to Passover us.
That is what Passover and the Passover meal are ultimately about, and that is why this is the most important meal ever eaten.
This is the meal where Jesus illustrates it, like a living parable, of the Passover, in the Passover meal, about the true Passover Lamb. See, the Bible is not contradictory, it is not hodge-podge, not a collection of books. It is one story. It’s one story written by forty authors on three continents, sixty-six books, one story. And we call it the “red thread” that runs through the Bible. That’s why Exodus is connected to Mark, to all the Gospels.
And so, again, Mark 14:12-13.
Mark 14:12-13 (NLT)
12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”
13 So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him.
It would not be hard to spot a man carrying a pitcher of water because men did not usually do that – women did. So, just as Jesus said, a man carrying a pitcher of water met the Disciples and they followed him to a home.
Mark 14:14-15 (NLT)
14 (Jesus still giving instructions) At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’
15 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.”
The whole scene has a real “covert operation” feel to it, doesn’t it? Because the most powerful men in Israel were determined to kill Jesus, and Jesus was determined to give his life for us as the Passover Lamb – but not before this meal. All of these events would happen on Jesus’ timeline, not man’s timeline, and not his enemy’s timeline.
And, it is possible the house the Disciples were “led to” was John Mark’s “family home” who is the writer of this Gospel. And if it is John Mark’s family home, then it is most likely the same upper room where the Holy Spirit was poured out on the one hundred and twenty Disciples on the Day of Pentecost. This was a Spirit-filled room for sure.
Continuing in Mark 14:16.
Mark 14:16 (NLT)
16 So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.
Luke says it was Peter and John who were sent to prepare this most important meal in the history of the world.
Mark 14:17 (NLT)
17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the Twelve.
Now, right here, and surrounding the rest of our verses today is where the famous Upper Room Discourse (teaching) occurs. That discourse takes up John Chapters 13-16 (four chapters) and is the most power-packed, condensed teaching of Jesus in the three years of the Disciple’s training. And so, this was a monumental night surrounding the Passover meal. Every minute and every word had eternal significance.
Because Jesus knew he was only hours from the cross and Jesus knew that his Disciples did not know that he was only hours from the cross.
Even as Jesus was explaining to them that he was the Passover Lamb, even as Jesus was showing them that the original Passover which freed Israel from the slavery of Egypt was a picture – a type of what he was about to accomplish – as God’s true Passover Lamb.
So, a lot happened at this meal. But Mark writes in a fast-paced “action style” and so he leaves the deeper theology for John to write, and Mark focuses on the action events.
And so, Mark goes right to Jesus calling out the Betrayer.
Mark 14:18-19 (NLT)
18 As they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.”
19 Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?”
All of the Disciples were “greatly distressed” because he knew he was the One because the betrayal had already started.
And so, they’re all asking, “Is it me?”
Mark 14:20 (NLT)
20 He (Jesus) replied, “It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me.
This is a huge statement because Jesus is saying it is one of you who is sharing life with me. It is one of you whose feet I have just washed (John 13). It is one of you that I have loved unconditionally. It is one of you twelve who will betray me – to my death.
And then, Jesus makes it clear, that this is God’s plan. There is nothing happening here that is not within God’s complete control. As Mark 14:21(a) says,
Mark 14:21(a) (NLT)
21 For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago . . .
This is the fulfillment of God’s Plan of Salvation first prophesied in Genesis 3:15 where the Lord God speaks to Satan at the fall of man in the garden, and speaking of this day, God says to Satan (Genesis 3:15), “He (Jesus) will Crush your head - but you will strike his heel.” Jesus is preparing to crush the head (or plan) of Satan by becoming God’s Passover Lamb that takes away the sin of all those who will be “covered” (by faith) under his sacrifice.
This is exactly how God ordained our salvation to occur. But still, woe to the one who does the betraying.
Mark 14:21(b) (NLT)
21 . . . But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”
Guys, Judas made this choice himself. God did not force him to betray Jesus. Did God know Judas was going to do this? Yes, of course, but God did not force him to do it, and Jesus gave Judas every possible opportunity to repent. Jesus loved Judas so equally that the other Disciples never had a clue. Jesus even had just washed Judas’ feet as an act of servant-love toward him.
And listen, if Judas had repented, he would have remained with the twelve and Jesus would have still gone to the cross at the perfect time.
But Judas made his choice to betray the love of Jesus and he certainly came to feel It would’ve been better if he had never been born.
And each of us has a similar choice to make. What are we going to do with Jesus? Are we going to believe who the Bible says he is and receive him into our life? Or, are we going to turn our back on him and betray him?
By the way, scholars say Judas betrayed Jesus because Jesus wasn’t doing what Judas wanted him to do. How many people do you know that have gotten mad at God because God didn’t do what they wanted him to do? And so, they turn their back on him and betray him.
The Bible says how we answer that question determines if we will spend eternity in the presence of God.
And now, in the context of all the monumental things happening at the Last Supper we have the event that instituted communion for us today. We need to stop making communion a “religious repetition.” We need to get much more “moved” by what communion means.
Using the Passover and the Passover meal, Jesus is going to communicate the most important truth you will ever hear in your life.
The moment you die, there will be no other decision more important than this one.
Mark 14:22 (NLT)
22 As they were eating (the Passover meal), Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it (tore it) in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it (meaning: take and eat it), for this is my body.” (Luke adds “which is given for you”)
This is a radical departure from the Passover Seder. The head of the family, (in this room it would be Jesus), leads the “script” of the meal. This is not what the Disciples were expecting him to say. There is some standard verbiage. Jesus is throwing it all out, and saying look here’s what this really is. This Bread is my Body. This was a shock.
Everything at the Passover meal has a significant and symbolic meaning. There were bitter herbs to remind Israel of the bitterness of slavery. The herbs were dipped in saltwater to remind Israel of the tears shed under their bondage.
And this unleavened bread was to remind them of the source of life that Israel consumed as they were freed from their bondage and leaven symbolized sin. So, the bread was unleavened to symbolize the sinless source of their new life and during Israel’s time in the wilderness this “sinless source of life” came down from heaven and they called it Manna. (The word Manna means “what is it?”).
And in John Chapter 6 – Jesus made it clear – he is that Manna from heaven. He is the sinless source of life that God provided from heaven.
And so, here at the Last Supper, Jesus makes it clear, this Bread in the Passover meal represents the “sinless source of life” that comes from God which is the body of Jesus Christ, bearing your sins on the cross. And Jesus says, take this in, receive the sacrifice I’ve made for you on the cross.
All the people had to do in the wandering was receive the Manna, and that’s all we have to do. The source of life has come down from heaven to bear our sins, to make a way for us to spend eternity with God, all we have to do is receive it. Manna was only good for a day. Tomorrow morning, you need more Manna from heaven. More Jesus every morning.
Mark 14:23-24 (NLT)
23 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many.
This – is the New Covenant that required the sacrifice of the life of Jesus Christ to be freely offered to us.
You see, for God to be God, he must judge sin. God cannot simply overlook sin or he could not be a holy God and the judgment for sin is separation from God – which we call death. But the New Covenant that Jesus is initiating right here, is Jesus paying the full penalty for our sin – in our place enabling God to offer us the free gift of escaping the judgment on our sin by us putting our faith in Jesus Christ and receiving his sacrifice for our sin.
Romans 6:23 explains it perfectly.
Romans 6:23 (NLT)
23 For the wages of sin is death (that’s where we’re at, without Jesus Christ – the Old Covenant), but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (that’s the New Covenant of Jesus paying for our sins on the cross - and us receiving eternal life by putting our Full Faith in him)
And so, the Cup becomes a symbol of the life that Jesus Christ gave in our place so that we could live for eternity with God.
And then Jesus ends this forever life-changing meal with the promise of another communion meal coming in the Heavenly Kingdom.
Mark 14:25 (NLT)
25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new (Matthew adds “with you”) in the Kingdom of God.”
And then, Jesus closed three-and-a-half-years of teaching his Disciples with a worship song on the way to the arrest and the cross.
Mark 14:26 (NLT)
26 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
Guys, when we take communion, we are stopping the world for a few minutes and we’re stopping all our religious motions and goings-on, and we are coming back to the single most important truth that we can receive in this life. Jesus Christ gave himself as an offering – as a sacrifice – to pay the full penalty for our sin.
And when we put our faith in who Jesus Christ is and in what he has done for us on the cross, the greatest exchange in all of eternity occurs. Jesus takes on our sin and he gives us his righteousness before God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.