The Final Passover - Mark 14:12-26
The Final Passover - Mark 14:12-26
By Pastor Lee Hemen
February 20, 2011 AM
Meals are important. More than just a means of nourishing a person, meals serve as a means for families to draw closer, talk, and as a means of getting together. Meals have been used to bring about peace between adversaries, nations, and to secure better relations. The preparation can be just as important as the meal itself. What food is served, why it is served, the way and how it is served can carry with each task very important implications. The Passover is such a meal.
The Passover meal is celebrated to commemorate the passing over of the angel of death during the time of Moses and the exodus of the Israelite slaves from their captivity in Egypt. God promised to spare the life of the firstborn of any household that had the blood of a lamb painted over the doorframe of the house. Every Hebrew was commanded by God to remember this incident each year with prayers, a sacrifice, and a meal. The meal was and still is one of the highlights of the celebration. Here in Mark’s gospel we find Jesus and his disciples sharing the Passover meal. It would be the final Passover they would share together and it would carry with it tremendous meaning. Let’s discover what occurs and why.
READ: Mark 14:12-26
As Thanksgiving draws closer for many American families, the preparation can become frenzied. The buying of food, making sure all of the favorite dishes are made, and getting everything ready, on time, and perfect. During the final Passover we find Jesus and his disciples making...
I. The preparations! (Vv. 12-16)
1. “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” (Mark 14:12) The Passover was one of the greatest feasts and celebrations of the Hebrew calendar. Jerusalem would have been packed with pilgrims who would celebrate there since the meal had to be eaten within the walls of Jerusalem. Places to eat quietly enjoy one another’s company and to be able to prepare a meal would have been scarce. So, we find that “On the first day of the Feast 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?’” A decision needed to be made and since Jesus was their teacher, it would have been customary for him to make the decision where they would eat the Passover together. We know from Luke that it was Peter and John who are sent. (Luke 22:8) John related that “the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.” (John 11:57) So, perhaps the place where they would eat it was kept secret deliberately. Jesus therefore sends the two disciples, telling them, “Go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 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?’ He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” The wording here indicates Jesus knew the person who would provide a place for them, and perhaps they had already been making the preparations. Some believe it was the home of John Mark, the writer of this gospel. Whoever it was, the preparations involved roasting the lamb, setting out the unleavened bread and wine, and preparing bitter herbs along with a sauce made of dried fruit moistened with vinegar and wine and combined with spices. The meal itself would be a time of preparation for Jesus’ followers as well. It is here we find him praying for himself, them, and future believers. Plus, Jesus gives the disciples detailed instructions and advice on what to do after his impending death. (John 13:1-18:1) Whatever the reason Jesus does what he does, we find “The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.” During the final Passover, Jesus makes the preparations!
EXAMPLE: Special meals take special preparation. Most things in life that are worthwhile take preparation. This Passover would be special and Jesus wanted a place where he and his disciples could spend some time away from the crowds. The meal had to be just so, but Jesus was also thinking about the preparation he would have to share with the twelve. Like newborn babies they would shortly be thrust into uncharted territory. They would have to leave their old way of life behind. Far too many Christians in our day and age are ill prepared to live their Christian faith. Jesus had spent almost three and a half years preparing these adult men for a future without his presence. They would be the core of his body in the world doing his will -- his church. Would they be ready to be the body of Christ? Let me ask you today, are you prepared to be part of the body of Jesus in the world? While the preparation of this final Passover was important, so is the truth that Jesus’ followers be prepared to be his church. Let me ask, “What preparations have you made to serve him in his church?
Sometimes during special occasions there are always those who create problems. You know what I mean. But here in Mark’s gospel we find not just some relative who embarrasses the family but rather we find someone who is intent on doing evil. During the final Passover we discover…
II. The treachery! (Vv. 17-21)
1. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him. (John 13:27) Jesus and the Twelve arrived in Jerusalem to eat the Passover meal which began after sunset and had to be finished by midnight. Mark’s rendition abbreviates the events of the meal. He focuses attention on two incidents instead: 1) Jesus’ announcement of His betrayal and 2) His new interpretation of the bread and wine. John’s gospel relates that after Jesus washes all of the disciple’s feet, he reclines at the table as he eats the meal. As he does he then tells his listeners something that disturbs them, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.” Incredulous and “saddened,” Mark writes that “one by one” each of them asks Jesus, “Surely not I?” Could one of them be such a fiend that they would actually share an intimate sacred meal and betray Jesus? To eat with a person and then betray him was the height of treachery. Each one seeks to clear himself and even Judas, Matthew tells us asks, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus bluntly answers him, “Yes, it is you.” (Matthew 26:25) Mark, however, relates Jesus tells his fellow diners, “It is one of the Twelve, one who dips bread into the bowl with me.” Jesus’ betrayer actually is willing to break bread with him. His announcement emphasized the treachery of the betrayal but also gives the betrayer an opportunity to repent. Judas has no such intentions though. Jesus knows this to be true and remarks, “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.” After Jesus breaks the bread, John writes that, “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. ‘What you are about to do, do quickly!’” (John 13:27 NIV) Judas was a traitor and his character was full of treachery.
EXAMPLE: Treachery is such an awful thing. We are all capable of it. How sad Jesus must have felt knowing there was one among his own disciples who harbored betrayal. Like many of us, he actually thought Jesus did not see his deceitfulness. Jesus had warned him time after time, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:21-24 NIV) He had warned him that only “the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:32-33 NIV) But he did not want to hear Jesus’ words. Jesus had washed the traitor’s feet along with all the others. He had taught him, prayed with him, and even given him the power to cast out demons! Jesus reminded him, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (John 6:70) Yet treachery turns a deaf ear to reason. It only hears the jealous whisper of self-deception. “Surely not I, Rabbi?” you brazenly ask and Jesus responds by saying, “Yes, it is you.” Oh child, here is your opportunity to return to your Master. The choice is yours today. Will you dash your duplicity on the Rock of Ages? I pray you will! How sad we find treachery during this final Passover, but how heartbreaking to have it revealed in us and not repent!
Some meals are more memorable than others. A dinner where a couple becomes engaged, a meal celebrating an achievement, or the intimate meal shared between friends. Here in Mark’s gospel we discover that the final Passover Jesus would share became a very special. Jesus establishes…
III. The meal! (Vv. 22-26)
1. “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) The history of the Passover is recorded in Exodus 12 and was the most sacred feast of the Hebrew calendar. It commemorated the final plague on Egypt when the firstborn of the Egyptians died and the Israelites were spared because of the blood of a lamb that was sprinkled on their doorposts. The lamb was then roasted and eaten with unleavened bread. God’s command was that throughout the generations to come the feast would be celebrated. Each part of the meal carried significance to the Jews. However, Jesus gave it new meaning. “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’” The body, the nation of Israel became the church of the Messiah Jesus. He takes the matzos and shows what it now stands for. The matzos was broken into three equal parts and one part was wrapped and put away until it was brought out during the end of the meal to commemorate the coming Messiah. It was this piece Jesus gave new significance to. “Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.” This was one of several cups that were drank during the meal to thank God for his covenant and care. However, Jesus again assigns new meaning to the cup when he tells them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” According to Luke, Jesus teaches that his followers were to do these things “in remembrance” of him and that this “cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:19-20) When Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” he is indicating this would be a remembrance that must be celebrated. It indicated also that the Passover, which required the death of a lamb and looked forward to the coming of the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world, was fulfilled in Jesus’ sacrifice! The New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant when Jesus, the Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), was sacrificed (Hebrews 8:8-13). The sacrificial system was no longer needed (Hebrews 9:25-28). The Lord’s Supper is therefore a beautiful reminder of what Jesus the Messiah did for us and is a celebratory meal of what we receive as a result of our faith in His sacrifice!
EXAMPLE: No doubt about it, this meal was special. It would be the last Passover supper Jesus would enjoy with his disciples. But with it came a new significance for all mankind. Jesus spoke of literal things such as the bread, the wine, his physical body and his blood — but the relationship between them was expressed figuratively. We know this to be true because when Jesus referred to himself as a door, gate, bread of life, and other things he was not saying he actually was a door, gate, or loaf of bread! Here, the verb “is” means “represents.” Jesus was physically present as He spoke these words, so the disciples did not literally eat His body or drink His blood, something absolutely abhorrent and heretical to Jews anyway. This shows the inappropriate view of the Catholic Eucharist (transubstantiation), whereby the bread and wine are magically changed into the actual body and blood of Jesus. Nor does it give credence to the Lutheran view whereby the bread and wine are mystically transformed (consubstantiation), where they represent Jesus’ body within them, and the participant receives a certain amount of grace in Communion. Because of the misinterpretation of the terminology often used by Catholics or Lutherans, Baptists usually do not use the terms “Eucharist”, meaning gratitude for Jesus’ continual sacrifice, or “Communion”, meaning the mystical fellowship one enjoys with Christ during the commemoration. We simply say it is an observance or remembrance of what Jesus did and the meal he gave new significance to.
Conclusion:
We have taken a look at the preparations, the treachery, and the meal involved in the Lord’s Supper. Each part played an important role in this final Passover. What preparations have you made, how have you betrayed Jesus, and what significance does this meal have for you? Do you know the One this final Passover commemorates? I pray you do!
----
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2011 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
February 20, 2011 AM
Meals are important. More than just a means of nourishing a person, meals serve as a means for families to draw closer, talk, and as a means of getting together. Meals have been used to bring about peace between adversaries, nations, and to secure better relations. The preparation can be just as important as the meal itself. What food is served, why it is served, the way and how it is served can carry with each task very important implications. The Passover is such a meal.
The Passover meal is celebrated to commemorate the passing over of the angel of death during the time of Moses and the exodus of the Israelite slaves from their captivity in Egypt. God promised to spare the life of the firstborn of any household that had the blood of a lamb painted over the doorframe of the house. Every Hebrew was commanded by God to remember this incident each year with prayers, a sacrifice, and a meal. The meal was and still is one of the highlights of the celebration. Here in Mark’s gospel we find Jesus and his disciples sharing the Passover meal. It would be the final Passover they would share together and it would carry with it tremendous meaning. Let’s discover what occurs and why.
READ: Mark 14:12-26
As Thanksgiving draws closer for many American families, the preparation can become frenzied. The buying of food, making sure all of the favorite dishes are made, and getting everything ready, on time, and perfect. During the final Passover we find Jesus and his disciples making...
I. The preparations! (Vv. 12-16)
1. “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” (Mark 14:12) The Passover was one of the greatest feasts and celebrations of the Hebrew calendar. Jerusalem would have been packed with pilgrims who would celebrate there since the meal had to be eaten within the walls of Jerusalem. Places to eat quietly enjoy one another’s company and to be able to prepare a meal would have been scarce. So, we find that “On the first day of the Feast 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?’” A decision needed to be made and since Jesus was their teacher, it would have been customary for him to make the decision where they would eat the Passover together. We know from Luke that it was Peter and John who are sent. (Luke 22:8) John related that “the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.” (John 11:57) So, perhaps the place where they would eat it was kept secret deliberately. Jesus therefore sends the two disciples, telling them, “Go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 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?’ He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” The wording here indicates Jesus knew the person who would provide a place for them, and perhaps they had already been making the preparations. Some believe it was the home of John Mark, the writer of this gospel. Whoever it was, the preparations involved roasting the lamb, setting out the unleavened bread and wine, and preparing bitter herbs along with a sauce made of dried fruit moistened with vinegar and wine and combined with spices. The meal itself would be a time of preparation for Jesus’ followers as well. It is here we find him praying for himself, them, and future believers. Plus, Jesus gives the disciples detailed instructions and advice on what to do after his impending death. (John 13:1-18:1) Whatever the reason Jesus does what he does, we find “The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.” During the final Passover, Jesus makes the preparations!
EXAMPLE: Special meals take special preparation. Most things in life that are worthwhile take preparation. This Passover would be special and Jesus wanted a place where he and his disciples could spend some time away from the crowds. The meal had to be just so, but Jesus was also thinking about the preparation he would have to share with the twelve. Like newborn babies they would shortly be thrust into uncharted territory. They would have to leave their old way of life behind. Far too many Christians in our day and age are ill prepared to live their Christian faith. Jesus had spent almost three and a half years preparing these adult men for a future without his presence. They would be the core of his body in the world doing his will -- his church. Would they be ready to be the body of Christ? Let me ask you today, are you prepared to be part of the body of Jesus in the world? While the preparation of this final Passover was important, so is the truth that Jesus’ followers be prepared to be his church. Let me ask, “What preparations have you made to serve him in his church?
Sometimes during special occasions there are always those who create problems. You know what I mean. But here in Mark’s gospel we find not just some relative who embarrasses the family but rather we find someone who is intent on doing evil. During the final Passover we discover…
II. The treachery! (Vv. 17-21)
1. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him. (John 13:27) Jesus and the Twelve arrived in Jerusalem to eat the Passover meal which began after sunset and had to be finished by midnight. Mark’s rendition abbreviates the events of the meal. He focuses attention on two incidents instead: 1) Jesus’ announcement of His betrayal and 2) His new interpretation of the bread and wine. John’s gospel relates that after Jesus washes all of the disciple’s feet, he reclines at the table as he eats the meal. As he does he then tells his listeners something that disturbs them, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.” Incredulous and “saddened,” Mark writes that “one by one” each of them asks Jesus, “Surely not I?” Could one of them be such a fiend that they would actually share an intimate sacred meal and betray Jesus? To eat with a person and then betray him was the height of treachery. Each one seeks to clear himself and even Judas, Matthew tells us asks, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus bluntly answers him, “Yes, it is you.” (Matthew 26:25) Mark, however, relates Jesus tells his fellow diners, “It is one of the Twelve, one who dips bread into the bowl with me.” Jesus’ betrayer actually is willing to break bread with him. His announcement emphasized the treachery of the betrayal but also gives the betrayer an opportunity to repent. Judas has no such intentions though. Jesus knows this to be true and remarks, “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.” After Jesus breaks the bread, John writes that, “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. ‘What you are about to do, do quickly!’” (John 13:27 NIV) Judas was a traitor and his character was full of treachery.
EXAMPLE: Treachery is such an awful thing. We are all capable of it. How sad Jesus must have felt knowing there was one among his own disciples who harbored betrayal. Like many of us, he actually thought Jesus did not see his deceitfulness. Jesus had warned him time after time, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:21-24 NIV) He had warned him that only “the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:32-33 NIV) But he did not want to hear Jesus’ words. Jesus had washed the traitor’s feet along with all the others. He had taught him, prayed with him, and even given him the power to cast out demons! Jesus reminded him, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (John 6:70) Yet treachery turns a deaf ear to reason. It only hears the jealous whisper of self-deception. “Surely not I, Rabbi?” you brazenly ask and Jesus responds by saying, “Yes, it is you.” Oh child, here is your opportunity to return to your Master. The choice is yours today. Will you dash your duplicity on the Rock of Ages? I pray you will! How sad we find treachery during this final Passover, but how heartbreaking to have it revealed in us and not repent!
Some meals are more memorable than others. A dinner where a couple becomes engaged, a meal celebrating an achievement, or the intimate meal shared between friends. Here in Mark’s gospel we discover that the final Passover Jesus would share became a very special. Jesus establishes…
III. The meal! (Vv. 22-26)
1. “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) The history of the Passover is recorded in Exodus 12 and was the most sacred feast of the Hebrew calendar. It commemorated the final plague on Egypt when the firstborn of the Egyptians died and the Israelites were spared because of the blood of a lamb that was sprinkled on their doorposts. The lamb was then roasted and eaten with unleavened bread. God’s command was that throughout the generations to come the feast would be celebrated. Each part of the meal carried significance to the Jews. However, Jesus gave it new meaning. “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’” The body, the nation of Israel became the church of the Messiah Jesus. He takes the matzos and shows what it now stands for. The matzos was broken into three equal parts and one part was wrapped and put away until it was brought out during the end of the meal to commemorate the coming Messiah. It was this piece Jesus gave new significance to. “Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.” This was one of several cups that were drank during the meal to thank God for his covenant and care. However, Jesus again assigns new meaning to the cup when he tells them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” According to Luke, Jesus teaches that his followers were to do these things “in remembrance” of him and that this “cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:19-20) When Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” he is indicating this would be a remembrance that must be celebrated. It indicated also that the Passover, which required the death of a lamb and looked forward to the coming of the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world, was fulfilled in Jesus’ sacrifice! The New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant when Jesus, the Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), was sacrificed (Hebrews 8:8-13). The sacrificial system was no longer needed (Hebrews 9:25-28). The Lord’s Supper is therefore a beautiful reminder of what Jesus the Messiah did for us and is a celebratory meal of what we receive as a result of our faith in His sacrifice!
EXAMPLE: No doubt about it, this meal was special. It would be the last Passover supper Jesus would enjoy with his disciples. But with it came a new significance for all mankind. Jesus spoke of literal things such as the bread, the wine, his physical body and his blood — but the relationship between them was expressed figuratively. We know this to be true because when Jesus referred to himself as a door, gate, bread of life, and other things he was not saying he actually was a door, gate, or loaf of bread! Here, the verb “is” means “represents.” Jesus was physically present as He spoke these words, so the disciples did not literally eat His body or drink His blood, something absolutely abhorrent and heretical to Jews anyway. This shows the inappropriate view of the Catholic Eucharist (transubstantiation), whereby the bread and wine are magically changed into the actual body and blood of Jesus. Nor does it give credence to the Lutheran view whereby the bread and wine are mystically transformed (consubstantiation), where they represent Jesus’ body within them, and the participant receives a certain amount of grace in Communion. Because of the misinterpretation of the terminology often used by Catholics or Lutherans, Baptists usually do not use the terms “Eucharist”, meaning gratitude for Jesus’ continual sacrifice, or “Communion”, meaning the mystical fellowship one enjoys with Christ during the commemoration. We simply say it is an observance or remembrance of what Jesus did and the meal he gave new significance to.
Conclusion:
We have taken a look at the preparations, the treachery, and the meal involved in the Lord’s Supper. Each part played an important role in this final Passover. What preparations have you made, how have you betrayed Jesus, and what significance does this meal have for you? Do you know the One this final Passover commemorates? I pray you do!
----
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2011 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
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