Mark 14:22-26

The Lord's Supper (14:22-26).

The preliminaries having been completed (Mark 14:20) the meal proper begins with the eating of the bread, at which point He gives the bread a new meaning. This is then followed by the third cup from which all drink, which He informs them represents the new covenant in His blood, which is then followed by a promise of the imminence of the Kingly Rule of God as a result of that new covenant. All is then completed by the singing of the Hallel, and they then depart for the Mount of Olives.

The point being made here is that Jesus has hijacked the symbols of the Passover and provided them with a new significance connected with Himself. We are left to recognise that He is the new Passover lamb. All this is a claim as immense as any that He has previously made. It is to declare that Israel's hopes of deliverance now rest in Him, and that in the future they are to look to Him and His death for them as the guarantee of their salvation.

Analysis.

· And as they were eating He took bread, and when He had blessed He broke it and gave to them and said, “You take of it. This is My body” (Mark 14:22).

· And He took a cup and when He had given thanks He gave to them and they all drank of it (Mark 14:23).

· And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant which is shed for many” (Mark 14:24).

· “Truly I tell you I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new under the Kingly Rule of God” (Mark 14:25).

· And when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives (Mark 14:26).

Note that in ‘a' they commence the meal proper (the preliminaries have already been dealt with) with the eating of bread, and in the parallel they close it with a hymn. In ‘b' they all drink of the cup, and in the parallel He will not again drink of it until the Kingly Rule of God has come. Central in ‘c' is the significance of the cup.