A Meal for the Church
Eric Durso
The Gospel of Mark • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
Your father came home from work with whip marks on his back again. The year is 1446 BC, and life in an Israelite family has been getting harder and harder. Since the new Pharaoh came to power, your family - and all your people - have felt a growing shadow of oppression in Egypt - a place your people had thrived in for a few hundred years. Some years back, the government ordered all male children to be killed after they’re born. And recently, your father and other laborers have been required to continue the production of bricks - except without straw, an important part of the manufacturing process. Your father trusts in Yawheh and cries out for deliverance. And that’s when you learn about a man called Moses.
He was called by God to lead you and your family out of Egypt. He works incredible miracles - it’s obvious God is in it. And finally he tells your people that God is setting them free - But in order to be set free from bondage in Egypt, there are some specific directions to follow.
Your family is instructed to take a lamb without blemish. At twilight on the 14th day of the month your family is supposed to kill the lamb, collect the blood, and you were to take the blood and somehow scrub it onto the doorposts of your house. You’re not sure why. Your father does.
And then you’re instructed about a meal. You have to cook and eat the lamb. You have to get bread - unleavened. You get bitter herbs - and you have wine to go along with it. And you were supposed to eat it in haste, symbolizing the hurry to get out of Egypt. A sense of amazement is coming - you’re leaving Egypt, and the promised land you’ve heard about all your life will soon be your home.
You are told that God will execute judgment on the whole land, and only those who have the blood on the doorpost will escape the judgment.
This all happened to you as a child. And as you ate the meal, the angel of death did passover all of Egypt, striking down the firstborns. And you did escape the judgment. And Pharaoh did let you go. And you remember leaving in haste. You remember the years in the wilderness, and you remember the conquest in Joshua, and you were sure to teach the passover meal to your children - to remind them of God’s judgment and God’s salvation.
The first Passover was in 1446 BC - the date of the Exodus. And all the years following, faithful Jews remember God’s righteous judgment and merciful salvation by observing this meal.
In our text this morning, a handful of Jews, who had grown up observing the passover, are gathering to share in a passover meal - but this meal would be unlike any they’d ever experienced, and it would forever change the meal itself.
Last week we looked at the sovereign authority of Jesus as he approaches his death. This week, we are going to zero in on the Last Supper and think about how it shapes us. Read Mark 14:22-26.
For centuries, Christians have been taking the bread and the cup, communion, the Lord’s Supper, when they gather. It is called an “ordinance” because it was something Jesus ordained for the church. There are two ordinances given to the church: baptism and communion.
Sound ecclesiology begins with the ordinances. Ecclesiology is the doctrine of the church, and if we want to have a good, sound, biblical ecclesiology, we must understand baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This is why I’m spending an extra Sunday on it. We live in a day when doctrine in general is devalued, and when ecclesiology specifically is ignored. So when we come to a text that helps us understand it, I like to pause and study.
We need to study it. We are a church. We need to know how a church should operate. We are Jesus’ church, and if we told us to do something, we better do it and do it right. Unfortunately, this particular area of theology has been disputed for hundreds of years. There are a variety of views. There’s a Roman Catholic view, a Lutheran view, a Reformed view, a baptist view- and some of these overlap and are compatible, and some of these are mutually exclusive. But we need to be clear on what we believe here.
What happened
Verse 22: “And as they were eating…” They were eating the Passover meal here. We mentioned earlier God told Israel to eat this meal every year to remember their salvation from Egypt. It was a testament to God’s covenant faithfulness. They would remember how the lamb died instead of the firstborn, for God judged their enemies but not them, and how they were delivered from slavery. Every year Jews celebrated this meal.
“He took bread” This would have been flat, unleavened bread, similar to a cracker. Central to the meal were three foods - unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and the Passover lamb. In addition to these the tradition was to have four cups of wine. “After blessing it broke and gave it to them.” That word blessing is “eulogeo” - where we get eulogy. Means a “good word.” The traditional blessing that the Jews recited was: “Blessed are you, Lord our God, king of the world, who brings forth bread from the earth.” And everything was quite ordinary up to that point. Jesus spoke a good word over the break, blessing it, and passed it out.
He said, “Take; this is my body.” This was a bombshell, no doubt. It would have grabbed the disciples attention with a vice grip. Normally, in the Jewish households this passing out of the food was done in silence. Jesus breaks the tradition and gives a new understanding of the meal. The bread is given a meaning; it is, according to Jesus, to represent his body. When they were to eat of the bread, they were to reflect on God the Son’s body, that is his incarnation, suffering, and death.
Verse 23 says he “took a cup, and when he had given thanks” - that Greek word is Eucharisto - where the word “Eucharist” comes from - it means “thanksgiving.” He says, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” We’ll talk more about this later. Verse 25: “Truly, I say to you” - a way to draw attention and create emphasis - “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Even as he predicts his coming death, he also predicts a day when he will feast in the kingdom of God. This means resurrection, this means victory, this means a kingdom.
What Jesus did not mean
The most popular error related to the Lord’s Supper is the error of the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church teaches what is called transubstantiation. This view holds that when Jesus held up the bread and said, “This is my body” and when he said about the wine that it was his blood, that he was literally transforming the elements into his actual body and blood.
Thus, it was taught in Roman Catholicism that every time the Lord’s Supper was observed, Jesus was, in essence, re-sacrificed for the sins of those participating. The sacrifice on the cross was not final, he was re-sacrificed again and again and again, every time someone somewhere participated.
Look at Jesus’ words: “Take; this is my body.” What was he holding? Bread. This bread is my body. He tells them the wine is his blood. The disciples around the table would not have simply gone along with it if they thought it was actual flesh and blood. Jews were very strict about diet. They were not allowed to eat the blood of the animals they killed. They had to be cooked.
This is because Jesus frequently spoke in graphic metaphor. When he says, “I am the door” he didn’t mean he was made of wood and metal. When he said, “I am the light of the world” he wasn’t an actual flashlight. When he said, “I am the vine,” …you get it. The disciples would not have understood him to mean “This bread is actually my body; this wine is actually my blood.”
If I pull out my wallet and I have a picture of my children, and I say to you: “Look, here are my children.” And then I put the picture back in my wallet and in my back pocket, you won’t sit there and think, “Poor children, they have to stay in their father’s wallet.” The picture is not reality, but it represents reality.
Rather, he’s saying that the bread is a symbol for his real body and the wine is a symbol for his real blood, both of which are to be given over to death so that sinners can be saved.
What did Jesus mean?
To get it right we’re going to not only look at what Jesus said to his disciples, but we’re also going to consider what the apostle Paul said about it. So let’s dive into this important subject that shapes and informs our life together as a church.
First, Jesus is the final sacrifice for sin. There is a central principle that is developed from the earliest sections of the Bible, and the principle is that “all sin requires death.” When God told Adam and Eve not to eat the forbidden fruit, they were warned that if they did, they would die. And when they did eat the forbidden fruit, though they began to die physically, God did something else as a foreshadowing: he clothed them in animal skins. What does that mean? It means that something died to cover their shame.
When you get to the books of the law, the principle becomes even more clear: God requires animal sacrifices for sins. On the Day of Atonement, for instance, the priest would confess all the sins of God’s people, symbolically lay them on a goat, and then the goat would be slaughtered. The symbolism was obvious: the people had sinned, but they had an animal substitute who would die in their place.
That’s what the passover lamb was. The lamb died in the place of the Israelites.
God is holy. He never simply sweeps sin away, as if it doesn’t matter. He always will judge it. He requires every last sin to be paid for. But he does not always require people to pay the penalty for their own sins. He provides stand-ins, substitutes, sacrifices, that bear the sin.
Now, by the time of Jesus and his disciples sharing this meal, it had been celebrated by faithful Israelites for roughly 1,500 years. They had been slaughtering lambs every year. And this time-- as Jesus and his disciples recline around the table-- they are going to bring it to its conclusion.
Why? All the sacrifices of all the passover lambs through all the ages were pointing forward to the coming Ultimate Sacrifice. And moving forward, no more lambs need to be killed. The final lamb - Jesus Christ - has been slain. So now our meal is not looking forward, it’s looking backward. Looking backward to the sacrifice that was made for us.
Hebrews 10:12 “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…” vs 14, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
No longer is the Passover to be observed by God’s people. The death and resurrection of Christ is a New Covenant, and in the New Covenant there’s a new meal, a better meal, not signifying freedom from Egypt but freedom from sin. Whenever we take it, we look back to his final and complete sacrifice.
You and I are guilty of sin. But when we participate in the Lord’s Supper, we remember that all our sin has already been punished. Jesus took the punishment on himself when he died on the cross. ANd because of his death, we can be reconciled to God.
Second, participation in his meal is fellowship with Jesus himself. The disciples understood that this was something they were to do regularly. After Jesus ascended into heaven, the church picked up this ritual. In Acts 2 we read about the “breaking of bread” which may be referring to this act of communion, the Lord’s Supper. It is understood that this meal was instituted by Jesus for the church.
But churches haven’t always agreed on what’s happening when they take communion. And one of the main questions has been this: is the meal simply to be a memorial meal, to help us remember the cross? Or is Jesus actually appearing there in a special way to bless his church?
Or, these two views are called the “Memorial view” - the meal is mainly about remembering - and the “spiritual presence view” - Christ is present in the Spirit to bless.
Now, to me the debate is a little silly. The answer is obvious. The answer is yes. Both. All of the above. It’s easy to see the memorial aspect: “Do this in remembrance of me” should be enough to seal the deal on the memorial view. But what about the “spiritual presence” view?
Turn to 1 Corinthians in your Bible. We know the Corinthian church practiced the Lord’s Supper - and we know that because Paul spent a lot of time correcting them in his first letter. Take a look at chapter 10:14. Here, he is encouraging the church to flee from idolatry - there should be no false gods in the church. Now one of the reasons to flee idolatry is because they are supposed to be enjoying fellowship with Christ. Vs. 16: “The cup of blessing that we bless” - referring to the communion cup - “is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”
That word “participation” is the well-known Greek word “koinonea,” which refers to fellowship, deep unity, communion. The word was used in ancient Greek to describe married couples. It includes the idea of sharing - sharing life, sharing food, sharing burdens, sharing joys. What Paul is saying is that when we take communion, we are fellowshipping with Jesus himself.
By the way, this is why taking communion in an unworthy manner is such a serious thing. Look down at verse 21: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”
If you are going to enjoy fellowship with a holy God, with our holy Savior, you must put away unholiness. And there’s a particularly heinous type of sin, which is when we participate in the fellowship with Christ, all the while holding unrepentantly to secret sin. God is holy, God demands full allegiance, and taking communion while holding onto your idols is like trying to share a table with Jesus and demons at the same time.
Look ahead at chapter 11:27: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” You see how serious this is? There is something sacred, beautiful, pure, and holy about the Lord’s Supper, and to smuggle in our secret sins, to hold them in our pockets as we attempt to fellowship with Jesus, will not go well for us.
He knows us perfectly. So how should we come? Humbly. Repentantly. Gratefully. And we receive the bread and cup, and as we do, we are fellowshipping with Jesus himself.
Jesus instituted the meal, but here we see he also hosts the meal. And when we receive the meal by faith, in obedience, remembering his sacrifice, remembering that your sins are forgiven, we are fellowshipping with Jesus himself. As we eat this meal in repentant faith, Jesus meets us, fellowships with us, ministers to us, teaches us, blesses us, and shapes us.
Third, participation in this meal is a sign of the new covenant. Remember back in Mark 14:24, he said of the cup, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”
God has always related to his people through covenants. A covenant is a relationship between two parties where both parties have obligations. And often, when covenants were made, an animal was killed - as if to say this is what will happen to whoever breaks the covenant.
When God made a covenant with Moses, in Exodus 24, he killed a lamb and sprinkled the blood on the people. How would you like that? Exodus 24:8 “And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
But the blood of the New Covenant is not a lamb. Not a bull. Not a goat. It is the blood of Jesus himself.
Now, in addition to shedding blood in a covenant, there usually was also a sign of the covenant - a visual reminder of the covenant that reminds both parties of their obligations. When God made a covenant with Noah, he gave a sign of the covenant: a rainbow. When God made a covenant with Abraham, the sign was circumcision. The Mosaic Covenant had the Sabbath. Think of a marriage covenant - the covenant is between a man and a woman, before God, and their vows are for each other until death. In our culture, rings are given as covenant sign.
Now what’s the sign of the New Covenant? What is the “rainbow” of the New Covenant? What is the “Sabbath” of the New Covenant? There are two: one is a entrance sign, and once is a renewing sign. The entrance sign is baptism, and the renewing sign is communion. Baptism is like the adoption ceremony; the Lord’s Supper is like the family meal.
And the meal - the Lord’s Supper - is a sign of the covenant - just like the rainbow was a sign of Noah’s covenant, like circumcision was Abraham’s - so now every time we take communion we are reminded of our participation in the New Covenant.
The blessings of the New Covenant are manifold. In Jeremiah 31:34 “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
In other words, the Lord’s Supper is a meal that helps you remember who you really are. You walked into church this morning with all kinds of ideas about who you are. You’re a busy dad; you’re an exhausted mother, you’re a struggling teenager. Now if you’re redeemed, those things are not your fundamental identity. It’s as if every day slaps another label on you: Addict, doubter, failure, weakling. And when you come to the table, Christ says, “My beloved.”
Have you forgotten who you are, Christian? At the Lord’s Table you are reminded of who you are. You are beloved of God. You are a member of his new covenant. You receive the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection. You are his household. Your sins are forgiven.
Fourth, Jesus will conquer death and bring his kingdom. In v 25 “Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
The meal is a promise - and even a foretaste - of another world. It’s a preview of the Father’s kingdom. Our participation in this meal means we refuse to believe the world will continue in its brokenness forever, and we hold out in faith that Christ is making all things new.
There’s a great moment in Tolkien’s final book, The Return of the King, where Sam, amidst the darkness and brokenness of the world, encounters something so beautiful it restores his hope. Tolkien writes:
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
In our dark world we see death, murder, disease, decay, fear, division, tension, strife. We see hate, we see pain, we see filth, we see brokenness. And at the table we encounter a beauty from another world, something the Shadow does not touch, and we are reminded that there is a kingdom the darkness cannot reach, and that kingdom is coming, and we will one day enjoy it forever.
It really reminds me of the song we’ve been singing here, Is He Worthy? The second verse goes: Is all creation groaning? (It is)
Is a new creation coming? (It is)
Is the glory of the Lord to be the light within our midst? (It is)
Is it good that we remind ourselves of this? (It is)
Let the thought pierce you through, that we will take this cup here and now, but there will be a day that we take in afresh in the kingdom with our beloved savior.
So what are we doing when we participate in the Lord’s Supper?
We are remembering that Jesus was the final sacrifice for our sin. We are fellowshipping with Jesus himself, receiving his nourishment and care. We are reestablishing our fundamental identity, and our standing as members of the new covenant in Christ’s blood. And last, when we participate, we look forward to an age to come, when we feast with the Lord in his kingdom.
This is significant. And this morning, we get to celebrate it.
Since the bread and cup symbolize full forgiveness of sins, this is for Christians who have repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus Christ. Have you done that?
Since the bread and cup is for those who are members of the new covenant, it is reserved for those who have taken the other New Covenant sign: baptism. If you have not been baptized as a believer, please refrain from participating and observe. Please talk with us.
Church, as we take, remember who you are.
You are beloved.
You are united to Christ.
You are regenerated.
You are indwelt with the Holy Spirit
You are justified.
You are forgiven.
You are cleansed
You are sanctified, set apart for his purposes
You are united to Christ’s body, the church
You are guaranteed future glory
As Michael plays, come grab the elements and bring them back with you to your seats.