God’s Word for You

Mark 14:22-25 The Lord’s Supper

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, January 6, 2024

22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them, and they all drank from it.  24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”

Mark does not include the words “for the forgiveness of sins,” which are in Matthew’s account (Matthew 26:28), and Luke also says, “Given for you…, shed for you” (Luke 22:19-20). Mark does not deny those words, but his Gospel is undeniably a more condensed record of the words and actions of our Lord. But taking Mark as we have these words, we have much to say about the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Mark says very little about the meal and the many things Jesus said. For those, we have five whole chapters in John! I beg the reader’s pardon for including the Greek text here without many comments, but I suspect that this will be a reference for some in years to come, and the Greek words are for the convenience of those good Christians.

1, Jesus took bread (λαβὼν ἄρτον). This was the unleavened matzo bread of the Jews. This was the “bread made without yeast” commanded by God because they were to eat it “in haste” on the night of the Passover, the night that they were released from bondage in Egypt and left for the Promised Land (Exodus 12:8,11). It was to be a reminder of that event, “so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt” (Deuteronomy 16:3). This bread in the Lord’s Supper was the same bread, but the meaning was something brand new, beyond escape from Egypt, but escape from hell and the grave, as the ancient Christian pastor said: “the medicine of immortality; the antidote for not dying but living forever in Jesus Christ.”

2, He gave thanks (εὐλογήσας). We could also say, “he blessed the bread,” since the Greek word eulogesas, similar to our word eulogy, means a good word spoken as a blessing. But this is also the usual word for giving thanks before a meal, or “saying grace.” The practice of giving thanks is in complete accord with God’s desire about prayer: “Pray… on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (Ephesians 6:18); “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer” (1 Timothy 2:8).

3, He broke it, and gave it to his disciples (literally “to them”) (ἔκλασεν καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς). The matzo bread must be torn (if soft) or broken, snapped apart, if it is dry and tough. As congregations began to grow in size, by the late seventh century (and perhaps invented by the French monk Wadregisel) wafers began to be used in place of loaves of bread. The “little round breadlets” (as one early Lutheran described them) were easy to store and to use in worship, and are often stamped with a cross, and are still in wide use to this day. The form of the bread does nothing to elevate or diminish the sacrament. But as Paul says, “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:17). Therefore it is wise to use the same kind of bread when the Supper is offered; not wafers to some and broken bread to others. In our strange era of gluten allergies (may this pass quickly, Lord!) it is at least wise to offer the gluten-free bread as wafers like the rest of the congregation receives.

4, Saying, “Take it; this is my body” (καὶ εἶπεν, Λάβετε, τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ σῶμά μου). Here “take it” and “eat it” must mean the same thing, but “take it” reminds us that the sacrament is distributed by the master or host of the meal, or “housefather,” which was the role of Christ on this Thursday evening. The words, “This is my body” relate to the sacrificial meal eaten by the Hebrews in the days of the exodus. There were fellowship restrictions then as now: “No foreigner…, temporary resident, or hard worker may eat of it” (Exodus 12:43-45) but any slave or anyone else who had been circumcised and had joined the community of Israel was allowed to eat it. The roasted lamb, the bread, and the other things were the Passover meal. Now, Jesus changes the meal: “This is no longer the Passover, and this is no longer the bread of the old covenant with Moses. This is my body; this is the bread of the new covenant meal. When you eat this, you are no longer partaking of the exodus from bondage in Egypt, but this is my body which is about to be crucified for you, and you are partaking of your exodus from the bondage from sin, death, and the power of the devil.” Anyone who does not understand this or believe it should not eat it, for as Paul warns, “Anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:29). Prior to the consecration and use, the bread is just bread. While it is being used, it is the sacrament, that is, the bread and also the body of Christ for our forgiveness. After the sacramental use, the bread remains bread once again. It should be treated with dignity and reverence, since it will probably be used again for the sacrament in the future, but we do not need to bow or worship the bread when it is not being used for the sacrament.

5, Then he took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them (καὶ λαβὼν ποτήριον εὐχαριστήσας ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς). The text never mentions wine, but Jesus calls it the fruit of the vine, therefore it could only be wine, since in the early springtime (when the Passover happened) no grapes were available for grape juice; only wine would have been available. The cup surely belonged to the owner of the house and not to Jesus himself (Mark 14:14). None of the legends about the Holy Grail have any basis in Scripture; one may as well go on a quest in search of a horse that likes fire.

6, And they all drank from it (καὶ ἔπιον ἐξ αὐτοῦ πάντες). That, they did not “drink all of it,” but “all of them drank (some) of it.” The “it” in this case is the wine, not necessarily all from the same cup that Christ used.

7,  He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς διαθήκης τὸ ἐκχυννόμενον ὑπὲρ πολλῶν). “This” is not a mere spiritual drink, but an actual drink, or gulp of wine which is in communion with the blood of Christ, the blood that was poured out or shed on the cross. These things are not merely signs, but, through a miracle, the actual, authentic, real, body and blood of Christ, given with the bread and wine. Their substance, for the philosopher, is “under” the substance of the bread and wine, but that does not mean that we should lift up the wafer to see what is there beneath it. It is, for the grammarian, “in” the bread and wine, since that which is “in” a thing is not outside it, but completely within it. This is the locative (location) use of the dative case, such as falling “into the hands of” (Luke 10:30), and “a participation in the blood of Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:16).

8 (verse 25), “Amen I tell 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.”

By saying “Amen I tell you,” Jesus introduces a very important statement, which happens many times in the Gospels. Here he proclaims the ending of the old fruit of the vine, that is, the old covenant meal or Passover. The new fruit, the New Testament, has now begun, and the Old is there only for our instruction. It is fulfilled and completed. The “heavenly feast” is something Jesus spoke of several times. “Many will recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). “You may eat and drink at my table in the kingdom” (Luke 22:30). “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). This is Paradise; it is our resurrection and life forever in heaven with Jesus. Whether or not we should read too much into the meal aspect of this life, whether the cup then and there will be a real cup as it is here below, is entirely up to God and not up to our speculation at all.

In the Large Catechism, Luther wisely urges us to receive the Lord’s Supper in faith without doubting the words of Christ at all: “If a hundred thousand devils, together with all fanatics, should rush forward, crying, How can bread and wine be the body and blood of Christ? etc., I know that all spirits and scholars put together have less wisdom than the divine Majesty has in his little finger. Here we have Christ’s word: ‘Drink of it, all of you, this is the new covenant in my blood,’ etc. Here we shall take our stand and see who dares to instruct Christ and alter what he has spoken. It is true indeed that if you take the Word away from the elements or view them apart from the Word, you have nothing but ordinary bread and wine. But if the words remain, as is right and necessary, then in virtue of them they are truly the body and blood of Christ. For as we have it from the lips of Christ, so it is. He cannot lie or deceive” (Large Catechism, Lord’s Supper).

You are properly prepared for the Lord’s Supper when you believe these words: “Given,” and “poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Why? Because the words “for you” require nothing but hearts that believe. Trust in Jesus like a drowning man trusts in the hand that pulls him to safety, because that is the very essence of being saved.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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