Sermon: A New Year's Meal (Mark 14:12-25)

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A New Year’s Meal
Sunday, July 14th, 2024
Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA

12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? 13 And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. 14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? 15 And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. 16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.

17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. 18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. 19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? 20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. 21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.

22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. 23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. 24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. 25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

Prayer

Father, we thank you that what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, You have done, by sending Your own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, You condemned sin in the flesh: so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. We ask for that same Spirit now, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction

When God was about to deliver Israel out of Egypt, it says in Exodus 12:1-2 that, “the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” The text then goes on to describe the Passover meal and the feast of unleavened bread, which carried the regulation that “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.”

So starting on the night of Passover, all the old leaven was to be purged from the house. And anyone who did not purge out that old leaven, or who partook of leavened bread during that week, was excommunicated (cut off) from the priestly nation.
- And so the New Year festival for the Jews began with a literal spring cleaning (Passover was in late March/early April), and this was a hard reset on everyone’s daily bread. Nobody’s leaven was allowed to continue for more than one year. Now why is this?
Leaven in Scripture can be either a positive symbol or a negative symbol, but in both cases, leaven is a principle of growth and of transformation. Leaven is contagious and depending on whether your leaven is good or bad, so also the spreading of it can be either good or bad.
- For example, in Matthew 13:33, Jesus says that “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”
  - How did God’s kingdom grow? He took a handful of Jews from the old Israel, gave them His spirit, hid them in the world, and today there are millions of Christians across the globe. And eventually, the whole world shall be leavened.
- We see leaven also in the law for the peace offering, it says in Leviticus 7:13, “Besides the cakes, as his offering he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering.”
  - So leaven here is connected with the person’s gratitude, and works, and their desire to share a meal with God.
  - So leaven can have this very positive and salvific connotation in Scripture.
- However, in the context of the Passover, leaven signifies sin. Leaven signifies the old ways, of the old man, in the old land of Egypt.
  - For as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:8, “let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
  - And so Passover and the subsequent feast of unleavened bread, was a way for the nation of Israel to press reset on their soul. They were meant to take inventory at the beginning of the harvest year, before the crops were planted, and recall all that God had done for them in bringing them out of Egypt into a land of their own.
So Passover is this kind of New Year Festival in which we leave behind the old and look ahead to the new. And it was at this same festival that Jesus Christ chose to transform the whole world through his death and resurrection. So here in our text we have the end of the law, the final Passover meal, and also the establishment of a new covenant, a new creation, and a new festival for the people of God.
So with that in mind let me give you the outline of our passage and then we’ll walk through it together.

Overview of the Text

In verses 12-16, Jesus prepares a room for Passover.
In verses 17-21, Jesus prophesies that he will be betrayed.
In verses 22-25, Jesus establishes the new covenant in his blood.

Verse 12

12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?

Mark gives us this timestamp which places these events on the 14th of Nisan in the Jewish Calendar (the first month of the ecclesiastical year). And because the Passover had to be celebrated within the city walls of Jerusalem, the disciples ask Jesus where they might go and prepare for him.

Verses 13-16

13 And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. 14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? 15 And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. 16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.

So remember that Jesus is a marked man. The chief priests and scribes are looking for any opportunity to take him by craft, and so while Jesus is residing in Bethany, perhaps still at Simon the Leper’s house, he sends two disciples into the city to make final preparations.
- And what these two disciples find is that Jesus has already made provisions for them. There is a man carrying a pitcher of water, and they follow him. And then they meet the master of the house, and he shows them a large upper room furnished and already prepared. And all they have to do is “make ready.” Perhaps gather the final ingredients for the meal itself. Some bread, some wine, some herbs, and the lamb.
There are echoes here of Abraham and Isaac going up to Mount Moriah.
- Isaac says, “’Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together’” (Genesis 22:7-8).
- According to 2 Chronicles 3:1, Mount Moriah was where Solomon built the temple. And so every time the Jews went up to Jerusalem for Passover, they were walking in the literal footsteps of Father Abraham.
- And now, 2,000 years after Abraham and Isaac walked up that mountain, and came back down, these two disciples go up as well, and they find that the words of Jesus are as true as the words of Abraham in Genesis 22:14, “Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
So Jesus has provided for himself and his people, a place to dine. The disciples go up into the city, “and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.”
Where is the lamb? The true lamb is coming.

Verse 17

17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve.

Here is the new Israel, the new leaven of God’s kingdom, coming into Jerusalem (which has become a new Egypt). And yet there is secret malice and hidden wickedness among them that has yet to be purged. And so Jesus warns that one of them is going to be cut off, not only from Israel, but from the land of the living.

Verses 18-21

18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. 19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? 20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. 21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.

It is better to never have been born, than to betray the Lord Jesus. For whenever someone betrays Christ, and forsakes their allegiance to Him, they are in reality betraying their own soul and forsaking life eternal.
What endless sorrow and regret awaits those who die in their sins. To begin to follow Jesus and then to betray him, is to have the gates of heaven wide open before you, only to turn back and dive into hellfire instead. “Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.” These are haunting and fearful words.
Why does Jesus give this warning?
- Because he loves the disciples (including Judas) and wants them to examine themselves to see whether they be in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5).For all of them shall each in their own way, betray Christ. Judas for money, and the rest for fear of death. Peter will deny knowing Christ three times. And as Mark shall record a few verses later, “And they all forsook him, and fled.”
These are the twelve men Jesus chose as his ambassadors. He has invested years in teaching them and showing them the way of faith, and yet in the moment of his greatest earthly need, He is betrayed by one, and forsaken by them all. A leadership success story indeed.
But notice the calm resolution in Christ’s voice when he says, “The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him.” Meaning, what Judas shall do of his own free will, inspired by Satan, is by no means outside of God’s plan and control. And because Jesus is God, as he says in John 10:17-18, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”
Jesus wants them to know that in every detail that follows, in every tragedy that proceeds, from his betrayal, to his arrest, to his unjust trial and beating, to his last breath on the cross and descent into the grave, all of it is His loving plan to bring salvation to the ends of the world.
- This is the mystery of God’s providence and power. That man and the devil does what he does freely and is judged personally responsible for his actions, and yet God so governs, orders, and directs these events, so that they work together for our good and His glory. Do you believe this?
God intended for His church to read this gospel and to behold His power and His wisdom and His words of warning, so that we also should take heed to what is growing inside of us. Is there faith or unbelief?
- Is there within you the leaven of sin and malice and envy? Is there ingratitude and discontent that is blinding you, like Judas, from the infinitely precious gift that is the knowledge of God?
- Or perhaps we are more like the other eleven? Fearful, anxious, and self-preserving.Like Peter we talk a big game about loyalty and love for God, until it costs us something, then we run and hide.
Jesus says in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
- Unless we live by the Spirit, and keep in step with the Spirit, and cling to the words of Jesus which are spirit, our end shall be no different than Judas and the long line of ex-Christians, the formerly faithful.
And because Jesus knows what is in man, and He knows the frailty of flesh, and how fearful and forgetful we are, He also has made provision for our restoration and nourishment. And this is the Lord’s Supper.

Verses 22-25

Notice first that Jesus takes bread, gives a blessing of thanks, and then breaks it.
- This is a reversal and undoing of the curse upon Adam, who was told in Genesis 3, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
- The bread that some man had toiled and sweated for in order to produce, Jesus takes and give thanks for. This is an affirmation of the goodness of creation in spite of the fall. And it is also teaches us that God accepts our works, when we offer them to Him with thanksgiving through the hands of Christ.
- But most importantly, this bread is broken and identified with Jesus’ body. How shall the curse of death be overturned?
  - Through the work and labor of the Last Adam on our behalf. Through his toil and sweat upon the cross, and through his eating the curse into himself so that death might be swallowed up once and for all.
Now what happens when you break open Christ’s body? Blood starts to flow. And so next it says, “he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.”
- Notice again that Jesus is giving thanks for his immanent death. How does Jesus prepare himself for pain? He thanks His Father that through the shedding of his blood, a new testament shall go into effect.
  - For as it says in Hebrews 9:16-17, “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.”
- The inheritance that is eternal life can only be had if our sins are forgiven. “And without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). So someone’s blood must be shed, and that person must have the power and authority to deliver on that promise. And therefore Christ alone is the mediator of this covenant, for as God he has the power of eternal life, the power to forgive sins, and as perfect man he can offer his life a pleasing sacrifice to make atonement for sin.
- This is the blood of the new testament. It is God’s signature on the dotted line of His last will and testament, that seals our inheritance.

Finally, after giving them this new creation meal of his body and blood, Jesus takes a Nazarite vow saying, “Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

A Nazarite is a holy warrior who voluntarily sets himself apart for some sacred work. Samson was a Nazarite, and he was set apart to deliver Israel as a judge. And now for Jesus, the true Samson, the true Bridegroom, he sets himself apart to deliver the whole world from sin and death and bondage to the devil.
Now when was this special and voluntary work of Christ accomplished? When did Christ drink wine anew in the kingdom of God? According to the gospel accounts, this took place upon the cross.
- It says in Mark 15:22-23, “And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. 23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.”
  - So notice before he is crucified, they offer him wine, and he rejects it. He is still under the vow. But then at the ninth hour, after he cries “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It says in verses 35-37, “And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. 36 And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.”
- John’s gospel makes this even more explicit when it says in John 10:28-30, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”
Only after his work is accomplished, he says from the cross, “I thirst.” And what is Jesus thirsty for? What does he desire? To show forth that his vow as a holy warrior is complete. He is Samson choosing to die with the Philistines.

Conclusion

Are you prepared to dine with Jesus? Have you removed the old leaven of malice and wickedness from your soul, and become sincere and true in your love for God?

Your whole life on this earth is a mere preparation for judgment day. The day in which you will either be cast out like Judas into everlasting punishment, or granted entrance into the eternal feast where we shall eat and drink with Christ in the flesh.
Have you made yourself ready for God? This you must do if you would see eternal life.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

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