The Lord's Supper (Afternoon)
Download MP3Our scripture passage this evening comes from Mark chapter 14 verses 12 through 25. And on the 1st day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he sent 2 of his disciples and said to them, go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room? Where may I eat the Passover with my disciples?
Connor Coskery:And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. They are prepared for us. And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And when it was evening, he came with the 12. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.
Connor Coskery:They began to be sorrowful and say to him one after another, is it I? He said to them, it is 1 of the 12, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to the man whom this by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them, and said, take, this is my body.
Connor Coskery:And he took a cup, and when they had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drink of it. And he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 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. This is the word of the lord.
Connor Coskery:Thanks be to god. Let's pray together. Lord, there's a lot of things that we could be doing right now, but we have come to this place. We've gathered here together with brothers and sisters to pay attention. To pay attention to you.
Connor Coskery:And so and what you have to say to us, Lord. So I pray that you would open our hearts, open our minds to receive your grace. And, truly, Lord, I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart would be pleasing in your sight, oh, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. The name of Christ, my king, I pray. Amen.
Connor Coskery:Nearly 9 years ago, I was preparing for our monthly church wide common meal. At that time, I was fresh into seminary, and, I was interning at the church here. And this church building has, it's come a long way since those days. For some of you here, you've you remember those those days. For instance, these beautiful hardwood floors.
Connor Coskery:They were covered in red carpet. Red carpet with lots of stains on it. And, downstairs where the the beautiful children's space is, that was a creepy, dingy church basement. And set within this basement was a small storage space with a utility sink and a bunch of orange water coolers. And one of the ways that I, as an intern, helped prepare for common meals was to fill up the water coolers and to mix the lemonade.
Connor Coskery:And this particular day, Shelley brought me the lemonade. For those of you who do know me, Shelley is now my wife. However, that Sunday, 9 years ago, I didn't yet know Shelley. And our first time ever meeting was when she brought me the lemonade in that creepy basement. As the Lord would have it, we ended up spending the rest of the day together.
Connor Coskery:We drove together to get the tzatzikis. We ate together and attended the 4 PM service together. And I really enjoyed our time, so after the 4 PM service, I asked her if she wanted to go to lunch sometime soon. And 14 months later, we were married. I've eaten a lot of Tzatziki's Friday special, but I will never forget that Tzatziki's Friday special.
Connor Coskery:Meals mark moments. Meals, they mark moments. Many of the milestones for our relationship are marked by important meals. That common meal, our first date to trattoria, or the first time that I met her parents, we gathered around her family dining table. Special dinner moments after we got engaged, our rehearsal dinner, our wedding reception.
Connor Coskery:I can keep going and I'm sure if you reflect on your own story, there are meals that serve as markers for key moments in your life. Birthdays, Friendsgivings, Best Forest Fests, graduations, retirements. It seems like nearly everything significant in life is accompanied by a meal. And when we look at humans across history, God has hardwired us to mark significant moments by gathering over food and fellowship. This is especially true in our passage tonight.
Connor Coskery:As you may recall, we find ourselves on the Thursday of Holy Week. And Jesus knows that in the hours ahead he will be betrayed, crucified, and dead. His time left with the disciples is diminishing, so Jesus gathers them together for a meal that they've come to Jerusalem to celebrate one last time. It's the Passover meal. And this annual meal was one of the most important, meals for the Jewish people.
Connor Coskery:People from all over the region have converged on Jerusalem, as they do every year, to celebrate this meal. To fellowship and to remember their history of the God who saved them out of slavery for me in Egypt, and brought them ultimately to the promised land of Israel. Meals mark moments. And Jesus sovereignly orchestrates this important moment to reimagine the entire Passover meal by putting himself at the center. Jesus is going to take this meal that they would have celebrated since birth and flip it upside down saying, This meal is, in fact, all about me.
Connor Coskery:Three points are going to guide us as we navigate our way through these verses. The first point, we're going to look at the last Passover. The last Passover. The second point, we're going to look at the First Supper. It's the last Passover, then the First Supper, and the third point is the final feast.
Connor Coskery:The final feast. So let's look first at the last Passover. Mark tells us, if you look at verse 12, that it's the 1st day of unleavened bread. The city of Jerusalem would have been buzzing as people prepared for the Passover to be celebrated later that evening. We read that Jesus sends his disciples on what appears to be like a covert mission to procure a space for them to celebrate this meal.
Connor Coskery:There are a lot of similarities. It's really interesting when you start looking at these verses. There's a lot of similarities between Jesus's instructions here and his and the instructions that he gave his disciples before the triumphal entry, before he first entered Jerusalem. Let's take a look at a couple of them. First, we see that both times Jesus sends 2 disciples into the city to prepare for an event.
Connor Coskery:Both passages indicate that the disciples will seemingly have these chance encounters. For the triumphal entry, he says, you'll find a colt tied. And in our text tonight, they're to look for a man carrying a jar of water. He will meet them. In both instances, the disciples are told exact words to say.
Connor Coskery:In the triumphal entry, we read that the Lord has need of it. And the teacher says, tonight, where is my guest room? And in both stories, the events happen exactly as Jesus said they would. If you remember back to last week, the sermon ended on an ominous note. Judas's plan to betray Jesus was an action.
Connor Coskery:He had cut a deal with the chief priest. But Judas isn't in control. Jesus is in complete control. Jesus knows there are plots to kill him. He knows that in a few short hours his disciples are going to betray, deny, and abandon him.
Connor Coskery:But Jesus never responds out of fear or desperation. He doesn't lash out in anger or anxiously try to maneuver the situation. Jesus doesn't hide or retreat. He knows what's about to happen. Instead, Jesus demonstrates his authority.
Connor Coskery:From the moment he entered Jerusalem, he has been showing his disciples that he is in charge. It's his cult. It's his temple. It's his guest room. Nobody is going to outwit, outsmart, or catch him off guard, or take his life from him.
Connor Coskery:Jesus will lay down his life on his own accord and he will raise it up as well. This theme of betrayals, it's only going to intensify in the next couple chapters as we roll full steam ahead to the cross. And Mark wants us to know, Jesus is in control. So in these final hours, Jesus gathers with his disciples in the upper room for the Passover meal. If you've ever celebrated a Seder meal here at Redeemer, a number of home groups celebrate those in the springtime, then you've experienced a version of what this meal is like.
Connor Coskery:The Passover, it originated in Exodus in connection with the final plague. The book of Exodus is largely about God rescuing his people from slavery in Egypt. Moses, their leader, sent from God, is instructed to plead with Pharaoh to let God's people go. However, Pharaoh continuously refused and God sent a series of plagues upon Egypt. And it culminated with the Angel of Death coming over Egypt and killing the firstborn.
Connor Coskery:Pharaoh's heart, his hard heart led God to emphatically demonstrate that Egypt has no future, and that he alone is the almighty God. In Exodus 12, we learn about this 1st Passover. We read that the Passover centered around killing a spotless lamb and painting its blood over the doorpost of 1's house. And God's angels sent to kill the firstborn of Egypt. He would see that blood painted over the doorpost and he would pass over that house, sparing the family.
Connor Coskery:This plague, this was the plague that finally broke pharaoh, and the Israelites were set free. God's judgment was averted because of the blood of the lamb, and God's people were set free from slavery. And to mark this incredible salvation, the Passover feast was instituted. And it was to be celebrated every year. This was a moment for every Israelite to remember who they are and where they came from.
Connor Coskery:This is the meal that Jesus has prepared with his disciples. The feast is, it would have been it's very dramatic, very dynamic. The oldest man of the family, he would stand, he would preside over the meal, and he would stand first by retelling the story of God's people. And he would use the words from Deuteronomy 26, and he would he would bless each element. He would bless the herbs.
Connor Coskery:He would bless the wine. He would bless the lamb. And he would explain how they were symbolic, how each element on the table was symbolic of Israel's captivity and eventual deliverance. For example, the presider, the oldest member of the family, he would he would take the bread and he'd say, This bread, this bread, this is the bread of our affliction, which our fathers ate in the wilderness. And he would lift each cup and he would bless it.
Connor Coskery:And these cups, these series of cups, they would transition throughout the meal. And the actual meal, if you've ever celebrated in the Seder, you realize that there's, the first part, it's a lot of symbolic eating, but it's not actually eating. The actual meal would be eaten in the third part of the supper. And it's at this part in the evening, this third part, where Jesus says that someone sitting at the table is going to betray him. And this surprises the disciples, they start asking Jesus, is it me?
Connor Coskery:Am I the one that's going to betray you? I have to think Judas Judas blushed. You have to, I have to think, he thinks he's been so sly, so secretive. But Jesus responds that this is all part of the plan. In fact, he quotes Psalm 41, verse 9, that says, Even my close friend, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
Connor Coskery:Jesus is in control. This betrayal doesn't take him by surprise, he predicts it. It was prophesied. And friends, what a comfort to read to see that Jesus is in control. Isn't it amazing how with everything going on around this last Passover, Jesus is sovereign over it all.
Connor Coskery:And friends, the good news about God's sovereignty is that he is still sovereign. He sees you. He notices you, small as you may feel, and He promises that He is sovereign over every tiny detail. He holds the universe. He promises that he holds the universe by the word of his power, by his pinky.
Connor Coskery:And yet, at the same time, he won't let a pair fall from your head apart from his will. There is nothing that takes Jesus by surprise. Not Judas. Not the chief priest. Nothing in this world.
Connor Coskery:And nothing in your life. What a comfort that is. What rest that is. Jesus is in control. But Jesus creates a bit of a stir when he tells the disciples that one of them is going to betray him.
Connor Coskery:The meal gets uncomfortable. In Luke's account, Luke actually says that from it's at this point that the disciples start engaging in this heated discussion about who is the greatest. The other disciples, they won't betray Jesus in the same way as Judas, but they will deny him and abandon him. It seems that Jesus is, is almost, he's stirring them up to prepare them for the salvation that he's going to bring, and the new meal that he's about to give them. Like a good teacher, he's about to give them an object lesson.
Connor Coskery:And show them how he has come to die for weak sinners, like them and like us. To this point, the Passover has been the central meal for the disciples. However, Jesus says, this is it. This is the last Passover, because I am giving you a new meal that will explain more deeply, in words, what I am coming to do for you. So, look with me at verses 23, 22 and through 24, where Jesus institutes the First Supper.
Connor Coskery:Verse 22 says, And as they were eating, he took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them and said, take, this is my body. And he took a cup, when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank of it and he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Jesus departs from script. The same words that would have said, been said for generations. He He takes a detour and he shockingly puts his death and resurrection into the symbols offered by the Passover meal.
Connor Coskery:And Jesus singles out 2 elements in particular, the bread and the wine. Jesus first takes the bread, which would have been, cracker like, like matzo. And he and it free of impurities and he blesses it and he breaks it and he gives it to his disciples saying, take this is my body. And what Jesus is saying, if you remember back to what the what the presider would have said about the bread of the affliction, he says, this is the bread of my affliction. Not the affliction of our ancestors.
Connor Coskery:This is the bread of my suffering. Jesus is saying, I'm about to lead the ultimate exodus, the ultimate deliverance from your slavery to sin. And then he takes the cup, he takes this cup of wine, after blessing it says, This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many. He's using covenantal language and what he's doing is he's saying that through his blood a new relationship is forming. This phrase, the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many, it seems strange and foreign to us.
Connor Coskery:But blood was a regular part of the life of the disciples. From blood being spilled through violence, murder. Or laws about cleanliness, we actually read earlier in Mark about the woman who had a discharge of blood, and it talks about how people are to avoid her because of all the laws in order to stay clean. All the way to the sacrifice of animals to atone for sins. The Bible has a lot to say about blood.
Connor Coskery:Has a lot to say about blood because blood represents life. Or the spilling, and the spilling or shedding of blood in turn depicts death. Blood represents life. The spilling or shedding of blood depicts death. And because the wages or deserved penalty of sin against God is death, blood had to be shed to bring a sinful people into relationship with a Holy God.
Connor Coskery:And so God provided the sacrificial system where the death of an animal, through the shedding of their blood, took the place of the sinful people. The animal's death acted as a temporary substitute for the people's sins. The author of Hebrews comments, on this old system, this old sacrificial system that's been that had been instituted for years years. And he says, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Connor Coskery:Blood was shed to forgive sins. But, blood was also used to seal covenants. If you ever had premarital counseling with me, we spend a lot of time talking about covenants. And we talk about this shedding of blood to form relationship. Because in ancient times, when 2 people were making a covenant together, when they were making they would make these solemn vows to one another, and then they would take an animal and they would cut it in half.
Connor Coskery:And they would spread the 2 pieces apart, they would make their vows to one another, and then they would walk in between those animals. And in doing so, what they're saying is, I vow to uphold my end of the bargain, and if I don't do that, then let me be like the animal. So when Jesus says, This is my blood of the covenant poured out for many, he is saying that he is both accomplishing salvation, forgiveness through sacrifice, And he's bringing about a new relationship based not on the death of an animal, but on his blood. The problem with the old sacrificial system was that the high priest had to keep making these sacrifices. Yearly, over and over, because the blood of bulls and goats could never fully take away sins.
Connor Coskery:It was always meant to be a shadow, a sign pointing to a greater, more complete salvation to come. One day, there would have to be a final reckoning with sin. And when Jesus says his blood is poured out for many, he declares, this day has arrived. 24 hours after he uttered these words, he would shed his blood on the cross to cover his people's sins fully and finally. He would pour out his blood so that God would pass over his people in judgment and punish him instead as the substitute for their sins.
Connor Coskery:As the author of Hebrews said, Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Get this, but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. The blood of Jesus brings an end, brings to an end the temporary covenant of the past, and he inaugurates a new and eternal covenant. He sat down, demonstrating this work is complete. It is finished.
Connor Coskery:When we look at this Passover meal, Jesus is he reinterprets the bread and the wine to foreshadow his work. But these these elements, they weren't particularly special. When we look at the Passover meal, all Passover meals, they had bread. All Passover meals had wine. There's one important entree of this meal that is absent from all the gospel writers.
Connor Coskery:The lamb. The lamb was the main course of the meal, and there is no mention of the lamb at this Passover meal. And the reason that there's no lamb at this Passover meal is that Jesus Christ himself is the Passover lamb of God. John the Baptist, when he saw Jesus walking towards him, he cried out in exuberance. Do you remember this?
Connor Coskery:He says, Behold the what? The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. There was no lamb that night because the Lamb of God was sitting at the table. What the Exodus Passover anticipated now finds its fulfillment in the death of Jesus, who on the cross got what we deserved. He took on all of the sin, all of the death, and all of the brokenness of the world in order to set us free.
Connor Coskery:Meals mark moments. And Jesus gives the disciples a new meal that no longer looks back to an event, but to a person. With this first supper, Jesus boldly declares that God's people no longer live in an era of promise, but in an era of fulfillment. But the Lord's supper doesn't just look backwards, the Lord's supper also looks forward to the ultimate feast to come. Look with me at verse 25, where Jesus anticipates this final feast.
Connor Coskery:Jesus says, 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. Jesus finishes by telling his disciples that he will voluntarily refrain from drinking wine until the day that he finally returns to judge the world and usher in his kingdom. In two sentences, Jesus tells his disciples the rest of the story of the world. He's saying, in effect, because of the sacrifice I am about to make, there will one day be a final feast, an ultimate banquet where everyone who calls on my name, everyone is invited. And this feast will be glorious, friends.
Connor Coskery:Listen to how Isaiah, describes this feast. He prophesies to this feast. He says, on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food. A feast of well aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine, well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.
Connor Coskery:He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces. And the reproach of his people will take away he will take away from all the earth. This is our future. This is the final feast where God will be with his people in a new kingdom and everything will be made right.
Connor Coskery:And when you trust in Jesus, you can rest assured that there is a seat being prepared for you at that feast. And that feast, it it should fuel faithfulness today. Picture the moment. The moment when we will all be gathered there. We're gathered there, And we are all gathered around this giant banquet table.
Connor Coskery:And we, and and we will stand and we will share our stories, and we will rejoice together. And every time you've shared your faith, you've talked about Jesus, and you thought that it was going nowhere, those people, were those, were those seeds that were sown? Those people will stand and they will rejoice with you. Not just as a person, but as a brother and a sister. The sovereign care of God, it will finally make sense.
Connor Coskery:Our stories will finally make sense, and we will live in eternal joy. The Lord's supper, this meal that we are going to celebrate tonight, this is a small but very real foretaste to that feast. That banquet awaits. And when the Lamb of God, he will preside over it and our groaning will cease and we will be alive. Until that day, we keep returning to this table, trusting that the God who is faithful to bring his promise on the first time will surely do it again.
Connor Coskery:So tonight, we are we're going to take from this table. We're going to take the Lord's supper. But before we do that, I want to, I want to take a moment to explain what we at Redeemer Community Church believe is happening in this meal. We talked a lot about the meaning behind the meal. But why is it significant that we keep returning to this table?
Connor Coskery:And the first thing is, at this table we believe that Jesus meets with us in this meal. The Lord's Supper is where Jesus meets with us to nourish our faith. In God's kindness, he has given us means, ways, channels that help us to grow in faith. Reading our Bibles, immersing ourselves in the scriptures, prayer, baptism, communion. But we believe that these means aren't empty, but that God shows up.
Connor Coskery:Think about it like this, when you open your Bibles, you, when you open your Bibles, you believe that it's it's different than just reading a novel, right? You expect God to show up to reveal himself to you. Or prayer, when we pray, we, we believe that we're not just speaking into thin air, but we believe that God hears our prayers, that Jesus is advocating on our behalf and that the Spirit is actually interceding for us. In the Lord's Supper, we believe that there is a unique spiritual communion that takes place between the Lord and his people. This meal isn't merely a memorial.
Connor Coskery:It isn't only a time where we remember what Jesus did for us in the past. Instead, we believe that when we take the Lord's supper, that Christ is present with us in a special mysterious way, spiritually, but not physically. We believe that Jesus meets with us in this meal. The great commission, it's a it is a a great example to help us, understand how Jesus promises to be with us spiritually, but not physically. In the gospel according to Matthew, Matthew tells us at the end that before Jesus ascended, he instructed his disciples to go and make disciples, trusting that he would be with them to the ends of the age.
Connor Coskery:And after sending his disciples out on mission, he ascended to the right hand of the father. He sat down, right? And after Jesus ascended, he was no longer with the disciples physically. However, keeping with his promise to be with them until the ends of the age, Christ sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in them. Therefore, we understand that Jesus is physically at the right hand of God, but still among us spiritually through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Connor Coskery:In the same way, while Christ remains physically at the right hand of God, we believe that he meets with us in the supper, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And that there is a true communion that happens between the Lord and his church. This is important because when he meets with us, he meets with us to nourish our faith. The bread and the wine, they're certainly symbols, but they aren't empty symbols. Jesus says that he is the bread of life, and that whoever comes to him shall not hunger, and whoever believes in him shall never thirst.
Connor Coskery:So just as daily food and drink strengthens the body, Christ promises to meet with us to strengthen the faith of sin weary people. Jesus meets with us in this meal. But, Jesus also unites his family through this meal. The Lord's supper is a family meal. It's often said at Redeemer that Christ gave his body to create a body.
Connor Coskery:And the Passover meal was a family meal, but Jesus pulls his disciples, this is so interesting. He pulls his disciples away from these traditional family meals, meals that they would have celebrated since birth with their families. And he pulls them away to do this Passover meal with them together. And he does this because he is creating a new family. And what binds this new family together is not common ancestry, education, race, politics, nationality, but it's because they're going to be saved by Jesus.
Connor Coskery:We gather as a new family because we are saved by the blood of Jesus. We come to this table, we come as family, as brothers and sisters. I love how theologian Don Carson, he describes it. He says, we come as a band of natural enemies, who love one another for Jesus's sake. We come as a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus's sake.
Connor Coskery:This is the fact that this is a family meal, it's one of the reasons that the Apostle Paul instructed the church in Corinth when talking about this meal too. He instructed them to examine their hearts, to reconcile with one another, to forgive one another. This meal is meant to unify, to strengthen the bonds, the bonds of, of the family. Not to create dissension. So he meets with us in this meal, this is a family meal meant to unify us.
Connor Coskery:And, lastly, he offers this meal to needy sinners. The Lord's supper is for sinners, not achievers. Boy, does my heart need to hear that. The use of the word all, it's haunting throughout this passage. They all drank the cup.
Connor Coskery:Even though they all swore they wouldn't, they all would fall away and flee from Jesus in the coming days. This is not a meal for those who merit it. The prerequisite to receive this meal is need. On the cross, Jesus completed the work that would bring the people of God to God forever. And to all who say, I've got this, Jesus says, no, look again, don't trust in what you do, trust in what I do, have done for you.
Connor Coskery:I paid for you. I will never let you go. Don't trust in yourself, trust in me. So we come to this table this evening, believing that meals mark moments. And tonight is a moment to receive the grace of Jesus and to be strengthened for our journey towards that final feast.
Connor Coskery:So if you're tired, if you're weary, if you're afraid, if you recognize your need for the finished and victorious work of Jesus, I beg you to come and to feast. So on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread, and he broke it. After giving thanks, he broke it and he said, this is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after giving thanks, he took the cup and he said, this cup is my blood poured out for many.
Connor Coskery:And the apostle Paul would later say that as often you as you eat of this bread and you drink of this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. And friends, he will come again. Here's how we're going to take this evening. We'll start with the balcony. If you come down, there's going to be several stations up here.
Connor Coskery:You're just going to break off a piece of the bread. You're going to hear, this is the body of Christ given for you. You're going to dip it in the the wine, this is non alcoholic wine. You're going to dip it in the wine, and you're going to hear it. This is the blood of Christ shed for you.
Connor Coskery:Then you can return to your seats. This is a meal for all baptized believers. And I I want to encourage you to examine your heart. If there's brothers and sisters, even in this space tonight, that you need to reconcile with, that you need to forgive, I beg you to do that. This is a meal meant to unify.
Connor Coskery:So let me pray, and then our servers will come forward. Lord, we thank you that these aren't empty symbols, but Lord, that you meet with us. So Lord, I pray that you would meet with us now and nourish our faith for your glory and your glory alone. In the name of Christ our King we pray. Amen.
