Mark 14:22-25 Every Step is Joy: Christ Is Broken For Us

The Text

Mark 14:22–25 (CSB) As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

The Devotion

1 Corinthians 11:17–26 (CSB)
¹⁷ Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.

¹⁸ For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

¹⁹ Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you.

²⁰ When you come together, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.

²¹ For at the meal, each one eats his own supper. So one person is hungry while another gets drunk!

²² Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter!

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread,

²⁴ and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁵ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Here's the 1689 Confession, Chapter 30, On the Lord's Supper:

The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him the same night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his churches, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and shewing forth the sacrifice of himself in his death, confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in him, their further engagement in, and to all duties which they owe to him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other.

This is what is so amazing about the first Supper of the Lord. Jesus Christ knew what was about to happen because He foreordained it to happen because the covenant between Christ and the Father in eternity past will come to past when the Father and the Son say it is going to happen:

Matthew 1:21 (CSB) She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

That deal is a done deal. No exceptions.

And Christ told the disciples three times this was about to come to past. This dinner? The fourth time! Do you think his disciples got it? No! They had no clue. If the had a clue, they would have not done the things they were about to do.

But Christ was about to perfectly do--give his life as ransom for many--we are to always remember what he has done.

We are to remember his perfect obedience of the law for us, the sacrifice of his life for us, his blood spilt to wash our sins for us, his righteousness covering us for us, and his Spirit now indwelling in our hearts whom he has sent from the Father for us.

He did it all. Wonderfully, joyfully, definitely, and perfectly for us.

When we remember what he has done, don't come to the table with sorrow or overthinking in despair that you have sinned in the last week/month/year and didn't repent of it. God knows you forgot to repent! He knows we are made of dust! (Psalm 103) Don't you see? That is why he sent his Son: to live and die so that we might live and never die.

Eat this bread. Drink this wine. Do this in remembrance of Christ.

Every step that Christ took towards the cross was in complete joy and satisfaction because every step he took was one step closer to completely, satisfactorily, perfectly, definitely, absolutely, forever "save his people from their sins."