Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S54 || What does it truly mean to remember Christ? || Mark 14:22-31 || Session 54 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
Our journey through Mark's Gospel takes us to one of the most profound moments in Jesus's ministry – the Last Supper with his disciples. In this tender yet pivotal setting, Jesus establishes what Christians now celebrate as Communion, transforming ordinary bread and wine into powerful symbols of his sacrifice.
As we explore Mark 14:22-28, we unpack the rich theological significance behind Jesus's words: "This is my body" and "This is my blood of the covenant." We examine the various interpretations Christians hold about Communion – from Catholic transubstantiation to Protestant symbolism – while connecting Jesus's statements to his other symbolic "I am" declarations throughout scripture. This careful analysis helps us appreciate the memorial aspect of Communion as we remember Christ's sacrifice.
The conversation deepens as we discuss the covenant Jesus established that night, connecting his words to Jeremiah's prophecy of a new covenant and looking ahead to its future fulfillment in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Jesus's reference to drinking wine "new in the kingdom of God" points to the Millennial Kingdom where believers will celebrate with their risen Lord.
Perhaps most poignant is Jesus's prediction that all his disciples would abandon him, despite Peter's passionate insistence otherwise. This tension between sincere intention and human weakness mirrors our own spiritual journey. We find comfort knowing that Jesus loved his disciples despite foreseeing their failure, even promising to meet them in Galilee after his resurrection.
Through exploring the Last Supper, we gain fresh appreciation for Christ's sacrificial love, the covenant he established through his death, and his grace toward imperfect followers. This passage challenges us to examine our own commitment to Christ while resting in his faithfulness toward us.
Take time today to reflect on what it means to remember Christ through Communion, and how his covenant of grace transforms our relationship with God. How might acknowledgment of our weakness actually deepen our dependence on his strength?
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Today, as we reason through the Gospel of Mark, we have Jesus in the upper room giving very tender moment with his 12 disciples. He's also giving very important instructions to them. At the same time, it's the last few moments that he has with them before he goes and is arrested and dies on the cross. So he knows this is the last moments that he'll have to teach them before he dies. So always, if we were to say what is someone's last words, then we would write those down and remember them. That's the same thing that's going to happen here with the 12. And we have here one of the most profound things that we're going to see in this chapter. So let's go ahead and read. If you have your Bible, open it to Mark, chapter 14, starting in verse 22. We have Jesus in the upper room says this While they were eating, he took some bread and after a blessing, he broke it and gave it to them and said Take it, this is my body. And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from 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 never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. This is again the upper room where he is giving instructions to the disciples. They were celebrating the Passover meal and it would have had all the elements of a Jewish Seder service. This is where the church gets the Lord's Supper, or sometimes called Communion or the Eucharist. We accept two ordinances in the church the Lord's Supper and baptism.
Speaker 1:This passage where he says here in verse 22, take it, this is my body, we're automatically fairly deep into a church controversy about what exactly that means. Over the centuries there's been different church groups, different Christians that have taken this to mean different things. When Jesus says this is my body, people question exactly what he means. Catholic Church, a similar one to that that I put in the same category, is from the Eastern Orthodox, which is called metousiosis. Those teach that the elements the bread and the fruit of the vine actually transform into the literal body and blood of Jesus, although they have the accidents, which is the appearance of the bread and the wine. Those views would say the substance changes, but the appearance does not. It still looks like a cracker, but the elements are changed into the actual body and blood of Christ. The second main view held by Christians is called the real presence view, which is held by Lutherans, which tells that Jesus' body is really present, but the substance of the elements hasn't changed. It's still bread, it's still fruit of the vine, but Jesus is really present, he's really there. He is really there with his body and blood, but the substance didn't change. And then most of Protestantism would hold to the third view, which is a symbolic view. So with this we have, of course, the controversy. The comment that I would give to respond to this is that when he says this is my body, at the very least the first time he said it, this instance, that the elements were not his body, simply because he was holding it at the time and his body was still intact and had not yet been sacrificed. So at a minimum, the very first time he says it here, in Mark 14, it had not changed into anything. It was just a plain bread and fruit of the vine.
Speaker 1:But I think we can take in the Gospel of John, where he has similar statements, and we can make a lesson here If we look several places of what have been called the I Am statements of Jesus. Jesus said I am the light in John 8.12. He said I am the door in John 10.7. I am the good shepherd in John 10.11. I am the vine in John 15.5. And he again repeats I am the bread in John 6.35.
Speaker 1:Well, when he says I am the light, we don't conclude that he's a photon and we don't conclude that photons are Jesus. He says I am the door, then we don't conclude that he's made out of wood and has hinges. And when he says I am the good shepherd, well, far as we know, he never kept sheep. The only reason shepherd today has the concepts of being pastoral is simply because of passages like this one where Jesus used it symbolically. So he was not a literal shepherd, he was a carpenter. When he says I am the vine, we don't conclude that he's a plant or that a plant is him.
Speaker 1:My question is why is it when he says this is my body or I am the bread, we supposedly have to take this literally, my friend, if we take I am the bread literally, then we are, at the very minimum, inconsistent with our hermeneutical interpretation of all these other passages.
Speaker 1:And if we take them as a whole. It's pretty plain that this is symbolic and it says so in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 24 and following Do this in remembrance of me. All these are symbolic. We don't conclude that Jesus is a photon, a physical door, a sheep herder or a plant or any of these things. These are symbolic, plant or any of these things. These are symbolic and just grammatically. The verb is this is my body. Grammatically can mean represents. That's just plain dictionary definition, not my opinion. With this we have this statement just take it this is my body. And of course, this is quite profound. Steve, what do you think of first when he says this, besides all the technical definitions that theologians get us down, what do you take it to be when he says this is my body?
Speaker 2:Well, first, we're both Gentiles, glenn, and I don't know about you, but I have never actually attended a Jewish Passover Seder, or Pasach, I think is what they call it. Jewish Passover Seder or Pasach, I think is what they call it. But in studying for this, I went and researched for some of the Messianic Jews, and these are Jewish people that believe that Jesus is the Messiah and when they celebrate the Passover they see the symbology in this, through that description of this unleavened bread. The unleavened bread has holes in it, it's pierced. We can even appreciate that where, if we have store-bought crackers, even the crackers that we buy at a store has little holes on it. It makes it bake more evenly. And as the holes are pierced in it, for this unleavened bread and it's baked, it comes out and has stripes on it.
Speaker 2:We lose that through our communion, as you mentioned before, in that in many times, or all that I know of, we have a little bitty piece of a cracker or in some other. But think of it. Here you have this piece of unleavened bread that has these holes that were pierced in it and has these stripes in it, just like his body is going to have stripes for whenever he's going to be scourged in a few hours and he's looking at the disciples and he breaks it. And again we lose it because we just have a little bitty piece, usually in our communions. He breaks it and looks at them and says this is my body. So you have the symbology there that we lose because we're Gentiles. But the Messianic Jews can see the picture there of Jesus's pierced, scourged body being broken for us as he sacrificed himself on the cross.
Speaker 1:It also says in here that he prayed before the meal. He took the bread and blessed it, and then he took the cup and gave thanks Always. Jesus was in a position before a meal to give thanks, and we should as well. We should follow his example as a great place to remember to thank the Lord. He also says here in verse 24 that he brings in a covenant. Now, that has a lot of meaning attached to it as well. The covenants are great promises that God made in the Old Testament. Steve, this is one of these places where I really wish he would have, at least in the text, stopped and given a theological treatise on exactly what he means by the covenant. But what is a covenant? What is this covenant? What's all the things that we could take with it with this new covenant?
Speaker 2:Once again, glenn, preparing for this lesson. There are four different cups that are called where the participants drink. The first cup that they drink during the procedure is called a blessing, the cup of blessing. And then the third cup that they drink from is called the cup of redemption. And in studying for this, the people that I researched said that this was the cup, the cup of redemption, that he is offering to the disciples at this particular time, when he says which is poured out for the many, it's also this blood of the covenant. Now you ask the question which covenant is it?
Speaker 2:If you go back to Jeremiah 31, it tells us there that there's going to be a new covenant and in one of the other gospels he actually says this is the blood of the new covenant. That was a covenant that was said that they're going to take our heart of stone and give it a heart of flesh, going to write the laws on our heart so that we know the Word of God on our heart, so that we know the Word of God. So it's a new covenant that Jesus is establishing. We find out through reading Paul and his letters. We had a great study in Galatians that we went through, where Paul talks about, that we're free from the law of Moses. We have this new covenant that Jesus has established through his death, burial and resurrection. The law is now written on our heart and we now can have our sins forgiven through the sacrifice that Jesus has made. So this is the covenant that he's talking about, a new covenant that is established at this drinking of the cup of redemption during this Passover meal.
Speaker 1:The other aspect of this that I find quite interesting is the same word in Greek, for covenant is also the word for last will and testament. So we have here a covenant, or a last will and testament, last statement that Jesus leaves them Again. Last time he's really with them so he can stop and teach. He says this is what I'm leaving you with, this is my covenant, my last will and testament. Do this in remembrance of me. Remember my body and my blood that's poured out. For many, that's again burned this into their minds because that is the most important thing is that his body was broken for us and his blood was poured out for us to pay for our sins. If we don't remember anything about Christ, we should remember his covenant, his last will and testament. Which he did was to die and then resurrect again. A covenant we don't typically use that word these days, but we think contracts. But contracts are usually only as good as the paper they're written on and if you have a better lawyer, you can break the contract. A covenant was unbreakable. It was supposed to be binding and permanently binding. Jesus is leaving his disciples with a message that says I'm going to do something that will be permanently binding.
Speaker 1:There's other covenants, of course, in the Bible. There was the covenant with Abraham. There was a covenant with Moses with the Mosaic law. God made a covenant with David. There was a covenant with Noah when he made a promise about the flood. The covenants were made by God with specific people and some of them were unconditional. So the question here is what type of covenant is this?
Speaker 1:You mentioned Jeremiah 31, steve. It speaks of making a new covenant, but it's a covenant that speaks things specific to Israel. We did a whole special topic on this once where we went through what is the new covenant and we went through the passages in Hebrew and pretty much the whole chapter of Jeremiah 31 explaining some of the issues for that I would just refer people there. But this new covenant is made with Israel, but Hebrews makes it clear that it's appropriated by the church. You'll find that in Hebrews 8.8 and 10.16. So that's the new covenant and he's setting it up here based on his death on the cross and his resurrection. That's what he's saying here.
Speaker 1:The last thing I leave you with my covenant, my last will, is to remember what I did for you. Then, in verse 25, he says here truly, I say to you I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. That leaves us with a very interesting question. Okay, when is this kingdom? It implies a future state of the kingdom. We've said this several times before.
Speaker 1:This idea of the kingdom is very multifaceted and it's not always as simple. In the book of Acts they preach the kingdom in evangelistic campaigns. Here we have a sense that the kingdom is future. The parable of the minas in Luke 19 has an idea of the future of the kingdom. Sometimes the kingdom is presented as present, something that we can join right now. In other times he says here that he will not drink of the same cup until he comes again in the kingdom. I think of Steve Revelation, chapter 19, the marriage supper of the lamb. That's the one I think he's talking about here when he returns. Then he'll be able to sit with us in the marriage supper of the lamb and we will have another great toast to his great work and to what he's done on the cross, his body and blood.
Speaker 2:And that marriage supper, sufferer of the Lamb is going to be at the beginning of the kingdom that he is coming to set up. And we call it the millennial kingdom because we get the time frame from Revelation, chapter 20, where a thousand years is mentioned six or seven times in those verses that are right there in chapter 20. But all throughout the Old Testament, through the prophets, it's always spoke of a kingdom that was going to come, that the Messiah was going to be ruler over the son of David and he was going to be in the order of Melchizedek, when Melchizedek was a king and a priest. We have all of that of the actual physical kingdom where Jesus is going to rule from Jerusalem. We saw that when we went through Zechariah, for instance. So here I think we can take that. He says I am going to drink, I will not drink until that time.
Speaker 2:I think you take that as being physical. He's going to physically drink from it. Well, it's going to be a physical kingdom that is going to be initiated. There. I think you're exactly right. It's, I think, at this marriage supper of the Lamb that speaks about in Revelation.
Speaker 1:And I would agree as well I think he's talking very literal sitting down to a meal and having a cup. What a great day that will be when we actually get to sit down in a great banquet hall and have a meal with the Lord Jesus. What a great day that will be. Well, they've finished in Mark, here with the upper room and starting in verse 26, it talks about they leave and go outside the city. So let's read there. I'm starting in Mark 14, verse 26. After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus said to them you will all fall away because it is written I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, but after I have been raised I will go ahead of you to Galilee. But Peter said to him even though all may fall away yet, I will not. Jesus said to him truly, I say to you that this very night before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny me three times. But Peter kept saying insistently even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. They all were saying the same thing, also With this. It says they've left the upper room where they had the Passover meal and they go out. It says they go out the city to the Mount of Olives and as they go they sing a hymn.
Speaker 1:Music is very calming, very emotional, very soothing. I take it it was probably a beautiful hymn. They probably sang one of the psalms. I think, steve, music is one of the great things that we can do is to learn to sing with our children and our families and with our Christian friends. Some of the most tender times that I remember is when people have just been out doing something. Maybe we're just out not necessarily in church, but just out with family and somebody breaks out in song and sings a hymn. I find that music is a great thing to help us in the Christian life, don't you?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and this was part of the Seder service, the Pasach, the Passover service, was to sing a hymn or several psalms, as you noted there at the end of it. So they're doing that and this is still done today. The same ritual, that's in the same way of this Passover lamb. Now, I'm sure you'll talk about this here in just a second, glenn, but at the very end of that you mentioned that Peter says, vehemently, denied that he would betray Jesus. But just a few verses ago he was one of the ones that are saying when Jesus said one of you are going to betray me, he was one of the ones. Because, it says, all the disciples were asking am I going to be one of the ones to betray you? Here, in just a few verses, we see the exact opposite end of a pendulum swing where Peter on one part says am I possibly one that's going to betray you? It's not me To now, I certainly would never deny you, lord Jesus. Again, little things.
Speaker 1:as we slow down and look at these verses, Jesus here was very clear, saying that you're going to betray me. He yet again predicts future free acts of people and accurately predicts them with certainty. Yet they are the ones that do it. They are free to make human choice. It's not fatalism, but yet his prophecies are sure. Jesus accurately predicts these things.
Speaker 1:But, steve, what I think of here is he knows. Jesus knows that all 12 of them are going to abandon them and when they do, he still loves them. He still accepts them back. He could have said look, when I needed you the most, you ran off and left me. You left me when I really needed a friend, but yet he doesn't. He doesn't blame them afterwards, he forgives them. Our Lord does not blame us when we fail. He'll hold us accountable for sin. We're not going to get away with sin, but when we're weak he'll still love us and he'll still accept us back. Remember what he did with Peter. Peter is going to deny him, but he sat with him on the shore and asked him three times do you love me? Peter was able to get back in fellowship with him. So I find here Jesus knows he's going to be betrayed. He knows they're all going to fall away, but yet he still is there with them and he still accepts them back afterwards.
Speaker 2:Glenn, isn't that great news for us? Because there might be times in our lives where we have been confronted by people that are non-believers and maybe we didn't speak up and defend our Christian faith like we might want to, and later we reflect back on it and say, why didn't I do that, why didn't I stand up for Jesus, and have a little bit of remorse over it. But we have the example that you were just talking about, where he didn't hold that against them and he won't hold that against us. If we fall away from the standpoint of not defending Jesus from time to time, we still have the redemption through his blood, death, burial and resurrection. We can take great comfort in that. I think it's a great story and a lesson here that we can, I think, relate to and associate with.
Speaker 1:You mentioned Peter and his denial Notice. Here Peter more than once says denial Notice. Here Peter more than once says even though all may fall away, yet I will not. He keeps saying I will not and he repeats it in verse 30. He kept on saying vehemently and passionately I will not. Yet we know that he does actually deny him. So here's a question, steve. But he does actually deny him. So here's a question, steve Do you think Peter was sincere? Was he truthful when he says I'm not going to deny it? Was he true here?
Speaker 2:I think he was absolutely sincere and I think Mark gives us that flavor in the words that he uses here. That Peter is stating this with all of himself, of saying Lord, I would never, ever deny you. I think he absolutely is sincere in what he's saying here.
Speaker 1:And we find later in the chapter, he pulls out a knife and tries to kill somebody to defend Jesus. I think here Peter is extremely sincere. His flesh is as sincere as he can be, yet he does indeed fall away. I find this to be such a great example of ourselves. We, all that are followers of Christ, want to follow him, yet we find ourselves in moments of weakness, not and we find ourselves, our flesh is just weak. What does this tell us about our own human strength and our own intentions, and how much we could trust ourselves to stay faithful to Christ?
Speaker 2:Peter was a human being, just like we are. It tells us that even though we at times are very sincere in some of the commitments that we make, that there are going to be times whenever we'll falter and that we shouldn't let that stop us. We have 1 John, 1, 9 to confess our sins so that they might be faithfully forgiven. We need to move on and not hold that against us, not hold that against us, but it also is something to us to make sure that whenever we make such a statement as what Peter said and have the sincerity behind it, really think as to whether or not we're really going to be committed to carry it out.
Speaker 2:I'm reminded of whenever James and John came to him and said Jesus, when you come into your kingdom, will you let us sit on your right hand and left hand? And his question to him was can you drink the cup that I'm getting ready to drink? Of course they said oh yes, we can do it. We talked about that in length in that session related to that of being immersed. He tells them you will be immersed, just as I am, and baptized as I am, in the type of torture that I'm going to go through. But they didn't clearly and completely understand what he meant by that. The point I'm making here is that when we make commitments such strongly as what Peter makes here, is that we should maybe reflect on it before we do that and make sure that we're fully understanding what it is that we're committing to.
Speaker 1:In our own strength. All of us are weak and we're depraved, and our old flesh is sinful and capable of doing any sin. The only reason why we stay faithful is because he is faithful to us. He does not leave us. If it were up to me to maintain my salvation, I would fall away before the sun went down today. But because he is faithful and he has given me the Holy Spirit and I have this desire to love Him and please Him he is so forgiving then he is responsible for keeping our salvation. It's not in my own strength, because I would just be weak and fall away and do things that I know I shouldn't, but because of the Holy Spirit, I ask forgiveness, I get back on track and I always have this burning desire, this passion to follow him and stay in good graces with my Lord.
Speaker 1:A short time later, he's denying Jesus in front of a young maiden girl, and a few days after that, he's standing up in the midst of the temple on the day of Pentecost, giving a rousing sermon. Well, what changed? What changed was the Holy Spirit After the day of Pentecost. He now has the power of God in him that will drive him towards staying faithful. It also says here, in verse 27,. Jesus quotes an Old Testament passage from Zechariah 13, 7, I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. What happened, steve, to the disciples when Jesus was arrested and crucified?
Speaker 2:What happened, steve, to the disciples when Jesus was arrested and crucified. They did this that Whenever they came to arrest him and we'll see it a little bit later they all did scatter when he was taken into custody by the Roman cohort that had come there, and we did a study in Zechariah Glenn. So I would encourage our listeners, if they want to find out a little bit more about this particular verse, go listen to our study in Zechariah. This was told by the prophet 100 years before the actual happening here of Jesus. There was a lot of good things there in Zechariah. Go listen to our study on that to get a little bit more background on this verse from 13.7 that he quoted.
Speaker 1:In this passage, jesus says you're going to fall away. Peter repeatedly, passionately, says no, I will not. And as soon as Jesus is arrested, then they all scatter. What happens when Jesus scatters? The shepherd leaves, then the sheep are scattered. What happens today in our churches when a pastor leaves? Well, the same thing, as the sheep start bumping into each other and scattering off and getting in places where the wolves can get them. I submit that in our churches we need pastors and we need good pastors. Churches need to be very aware of what happens when a pastor leaves. Because, steve, I've seen and you've seen over the years, pastor leaves. The churches have all kinds of problems. Not necessarily my place to tell churches how to govern themselves, but I would think that it would be better to have some kind of a succession plan so that when the pastor leaves not if the pastor leaves, but when then they would have somebody in place that would be able to step in and not leave a congregation without a pastor, because that's when the sheep start to scatter and the wolves come in.
Speaker 2:And that is something that we should take to heart, in that the shepherds that we have, the pastors that we have, are susceptible to leaving, be reassigned or leaving to go to another church at some point.
Speaker 2:We should build our faith off of the scriptures so that, whenever that does happen, that we don't have a letdown, so that we don't get scattered. If we're committed to the scriptures and have a regular study group, that we're with a small group, then when the pastor leaves we can continue with that studying of the scriptures, studying with the small group and having the small group support each other through the various needs that we have in our life. And the leaving of the pastor is just something that is a temporary, because we know another pastor will come in Through that structure. You're not at a loss. You're not there and thinking, okay, what am I going to do now? You already have a group that you're a part of and you already have a regular study of the Word of God. That's really. Our anchor is the Word of God and we shouldn't just depend on a pastor or a figurehead as being our anchor, so that we won't be scattered as sheep if something like that happens.
Speaker 1:In verse 27,. Jesus says I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered the next verse but after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. In one verse he's saying I'm going to be struck down and you're going to scatter, which is what happened. Really, the disciples really went through a very trying time. When Jesus was arrested and died and during that period in between, when he raised, those few days from there, the disciples there, while Jesus was dead, were really getting put through the wringer. They didn't know what would happen to them. They didn't know whether they'd be killed too. They had spent three years of their lives following someone, and now he was gone. This was a terribly stressful time for them. Jesus prepares them, though, by saying after I've been raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. Well, why Galilee? When he rose again, it was right there near Jerusalem. Why not just go into Jerusalem? He went to Galilee. Well, where was Galilee? It was their hometown.
Speaker 1:After a period of several days of very stressful time, he takes them back home. He takes them back home to a quiet spot in the country where he could explain some of the things to them after he'd been raised. It would calm them down and give them some rest. He knew their needs. He took them home. What a beautiful touch. Right here, he says I'm going to die, you're going to scatter like sheep, but I'm going to come back and I'll go before you into Galilee. There you'll hear more and I'll explain some things to you. Our Lord is very loving and he loved us so much that he gave his life for you, for you and for me. Also, he'll go with us into Galilee. He'll go with us to the very quiet spots where we can trust him and we can learn from him and how great our Lord is.
Speaker 2:He also didn't leave them wondering. He knew that after he would die and be buried, that he was going to be raised again. He just said that he gives them instructions. He doesn't leave them wondering well, what are we going to do now? I think they can take peace in knowing that when he does die and he is buried, that they can take peace in saying he said he was going to raise again. He said for us to go to Galilee, we have some instructions that we could do. Now we see that they don't actually do that right away, but still he's thinking about them, even though at the time whenever he's going to be gone for a little bit, he's giving them instructions on where to find him once again.
Speaker 1:That's all for today because of time, but next time we're going to see Jesus go into an oil press. You might not know about the story of Jesus in an oil press, but there is one and we'll find that out next time.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.
