The Bread and The Cup

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

THE BREAD AND THE CUP

Mark 14:22-26

22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."  23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. 25 "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."  26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

NIV

There have been great discussions regarding this Passover meal and the meaning of what Jesus did that Mark, Luke, and Matthew all have included with Luke and Matthew have more details than Mark. However, Mark is where we are and he still gives us all that we need to know about the bread and the cup. It has been said that Jesus did this to institute an everlasting act to remember what he did on the cross. This is most likely the most common interpretation of his words, as most, if not all Christian churches, regardless of the denomination have some type of communion service using some form of bread and some form of liquid in some form of cup. What we do not do is the exact act that Jesus did. Perhaps the Jewish people come the closest as they also use unleavened bread and wine. In addition, the Passover meal has been left in the dust by any of the churches we have attended, and, of course, because of the evil stigma place on drinking wine by many of the holiness type churches, grape juice has been substituted for the wine and the bread has been of all sorts is leaven products. But, we still celebrate the act Jesus did, according to our faith. However, in many cases in our communion service, we do not quote Jesus from one of the gospel accounts but rather we quote Paul, quoting Jesus, in his letter to the Corinthians. What seems to me is we miss something else of what Jesus said or overlook it in some sense. Paul is not quoting Jesus when we say that we are to proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. However, that is in some way what Jesus is saying here as Mark records. Jesus makes it clear that he will not drink wine or the cup with his disciples until he does so in the kingdom of God. That is when we all are together in the presence of the Lord in the new creation, the new earth, and the new city that is spoken about in the revelation He gave to John. We might eat some form of bread and some form of cup ever so often as a remembrance of his loving act of dying for the forgiveness of our sin and giving us the right to be called the children of God and to an inheritance of eternal life in the kingdom of God, but what we may not celebrate too often is that we are going to enjoy the Passover meal with Jesus. He is the Passover Lamb and because we are in Him and He in us, having sprinkled His blood on the doorposts of our heart, and we will someday eat this meal with Jesus.