Now last week we had opportunity to look at Judas's contract to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that time, the Lord Jesus moves from commemorating the Passover with his disciples into something different. And from that Passover meal, a meal that was celebrated with Judas present, at least for the first part of it. There's controversy around when he leaves the Passover, but we know he leaves during it. During that time, Jesus institutes the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Now, we know that the Passover meal is a meal that commemorated the exodus and the passing over of the angel of death as the angel of death passed over the homes that were under the blood of the lamb. Those homes were saved and the homes that were not under the blood of the lamb were destroyed, the firstborn was taken from those homes. So a meal that signifies redemption, a meal that signifies deliverance, a meal that signifies God's covenantal blessings. Now as we come into this section in the Gospel of Mark, there are several things that we can look at that will connect the Passover to the Lord's Supper. And because this is the section where Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper, there's a lot of different angles that we could look at. And there's a lot of different ways that we could consider this text. And even truthfully, there's many, many weeks that we could spend on this one passage as we look at the connection between the Passover and the Lord's Supper and what it means that it was instituted. And we could look at all of the elements of the supper and we could look at those who were present and what it means to be prepared. and the eschatological connection, there's so many things that we could look at, but I want you to know and understand that there are things that we ought to remember as they're connected, even today. The first is that there is a lamb served with bitter herbs. So there's a lamb that's used to point the people of God to redemption. And that lamb is something that is not just sweet meat to be enjoyed, but it is something that is to be even enjoyed with bitterness. Something that God would have us to meditate on Another aspect of the Passover is that in the Passover meal, there are four cups of wine that are set apart for sacramental purposes. Now in the context of Jewish religion, there's many ways that wine is used sacramentally in the Old Testament. And the sacramental term for wine that is set apart for religious use is fruit of the vine. So when Jesus says that there's fruit of the vine, he's connecting that to the Passover And in the mind of the hearers, they know that this is a cup set apart for religious sacramental use. It's not just a meal. It's not just inviting friends over for dinner. This is something that is religiously instituted by God. And thirdly, there is bread. bread that is shared commonly among the people, bread that is passed. And then four, there are Psalms that are sung at the table. That's Psalms 113 through 118. And that is called the Egyptian Halal. Halal is the Hebrew word for praise. So the praise that is used at the Passover is Psalms 113 through 118. So the passage we read said, and they sung a hymn and then went out to the Mount of Olives. The hymns that are being sung at this time are Psalms 113 through 118. Great Psalms for preparation for the Lord's Supper. Now, this is a sacrament, the Passover, that was well known and loved among the Jews. So surely the disciples would have loved this time. as well. It was a ritual that was known from their youth. And if you've ever seen a Passover Seder or if you've read how the Passover Seder meal is done, it's one where the children participate in questions and answers. So it's something that is always fun for the children to think about and to hear the older people say, this is how redemption occurs. This is what redemption looks like. So it's something that the disciples, if we think about it psychologically, it's something that as the disciples sat there with Jesus as their teacher and rabbi, there would be great joy being at that table. Great joy because it would fill them with fond memories of their youth. A celebration of God's redemption and each aspect of the Passover meal had its own meaning and interpretation as the plan of God to redeem his people was unfolded before them. Now, that's this context, the context of a beloved meal where the disciples would know the meaning and they would know the meaning well. There's no mystery in their mind as to what the Passover does. The Passover points them to redemption that God brings. And I want you to notice that in this text, something that we really take for granted because, or most of us do, take for granted because we hear it so often, the institution, the words of institution, on the night in which Jesus was betrayed. He took the cup after dinner. And you can almost recite it because we've heard it so many times. But what I want you to set up for the imagery in your mind is that during this meal, this Passover meal, that's absolutely familiar to the disciples. who are sitting there, Jesus comes and he takes this celebration and he takes a portion of it. And while he's at dinner, he says, this is about me. I want you to hear that this is about me. He takes one of those four cups. and he takes the common bread that was used during the meal and he pulls them almost, if you'll forgive me for using the term, pulls them out of context that they may point to Jesus Christ. So he takes the cup and he says, this cup is about me. And he takes the bread And he says, this bread is about me. And he shows them his redemption. Look at the text again. It's verses 23 through 26. While they were eating, so while they're eating, and we set this up psychologically, Jesus took bread. blessed it, prays, breaks it, and gives it, and says, take, eat, this is my body. And then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to 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. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So again, what I want you to take away this evening is not a meditation on all of the elements that make up the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or not all of the correct ways that the Lord's Supper is to be done. You remember this is a problem in Corinth as well. So we'll have another opportunity to talk about aspects of the Lord's Supper. But I want you to see that in Mark's gospel, Mark wants us to see something of the bigger picture as to who Jesus Christ is. Mark gives us the details of the ritual, of the institution of this ritual. But in the grand scope of things, he wants you to see that this is a part of the redemption that Jesus Christ brings. So there's lots we could focus on. Is the wine red or is it white? Is the bread leavened or is it unleavened? Is there one cup or are there many cups? Is it to be served at a table or do we sit in the pews? Do we look at it from this angle or for that angle? What should frequency look like? And there's so many questions and I'm going to answer zero of those for you today because I want you to see the bigger picture. I want you to see firstly that The institution of the Lord's Supper is, first off, new covenant focused. It's new covenant focused. Jesus uses that term. This is the new covenant in my blood. So what Jesus is doing is he's looking back to the Old Testament, and he's looking back to a term that the prophets used when they said, someday this is coming, this is what's going to happen, and God is going to make a new covenant, and that covenant is going to be renewed, and there's going to be something of freshness about that covenant. Jesus here says, He is the Passover lamb. He's saying that his sacrifice binds sinners to himself. He's saying that he brings deliverance from the bondage of sin. You see, the Passover taught us about God delivering Israel from the bondage of sin, and Jesus takes that and applies it to redemption and liberty from sin that he would finish himself. And he says, here's the New Covenant. The focal point of Old Covenant and New Covenant is in Jesus Christ. The Old Covenant prepares the people of God And the new covenant shows fulfillment of that. The old covenant is a covenant of shadows. And the new covenant is a covenant of realities. The people of God now are defined in terms of their relationship to Jesus Christ no longer In terms of their relationship to the man, Jacob, Israel, what what is what am I? What's my identity? It's no longer that I am a son of Israel. It is that I am a Christian. My identity is in Jesus Christ. The new covenant focus of this meal takes all of these promises and all of these types and all of these shadows and all of these prophecies of the Old Testament, and it focuses them on Jesus Christ. Whether it is the temple, Whether it is ceremonial laws, whether it is the priesthood. Jesus says this is the new covenant in my blood, so there's a new covenant focus, but it also narrows our attention. more deeply narrowing our attention, not on the broad understanding of redemption that the people of Israel had. You know, they come to a meal, they think about redemption, they think about Moses, they think about Egypt and how the Egyptians are the bad guys, and the angel of death, and all of these things. And Jesus says, that is the context of the Passover, but the attention is now narrowed on Jesus Christ Himself. This is My body broken for you. This is My blood poured out for you. It's almost as if you've ever seen horses with blinders on to keep them from being distracted by all of these things out here. Jesus says, we're sitting at this meal. We're taking a part of it. We're calling this the Lord's Supper in this big context of Passover unleavened bread. And we're focusing in narrowly on the fact that Jesus Christ was broken and his blood was poured out. We learn here of this, that Christ stands central to the communion meal. And it's clear that these things are symbolic and these things move us from bread and wine to the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We see that These things within the blood of Christ are what we need. These symbolic things of becoming part of Christ and being brought into union with Christ. We could talk about the blood from the context of being a blood of reconciliation. Colossians 2 says, you that were sometime alienated and enemies, yet now he has reconciled. through his death or through his blood. This has been the work of God. We could talk about Christ's blood being that which gives us life. John 6, the famous chapter where at the end, so many disciples are offended and they walk away. And Jesus looks to Peter and he says, will you also walk away? Why are they so offended by this? Because in John 6, 54, Jesus says, whoever drinks my blood has eternal life. Jesus is centering this old covenant meal. He's bringing it into the new covenant and narrowly focusing on the redemption that is in a broken body and in shed blood of our Savior. It is a cleansing blood. Hebrews 9 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience? It is a blood that causes our hearts to be softened before God that we may be people fit for eternity. And this is what the Lord's Supper does. And friends we not just here everywhere. in all of Christian history get attention pulled away into other very important things. It's important that the Lord's Supper is done according to the words of institution. It's important enough where the Apostle Paul, as we'll see in months ahead in Corinth, where Paul says, what you do isn't even the Lord's Supper anymore. So there's some line that's able to be drawn where we go from celebrating to not celebrating. But the big picture is that we need to see Christ and we're narrowly focused there. And then as we go even more narrowly, it tells us about the necessity of both union with Christ and communion with one another. It shows the importance of communing with Christ and communing with his body. Bread and wine was a sign of sharing in the blessings of communion. These are things that are a meal. These are things that are shared together. And Jesus says, I want you, the church, to share this with him and to share this with one another as well. Now, other gospel writers tell us that this was to be done often, so there's some sort of frequency to the Lord's Supper, and it is to be done within the context of the covenant community. That means that we don't have communion alone off in the corner. We have communion together with the body of Christ. We have communion with others that are celebrating this truth together. And Jesus gives us that. This is a covenantal meal together. It's one that focuses on the body and blood as our narrow attention. And it is one that necessitates union with Christ. We need to belong to him and we belong to each other. as his body, the church. The Lord's Supper is about union with Christ and communion with one another. You know, something that is of interest to me is the way different churches refer to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. And you can talk about that, and you sort of get a sense of what they focus on in that way that they describe it. Like, we often will call it the Lord's Supper and signifying a meal, and a meal given at the institution of our Lord. Some call it the Eucharist. Eucharist is 100% acceptable as a term, even though people hear it and say, oh, that's Catholic, we can't use the word Catholic. Eucharist just means thanksgiving. It's a celebration when we come together to celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. And others call it communion. meaning that we come to commune with Jesus Christ. There's a relational component between us and Jesus and us with one another as we celebrate the Lord's Supper. But we know that at the center of this is this idea of union. And it is a union that signifies the indwelling of the Spirit of God within us. We know that we are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells within you. That's what the scriptures say. We know that it is a communion in that it is a spiritual marriage. We're told that we are the bride of Christ. That is a union within the scriptures. Thirdly, we're told that it is something that happens by faith. We are united by faith. Ephesians 3.17 says that Christ may dwell in your hearts. And this is something that happens by faith. And then fourthly, due to its nature, it is something that is intimate. It is something that signifies closeness between the people of God and the Lord. So it necessitates union and communion. And then lastly. As we think of big picture concepts within the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, I want to remind you that the Lord's Supper points us to the not yet kingdom. It points us to the not-yet kingdom. Every time that the Church of Christ gathers together to celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, from the first time after it was instituted until next Sunday when we are gathered here together celebrating the Lord's Supper, we are reminded as we gather that we love and that we long for Jesus Christ. But we are reminded that something is not yet right. Jesus says, I will not partake of the fruit of the vine again until I have it in, have it new in the kingdom of God. It is something that causes us to long. to long for eternity and to long knowing that this is not the fullness of the kingdom. We continue to receive the sacrament and to participate. And we continue in these rituals of the church, all with an eye toward heaven. All with an eye, understanding that someday all will be made right. And that all things will be great. And that someday, as we gather, what a tiny little gathering we have. Think of some day in eternity when all of the saints from all time are gathered at a table and there at the head is the Lord Jesus Christ serving us and celebrating with us that great marriage supper of the Lamb. we understand that something is still not right. And that's true in your own souls. It's true in your bodies as they continue to break down. It is true in your life as you see the way that things are around you and you know that they're not right. It's true whenever problems arise in the church. It's true whenever there is sin that causes chaos in the world, or sin that hurts your own heart. You know that there is something else. And the Lord's Supper reminds us of that not yet kingdom. that we look forward to the time when we will in fullness celebrate with Jesus Christ. So we see a not yet kingdom. We see this necessity of union and communion We see a narrowed attention on Jesus Christ, and we see a new covenant focus within the institution of the Lord's Supper. Jesus said, take, eat, This is my body. Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to 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. When they had sung a hymn, they went out. to the Mount of Olives. Friends, look to this Jesus, even in this week, as you prepare for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper next Lord's Day. Amen. Father, we thank you for these great truths. We thank you for a time to be able to just meditate on these big picture items in the Lord's Supper. And we pray, O Lord, that you would point us more and more to Jesus Christ. Amen.