MARKAN MEDITATIONS

Meditations in the Gospel of St. Mark

St. Mark 14:12-26

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THERE ARE three items in this passage. There is the preparation for the Passover (verses 12-16). There is Jesus telling of his betrayal by one of the disciples (verses 17-21). Then there is the institution of the Holy Communion (verses 22-26). All this is held together by the connection there is between the Passover remembrance and the Holy Communion which I believe is quite intentional, which opens up to us the purpose Jesus had when he gave his church the sacrament of Holy Communion. It is this purpose of the Holy Communion I want to concentrate upon, though we shall think briefly about each of these three items in the passage.

Down the ages of the church the Holy Communion service has been a source of conflict and controversy and has been given meaning and significance which Jesus never meant it to have, and thus the pure purpose which Jesus had in mind has been obscured.

The Passover was a great deliverance in the history of the Jewish nation. God caused them to remember it each year, not just to commemorate the deliverance from slavery in Egypt, but because of the spiritual lessons embodied in that deliverance. The purpose of the remembrance was to bring to mind the great spiritual truths revealed in that deliverance, so that the faith and obedience of the people may be built upon this firm foundation. We are so prone as human beings to lose our roots and foundations and so make a mess of our lives. The Passover was to bring them back to the essentials of their religion.

The Passover Lamb was a type of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In the New Testament Paul speaks of Christ, our Passover, which has been sacrificed for us. The purpose of the Holy Communion is the same as that of the Passover. It replaces the commemoration of the Passover, because the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, is the perfect sacrifice of which the Passover Lamb was only a picture and stop-gap until Christ should be sacrificed for us. The Holy Communion, in its remembrance of the death of Christ for us, is meant to bring us back Sunday by Sunday to the fact that only in Christ can we have deliverance. We are not delivered by Christ being sacrificed again or offered to God again at the Holy Communion. Such an idea is blaspheme and denigrating the completeness and perfection of Christ's sacrifice and heavenly priestly intercession for us. Its purpose is to remind us that Christ has been offered for the sins of the world; that perfect atonement has been made for all our sins for all time; that Christ is our high priest in heaven presenting the effect of his atonement for us before God the judge of all, and obtaining eternal redemption for us. It is to remind us that we live solely by faith in what Christ has done for us in carrying the guilt and responsibility for our sins and being judged by God in our place.

The Passover was an historical event when God judged the sin on humanity in Egypt at that time, by sending his destroying angel to bring death to every first born male in the land. Israel was just as much under God's judgement as the Egyptians, because they were sinners just as the Egyptians were, but God had chosen to show them grace and mercy, so they were provided with a substitute to suffer God's judgement in their place. This was the passover lamb. They escaped the judgement because the evidence that the substitute had died was indicated by the blood of the lamb on the door post of each Israelite house. Seeing this evidence the destroying angel passed over the Israelite home.

The remembrance of the Passover each year was to remind the Jews that they were sinners before God deserving God's just judgement; that God out of pure grace had determined to be merciful and forgive and so provided one to die in their place so that they could be forgiven justly; and that God was binding himself to be their God and Saviour. The Passover Lamb was a type of Christ. Christ is the true Passover Lamb. He is the one God has provided in his mercy to be our substitute and die for our sins so that we may receive free and full forgiveness. The Holy Communion is to bring to our minds continually this tremendous fact of grace and salvation, and remind us that without Christ we are lost sinners under judgement, and cause us to find true rest for our souls in the perfect work of Jesus who suffered hell in our place. The Communion is meant to remind us of the infinite love of God who gave his most precious possession, his only begotten Son, that we might be saved.

It was important that the disciples should meet for the Passover remembrance together with Jesus one last time before the true sacrifice was to be made, and Jesus replaced the remembrance of his grace by the Holy Communion Service. That is why Jesus arranged everything so surely, and the disciples found that an upper room had been prepared. The betrayal of Judas points out the tragedy and loss of all who reject the saving work of Jesus and deny Jesus by not resting their souls upon him. Like Judas they are lost and have to suffer for their sins personally, which means eternal loss. The Holy Communion points us to the true Lamb for sacrifice, who truly takes away our sin and so gives us assurance of everlasting life and acceptance with God.

The action which Jesus gives us in the Communion of eating the bread, which represents his body given in death for us, and drinking the wine, which represents Christ's blood poured our for our atonement, are significant. It is Jesus spiritually coming and assuring us that he has died personally for us, so that our faith is strengthened and our love for Jesus increased.