A Blossom Bible Podcast
A Blossom Bible Podcast
Mark 14:17-26 The Last Supper: When Shadow Meets Substance
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The Passover meal transforms into something extraordinary as Jesus breaks bread with his disciples the night before his crucifixion. What begins as a traditional celebration of Israel's liberation from Egypt becomes the moment when shadow meets substance—when ancient symbols find their fulfillment in the person of Christ.
We journey through Mark 14:17-26, witnessing Jesus redefine the elements of the Passover feast. The unleavened bread, traditionally representing hasty departure from bondage, becomes his body broken for humanity. The cup of wine, specifically the third "cup of redemption," becomes his blood establishing a new covenant. Freedom always carries a bittersweet quality—deliverance requires sacrifice—and Jesus reveals himself as both the celebration and the cost.
The disciples, unaware of what's coming, struggle to comprehend Jesus' announcement that one of them will betray him. They can't imagine Judas as the betrayer, highlighting how integrated he was within their community. This personal dimension of betrayal adds poignancy to the sacrifice Jesus is about to make. Meanwhile, Paul's later explanation in Colossians 2:16-17 helps us understand these feasts as "shadows of things to come, but the substance is Christ"—each ritual pointing toward redemptive work that transcends symbolism.
Most fascinating is how Jesus handles the traditional elements of Passover. The breaking of the afikomen bread, traditionally hidden away to be found later, perfectly foreshadows his death and resurrection. His statement about not drinking wine again until doing so "in the kingdom of God" suggests the story remains unfinished, pointing toward his return and the ultimate fulfillment of God's promises.
Join us in exploring this pivotal moment when a simple meal became the foundation for communion—a practice that would help believers remember Christ's sacrifice throughout history. Experience how Jesus didn't abolish these beautiful traditions but revealed himself as their ultimate purpose and fulfillment.
Mark. Chapter 14 is where we're at today. Verse 17 is where we'll start. Start, well, the book of Mark considers the account, the history of the life of Jesus, and you know by now that we are closing in on the cross. We have been for a while and we will be closing in on the cross for a little while to come here still. But in this we see Jesus, god in flesh, come to dwell among us, shows the heart of God for sure, but ultimately he came to die as a sacrifice, and we'll consider that pointedly today, specifically today, as it is Thursday night in the narrative, the night before his trial and execution. Now we'd call it Thursday night, but the Jews would have called it the beginning of Friday. As the sun was going down, friday was beginning and it was the Passover. And you remember last time Jesus sent his disciples into a very crowded city and said Go and you'll find a man with a water jug. Follow him and find a place for us to observe the Passover tonight. And they do it, and they find it, just as Jesus said. So we'll open here chapter 14, mark 14, starting in verse 17,. And you can picture it.
Speaker 1:It is the Passover feast, the Last Supper, as it is known, passover feast, the Last Supper, as it is known, and this Passover, usually in late April, early May, established by Moses, there, a day to commemorate the faithfulness of God. You can read about these feasts in Leviticus 23, numbers 28, 29. Passover was one of. We'll get into the passage here in a second, but Passover was one of seven original feasts established by Moses, seven major feasts there for the people, seven major feasts there for the people. Passover was one, followed very quickly by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Firstfruits would be Sunday, and you can imagine the symbolism of that, as Jesus would become the firstfruits from the dead, as Jesus would become the first fruits from the dead. 50 days later would be the Feast of Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks Now. Then, in the fall, there would be another group of feasts the Feast of Trumpets or Ingathering, rosh Hashanah it's known as followed by the Day of Atonement, yom Kippur, and lastly, the Feast of Tabernacles. And all these feasts were put there to remind the people of God's faithfulness, different areas of God's faithfulness, through the harvest, through the wilderness, wanderings, but here Passover, the one that we consider today the Feast of Passover, they're to remember their independence from Egypt, a sort of independence day, god's deliverance from slavery there in Egypt. It's important for us to remember God's faithfulness, and so God wrote it into their plan there that the people would remember how God had been faithful. Well, let's read our passage first. We probably should have done that earlier, but let's read it.
Speaker 1:Verse 17. In the evening, jesus came with the twelve. Now, as they sat and ate, jesus said Assuredly I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me. And they began to be sorrowful and say to him one by one is it I? And another said is it I? He answered and said to them it's the one of the twelve who dips with me in the dish. The son of man indeed goes just as it is written of him. But woe to the man to whom the son of man is betrayed. Would have been good for that man if he had never been born. And as they were eating verse 22, jesus took bread picture it blessed and broke it and gave it to them and said take, eat, this is my body. And 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, 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 the day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So here, this Passover feast, jesus is with his disciples, remembering they're going through this process of the Passover feast and they're remembering God's faithfulness to deliver the people from Egypt. Now, something we want to look at as we consider this day and this feast and what's going on, is something that we get from Paul in Colossians, chapter 2. Hold your place here and turn to Colossians 2, if you could. Verse 16. Colossians, chapter 2, verse 16. Colossians 2, 16. So a little background on this quickly.
Speaker 1:Paul wrote some letters for the purpose of pointing the people back to faith. Some had come into the early church and began to tell people that being a Christian is great, believing in Jesus is wonderful, but you really ought to add these feasts to your life. You really ought to become a Jew first and then you can become a Christian. Observe the Sabbaths, observe the laws. There's a few letters where Paul really deals with this and he gets pretty fiery. Colossians is one, galatians is another. Romans definitely hits that and the book of Hebrews maybe written by Paul also looks at that idea, this idea that somehow we could become better by observing the law. We can't, the law shows us. We can't become better by observing the law. None of us can do it. We're all sinners. And Paul gets pretty fiery when people came in and said what you need is a little bit more Now.
Speaker 1:Colossians 2, verse 16, paul's really kind of approaching this problem in the church. But notice he says this so let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths Verse 17, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. So Paul is dealing with this thing. He says don't let anyone judge you about what you eat. There's no problem with eating bacon and cheeseburgers and all these things. Don't let anyone judge you by that. Don't let anyone judge you by that. Don't let anyone judge you by whether you observe the feasts or the Sabbaths. You are made clean and made righteous by what Jesus did for you. But notice what he says in verse 17.
Speaker 1:These things the Sabbaths, the festivals, the new moons they're a shadow of things to come. They're a shadow and that's a good illustration, right, because if we go outside, maybe a little later this afternoon so you can get a nice long shadow going, we all have a shadow. I mean it's generally, unless you're Peter Pan, you have your shadow right there with you and it's attached to your foot. You know and and so realize it. Paul says these festivals and feasts and Sabbaths, they're a shadow, but the substance, the real body, the real, you know, solid part of it is Jesus. You know, solid part of it is Jesus. Now, that's really interesting to realize as we look at this feast of Passover. Paul would say this feast of Passover is a great feast but it's a shadow of Jesus. As we look at this feast of Passover, we should see Jesus. As we look at every feast, we should see a picture of what God has done through us, what Jesus has done for us. So this is important as we go back now and we look at Mark 14 and they're observing this Passover feast, it will be as a shadow to us. One thing you see in this as we look at this and imagine all of this, this feast is kind of bittersweet as we look at how it represents Jesus and salvation. The feasts are kind of bittersweet, especially this one, so check it out.
Speaker 1:When we would look at the Passover as a whole, it was to remember God's deliverance. But you remember how it all went down, right? You'll remember that the people were in bondage and they cried out to God and God sent them and deliver Moses. Moses came with a pretty simple message Pharaoh, this is what God says, let my people go. And Pharaoh crossed his arms and said I don't know this God that you're speaking of, right, right, yul Brynner, picture it, maybe not. And and and he hardened his heart. And he hardened his heart. And God hardened his heart. And you remember that God sent the plagues, some pretty crazy plagues. You know flies and frogs and gnats, and you know boils and darkness that you could feel and all these different things. And, over and over again, pharaoh hardened his heart. Well, you remember the story there.
Speaker 1:Ultimately, god said now it's going to come down to this the firstborn in Egypt, every firstborn throughout Egypt, will die, and Pharaoh will not only let you go, he will force you out. And you remember God said but here's what I want my people to know. I don't want to take the firstborn in Israel, but there's a way to avoid it. Take a lamb Now. The whole story there is take a lamb, bring it into your house. A perfect lamb, a spotless lamb. They were to bring this lamb into their house for like a week. Picture that little lamb in the house for a week. That's a bad idea in a lot of different ways, right? But really, once you take a little lamb into your house, if you have kids, it becomes a pet, right? And there's no doubt in my mind that the little girls didn't dress that lamb up you know what I mean and give it a name. And yet that lamb was brought in the house and ultimately was meant to be a sacrifice.
Speaker 1:You remember the story Put the blood of the lamb on the door of your house. Where I see the blood of the lamb, I'll pass over, and that's why it's called Passover. And yet this was their independence, this was their freedom. We don't usually think about that part of freedom, right, in a couple weeks, we'll celebrate our Independence Day and we'll eat hot dogs and we'll shoot off fireworks that the Murphys sold us over at their stand in Bonham. There's a plug for you. Right, visit them. It's a lot of fun. They know everything about the fireworks, but you know we do that and we celebrate our independence, but we rarely think about the cost of independence. We rarely think about all those soldiers that died, all those people that fought in the wars to keep us free. And so it's so sweet.
Speaker 1:Freedom is sweet, but there's a bitterness to it as you look at the truth of the Passover. They would be delivered from slavery, yay, and they come out with songs and dancing and and just so much joy because of their freedom. But there's this sacrifice that goes down in the Passover the lamb would be sacrificed, and it's a bitterness that it leads to a sweetness of freedom that they really could never have imagined. So there is this kind of bitterness. But notice what Jesus says about his story here. He's with his disciples, he's sitting around the table enjoying that meal and he says in verse 18, truly assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me. There is a betrayer in the room Now. Interesting that they had no idea that it was Judas. Right, we always picture Judas. He's got horns, he's just evil through and through. But they had no idea that it was Judas who would betray Jesus. But Jesus here says it's one of you, one of you who eats with me, and even goes on to say it's the one that dips with me in the bowl.
Speaker 1:You should know, eating was a very personal thing, makes sense, right? I mean, the meal was in so many ways involved a lot of things, a lot of dips, a lot of bread and dips and like a good bowl of queso, right? You realize that some of us just don't think sometimes and you double dip. That's why they give you that extra little cup at the Mexican restaurant. So everybody has their own. No fear, right. But because of that, it was a very personal thing to eat with someone. In fact, even deeper than that, in their perspective, the food that I'm eating is also the food that you're eating. It becomes part of your body, it becomes part of my body. There's this really unifying thing when you would eat in the Jewish mind.
Speaker 1:So Jesus has brought his friends together. They've been with him for years now. He's called them friends just before this in the book of John. And they're eating together, very personal thing. And Jesus says one of you will betray me, and it's Judas. And so you see the beginning of the bitterness of this story. Betrayed by a friend, friend taken, and everybody leaves Right, judged unrighteously and and crucified without reason. And just the bitterness in all these things. We see that pretty clearly here. As Jesus throws this into the group, one of you will betray me, notice, though. He gives it solid meaning in verse 22. And this is where we really bring it together.
Speaker 1:Digging deeper, in verse 22, jesus takes the shadow of the Passover feast and his disciples and shows us how he would be the substance. We read it verse 22 through 26. It details a part of the meal. Now check it out. Now check it out. The Passover meal, unlike, you know, our Thanksgiving meals, has almost like a book that you have to go through If you want to hit everything in that Passover meal. The way it was traditionally done, it can take three to four hours to get a Passover done. In modern days, some families in Israel it's one and a half to two hours, but it's a long process. It's detailed.
Speaker 1:Eat this. Do this Children would ask questions. Dad, why do we eat bitter herbs? Because we had bitter herbs of slavery in Egypt. Dad, why do we eat unleavened bread? It's horrible. Well, because we left in a hurry and there was no time for the bread to rise. So we eat unleavened bread.
Speaker 1:So it goes back and forth and there's this detailed ceremony three to four hours likely for this service. It involves bread and it involves wine. And notice, we get a little picture of this as Jesus is sharing this meal that all these guys had had since they were little kids. Notice verse 22. Let's look at it as they were eating. Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them and said take, eat, this is my body. So bread, picture like pita bread, not bread that's been raised like sourdough or something yummy like that, Something flat, almost like a cracker, right. And Jesus takes this unleavened bread and he breaks it Now in the Passover service. Now come back in the Passover service.
Speaker 1:There is a point where three pieces of bread are put within this covering. They're put together in this covering, three pieces of bread, and the second piece of bread, at one point in the ceremony, is actually taken out and broken. It actually has a name, it's called the afikomen, right? And you take this piece of bread, picture it and you break it. Now one half of that piece of bread is hidden somewhere around the house. It's a game for the kids to play later on. And they go and they find this piece of bread. It's great, fun, right? It's broken, half of it's put away for a time and found again. Half of it is put back into the covering. But Jesus takes this piece of bread and he breaks it. Picture it His disciples have been through this ceremony many times in their life.
Speaker 1:Every year he takes it and he breaks it and they go. That's what you do with that piece of bread. And then he says everybody, this is my body broken for you. And I'm sure they scratched their heads, right. They said wait, that's no, you're going to hide part of that. And wait, that's your body, right. And they filed it away. There's absolutely no way they understood what he was saying. But Jesus says this is my body broken for you. Remember me when you eat this bread. And they had no idea. Now, as time went on, perhaps Now, as time went on, perhaps as they saw Jesus broken under the cross and the beating, the scourging, maybe it started to click. But afterwards they realized he really was broken. For us, the shadow is the feast, but the substance is what he would do.
Speaker 1:Now notice, he also takes a glass of wine, a cup, there in verse 23. And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they drank from it. And there's also different cups of wine involved in this Passover feast, four to be exact. And if we were to look at the service and when that bread is broken, this would be the third cup. The cups all represent different things. The first cup that they take is a cup of sanctification. The second cup is known as a cup of deliverance. It deals with the plagues and the wrath of God thrown out on Egypt. The third cup now check it out the third cup is known as the cup of redemption.
Speaker 1:And so Jesus takes this cup of redemption and he says everybody, this cup, take it. And he says everybody, this cup, take it. Notice, there it says this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant which is shed for many. And Jesus takes it and he says this is the cup of redemption, but it's the cup of my blood. And I am sure I'm positive if they caught what he was saying they were all whoa blood. What are we doing here? And yet Jesus puts all the pieces together for them. He says this is my blood shed for you. It's blood of a new covenant. And so Jesus really makes it real when he says this Now again, they had no idea what would happen.
Speaker 1:They had no idea how it would apply, but they would understand, they would get it. Now, notice, and we'll come back to this. But notice, he says this Now, notice and we'll come back to this. But notice, he says this Assuredly. I say to you I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it in the kingdom new, in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out.
Speaker 1:So interesting, there's four cups that they would typically use in the Passover use in the Passover. Jesus takes three and one of them says I'm not going to drink of the fruit of the vine until I do it in my kingdom. Now it's possible. Some have said that he finished that feast. He drank that cup when he was offered the sour wine on the cross, and some and I think more likely would say that it'll be fulfilled when he comes to rule and reign, when he finally judges the earth, and it becomes a cup of praise God. You did it, you did all of it, and so there's some perhaps still to be fulfilled in this. But Jesus gives this whole thing substance.
Speaker 1:And here we are, in a simple house. But we're going to take time today to remember these things by taking communion. Jesus even told his disciples as often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup you remember me? Was he talking about Passover, maybe? But we're also given this idea of just any time as often as you do it, remember him. So today we're going to spend the last couple of minutes in communion. So today we're going to spend the last couple minutes in communion, and it's either back on the counter or in the refrigerator. Somebody can help me with that but we're going to remember what God has done for us. So let's pray and I'll do a song while we're doing that, and then we will go through it together.
Speaker 1:God, thank you for becoming the lamb. Jesus, thank you for becoming our lamb. It takes away the sin of the world, but it takes away our sin and God. We consider how utterly hopeless we were in ourselves. We didn't fulfill the law. We all messed up. Not only do we sin, but God, so many times we choose to disobey you and go our own way. But, god, you provided a way that the death that we deserved would pass over, and it's not because we're good, but it's because you're good, it's because of Jesus. God, as we continue just to consider this in a real way by taking this bread and drinking this cup, we pray that you'd make it real in our hearts even today. In Jesus name, we pray Amen.