Last Supper - Don’t Believe The Lie That You Are Not Worthy Of Redemption

Mark 14:12-14:26

Twelve men entered the Upper Room with Jesus for an intimate dinner together, eleven men would look back at the time as a time of powerful redemption, as a time of healing and communion – one man, he would look back with regret.

Eleven men would break bread and share the cup becoming some of the most honored men in history. Eleven are redeemed, forgiven, delivered from their sin - One man walks away unforgiven, wounded in his soul, unable to repent. One man believed the lie that we still believe today, one man believed that he was not worthy of redemption; One man believed he was beyond any sort of recovery, he believed that he was unworthy, he believed his sin could not be forgiven.

He believed in a lie.

Why the eleven? Why did the eleven make it?

Because they never forgot.

They never forgot the bread broken that night in the Upper Room, was broken for them. They never forgot the cup they all drank that night was the cup of redemption, a cup of redemption for them. They never believed in the lie that they were not worthy of being redeemed.

When they held that bread in their hands, when they drank of that cup, they knew, that in spite of their imperfections, in spite of their sin, in spite of their seeming inability to be what they knew they should be, they knew, they were the redeemed. As the Hebrews in Egypt experienced death passing over them on the very first Passover, death would also pass over the eleven and they would be redeemed by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The death that passes over the Hebrews in Egypt is a physical death; The death that passes over the eleven is a spiritual death.

You and I, we are like the eleven. Through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ death passes over us also and we are given new spiritual life.

Don’t ever forget. Don’t ever believe in the lie – You are not worthy of redemption.

You are worthy. You are worth every drop of blood. You can experience full healing in your life.

In the book of Exodus chapter 12, the tenth and last plague fell upon Egypt. Death passes over the houses of those who were covered by the blood of the lamb, and the joy of redemption follows each household being released from captivity – but death enters the houses of those not covered by the blood of the lamb. They had no redemption. They had only mourning and regret. Death passed over the redeemed, and in the New Covenant, again death passes over the redeemed.

Here in Mark chapter 14:12-26 we see the celebration of the Lord’s Supper where Jesus celebrates the Passover meal with his disciples in what would be his last meal. With this brief description Mark impresses upon us the life changing significance of Jesus sacrifice for us. We are to never, never, forget, for there is power in the blood of Christ. Today, this very day, there is healing, there is forgiveness, there is a fresh start, there is a placing aside of all those failures, all those sins, all those things that haunt us – by the power of the blood of Jesus.

By the blood of Jesus – death has passed over you, it has been rendered harmless in the new Passover. You who believe, will experience eternal life in the presence of the Lord Jesus, because by the blood of Jesus’ death has passed over you.

It is evident that Jesus makes careful advanced preparations. We see this in verse 13, right there in the beginning of the description of the Last Supper, there is a reference to a man carrying water. This is probably a prearranged signal as ordinarily, only women carried water in jars. Normally one would see a man carrying a wineskin, but a man never carried a jar. A jar would only be carried by a woman. This signal of the man and the jar, would allow recognition between the two disciples and the man without an exchange of words. They see the man and know - this is the place.

The call by the Jewish authorities had been put out to turn in Jesus for a reward, the call which Judas responds for a reward. Because of this, Jesus needs to be careful, so He sends in two disciples to make the necessary preparations so that He could then slip into Jerusalem and the upper room without being seen.

Jesus chooses the Upper Room because it is secluded and would allow for an undisturbed Passover celebration. We may assume that the owner of the house was a person who was either a follower of Jesus or sympathetic to Jesus and that he is the one who may have secured the lamb and the other food for the meal.