Mark 14:22-26 – Thankful for Breaking and Mending
Tonight, as we sing and pray and thank God, I’d like to share with you from the life of Jesus. I think that’s always a good place to start. Tonight’s scripture passage is found 3 times in the Gospels, meaning that the writers considered it fairly important. I’ll use Mark 14:22-26 as home base tonight, as we look at what Jesus thanked God for.
You may be familiar with this scene, but if not, I’ll elaborate. This was less than a day away from Jesus’ death. We call it Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, the day Jesus breathed His last. But it wasn’t just any Thursday. It was a special day. It was Passover week, one of the most special times in the life of a Jewish man or woman.
Passover was the annual celebration remembering how God, some 1200 years before, had rescued the people from slavery at the hands of the Egyptians. Leaving Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, and receiving the Law, within the space of about 5 months, was really the birth of the Jewish nation. Passover was a festival celebrating God’s powerful, saving hand.
The tradition, the rituals of Passover were elaborate. There were prayers and recitations, singing and questions, even a game of hide and seek. And there was food. The food wasn’t just about eating, but it was symbolic too. There was something called haroseth, a thick, chunky fruity mixture meant to remind the people of the mortar used in making bricks for the Egyptians. There was lamb, reminding the people of the blood of the lamb spread on the doorposts way back when.
There were the 2 things mentioned in our scripture tonight: bread and wine. The bread was unleavened – made without yeast. That was a reminder of God’s command to make bread quickly, without yeast, in order to leave Egypt quickly. So this bread that Jesus was sharing was unleavened and was called matzoh. It was similar to pita bread; today it’s more like a big saltine. It was this bread that Jesus broke, gave thanks, and gave it to His disciples.
And the wine held symbolism as well. In the course of the evening there were 4 cups of wine, representing the God’s 4 “I will’s” from Exodus 6: I will bring you, I will free you, I will redeem you, and I will take you. This cup that Jesus shared was the 3rd cup, the Cup of Redemption. He took the cup, again gave thanks, and gave it to His disciples.
Clearly Jesus was thankful that night. He never did anything just for ceremony or show, so He gave thanks out of sincerity, not ritual. So, to me, this begs the question: why did He give thanks? I mean, He was Jesus. He was the Creator of the world in human flesh. He had the power to do anything. He could have made His own bread right there – He had multiplied bread loaves before. He could have made His own wine right then – He had turned water into wine as His 1st miracle. If Jesus had the power to make His own bread and wine, why did He thank God then?
Well, I ask the question but don’t overthink the answer. He was thankful. Yes, He could have made His own, but even then, the power would have come from the Father. He was thankful. He was glad to have the bread. He was glad to have the wine. And I think the reasons flow from who Jesus was, and what He was about to do.
Well, let’s imagine ourselves in that situation. Here was Jesus, who of course was Jewish. He was human, descended from the people who were set free in the Exodus out of Egypt. It was His ancestors who had felt the stinging oppression of slavery but had been set free to be their own people in their own land. The Passover story, where God slew the firstborn of the Egyptians but spared the Hebrews, where the blood of the lamb saved the people, was Jesus’ story as well.
As a man, He was thankful for the full tummy that accompanies a Passover feast. He was thankful for religious history tied up with the holiday. He was thankful for God’s deliverance of his people. Jesus was thankful for what the Passover meant, both to Himself and to His people.
Likewise, we can be thankful for the same reasons. We can be thankful for full tummies at Thanksgiving. We can be thankful for all the tryptophans in the turkey that give us such good afternoon naps, for the homemade dressing, for the cranberry sauce and the pumpkin pie. This is all good. And we can be thankful for our loved ones around us. There’s nothing wrong with counting our physical blessings and being thankful. We can even be thankful for our traditions, the rituals that we use to celebrate the day. Whether they be religious or not, it’s OK to be thankful for the lives we have.
But there’s more to Jesus’ thankfulness than just a full tummy and a sense of remembrance. Jesus was not just a man. He was 100% human, and even though I can’t completely understand it, He was also 100% God.
And as God, I can’t help but think that as He was thankful for the bread and thankful for the cup, what He was really thankful for was a better way coming, a new way to connect with people. He was thankful for what would be accomplished by His death.
Jesus’ death was about to change the way that people related to God. There were so many distractions, so many difficulties, so many complications. All you needed was faith, but then you had to sacrifice bulls and goats and sheep. You had to go to Jerusalem so many times in the year. You had to give the first of your crops to the priests. You had to do this and do that, but none of it mattered if you didn’t trust Him. There was so much blood and so many rules that following God was difficult, and loving Him was rare.
Then Jesus came. And His death and resurrection made a way for all that to change. Jesus came and said, “All you need is Me – not your own goodness, not your own traditions, not your own sets of rules and standards, but only Me. Don’t worry about being good enough or smart enough or mature enough – just trust Me.”
People no longer need to go through a priest in order to get right with God. People don’t need to do the exact right things to be loved by God. Jesus changed the way that we connect with God so that we can approach with a clean conscience and with freedom.
That was the joy set before Him, as Hebrews 12 tells us. Jesus was thankful that things were about to change. The bread, which had symbolized God’s deliverance, would come to remind Christians everywhere of Jesus’ broken body. And the cup of wine, which had symbolized God’s redemption, would come to remind us of Jesus’ spilled blood.
So when Jesus gave thanks for the bread and the wine, He was looking forward to the day when you and I would be here tonight, celebrating the goodness of the Lord together in unity, praying and singing and worshipping Him. He was looking forward to the only sacrifice we would ever need to make would be ourselves, given freely and willingly to the One who loves us.
It was certainly not just the physical blessings of the holiday that drove Jesus to be thankful. It was also the spiritual blessings, the relationship that He would have with His followers because of what was about to happen to Him.
So this Thanksgiving, it’s OK to be thankful for the turkey or lobster or ham, and the potatoes, and the blueberry pie, and the sense of tradition, and the companionship of loved ones. But don’t let it stop there. Remember to be thankful for the love shown to you by Jesus. Remember His sacrifice for you. Remember His grace and unconditional forgiveness to all who ask. Remember the patience shown to you. Remember His goodness. Remember the cross. Remember the empty grave. Remember Jesus.
