The New Passover Series

Mark 14:17–26. 17And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” 22And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” 26And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (ESV)

Nearly fifteen hundred years after the first Passover was established by God on the night the Hebrew people were liberated from slavery in Egypt, Jesus and His disciples made their way to an upper room in Jerusalem where they celebrated the last divinely authorized Passover meal. In its place, the Lord instituted a new memorial that pointed to Himself and His work on the cross that we remember on this Good Friday. While the old Passover commemorated Israel’s temporal deliverance from bondage in Egypt, the new Passover celebrated an infinitely greater eternal redemption from the power and penalty of sin. In a single Passover meal, on the night before His death, the Lord Jesus concluded the old celebration and instituted the new. He took components of that final Passover feast and redefined them as elements of His Communion table.

Over the centuries of Old Testament history, millions of lambs were slain as part of the annual Passover observance. Each of those sacrificial animals symbolized the reality that deliverance from divine wrath requires the death of an innocent substitute. But none of those sacrifices could actually atone for sin (cf. Heb. 10:4). This Passover would be different, because the final sacrifice would be slain—Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God (1 Cor. 5:7; cf. John 1:29) to whom all of them pointed. He is the only sacrifice satisfactory to God as the offering for sin.

Last time we met on Palm Sunday, we remembered Christ, the Passover lamb entering Jerusalem. On Thursday of Holy week, Jesus sent Peter and John into Jerusalem to make preparations for the Passover meal (cf. Luke 22:8). That evening, the rest of the Twelve along with Jesus joined them in an upper room to celebrate the final Passover and inaugurate the first Communion. Depicted in Mark 14:17-26, in two ways we see that the New Passover began with 1) The Final Passover (Mark 14:17–21) and concludes with 2) The First Communion (Mark 14:22–26)

On the night that Jesus was to be betrayed, he first gathered for:

1) The Final Passover (Mark 14:17–21)

Mark 14:17–21. 17And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” (ESV)

The Passover celebration began in verse 17 when it was evening, starting after sunset and ending sometime before midnight (cf. Ex. 12:8–14). Jesus and His disciples arrived in the evening, at a location known only to Jesus. Secrecy was required in order to prevent Judas from alerting the religious authorities to their location, so that Jesus could accomplish all that was necessary before His arrest and execution. As the Lord explained to the Twelve, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15). Those words express the deep emotion the Lord attached to the final Passover with His disciples. In that one meal, He would bring to a completion an entire system and launch a new one, while also giving His followers the additional instruction they desperately needed to hear in the hours before the cross. Since Jesus had already sent Peter and John ahead of the rest, in order to prepare everything for the Passover meal. Mark’s comment that He came with the twelve is surely a general reference to the apostles, meaning simply that Jesus arrived along with the other ten to join Peter and John. Table fellowship was intimate at the feast; one or two families normally shared the meal, but here Jesus and his closest disciples make up a family (Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (Mk 14:17). InterVarsity Press.).