In this message I would like to give a further word on 14:1-26. In particular, we need a further word concerning the Lord’s instituting His supper as part of the preparation of His disciples to enter into His death and resurrection.
Mark 14:1-42 is concerned with the Lord’s preparation of His disciples for His death. In this section of the Gospel of Mark concerned with the Lord’s preparation, there are two feasts in addition to the feast of the Passover. The first feast was prepared for the Lord by those who loved Him. The second feast was the Lord’s supper instituted by Him immediately after the feast of the Passover. The Lord’s supper was prepared by Him for His disciples.
Throughout the centuries, much has been said concerning the feast set up by Simon to show his love for the Lord Jesus. During this feast, a woman anointed the Lord as a display of her love. Many messages have been given on the Lord’s being anointed by the woman in Mark 14. However, it is much more difficult to get into the depths of the significance of the Lord’s table. This matter is very profound, far beyond the ability of the human mind to understand.
The significance of the feast prepared for the Lord by certain of His disciples is shallow compared to the significance of the Lord’s table. In the feast prepared by the Lord’s disciples, we have the matter of appreciation of the Lord’s preciousness, worthiness, and loveliness. Simon, the leper, having been cleansed by the Lord, prepared this feast as an expression of his appreciation of the Lord’s mercy, grace, and preciousness. The anointing of the Lord Jesus was also an expression of appreciation of the Lord’s loveliness and worthiness. However, in these matters there is little that could be regarded as deep. It seems that nothing initiated by us has much depth.
The supper instituted by the Lord Jesus, on the contrary, is extremely deep. This feast is a sign, a symbol, of the entire New Testament economy of God. God’s economy in the New Testament age is involved with the Lord’s table.
I do not believe that any of the Lord’s disciples understood the significance of His table when it was instituted. Peter, for example, participated in that table, but he certainly did not see the significance of it.
When the Lord Jesus instituted His supper, “He took bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, Take; this is My body” (14:22). Then He took the cup, gave it to them, and said, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many” (v. 24). Hence, the Lord’s table includes a loaf of bread and a cup.
According to biblical usage, bread signifies life. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). This indicates that in the Bible bread is a matter of life.
Furthermore, according to biblical usage, a cup signifies a portion of blessing. Hence, the cup is called the cup of blessing. The bread is of life, and the cup is of blessing.
To be sure, this life is the divine life, and this blessing is the divine blessing. Actually, both the life and the blessing are the Triune God, God Himself in Christ through the Spirit. Do you know what eternal life is? Eternal life is the Triune God. Do you know what the divine blessing is? The divine blessing also is the Triune God. Both the divine life and the divine blessing, therefore, are actually the Triune God Himself.