Friday, March 12, 2010

The new covenant

Mark 14:22-26: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ 23 Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. 25 Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’ 26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

This incident is the beautiful instillation of the wonderful Lord’s Supper that we celebrate in Church today. Jesus was preparing for the Passover feast that was Jewish tradition. The Passover feast was declared to commemorate the night the death angel passed over the Israelites which opened the door to Moses being able to led God’s people out of Egypt in the Exodus. God wanted His people to remember those mighty things that He did for them so He set up feast days to observe and commit to memory.

Jesus established a feast of His own; it is in this Lord’s Supper. Jesus used common items that were used in the Passover meal to symbolize what was going to happen to Him within the next couple of hours, both in His life and the life of the disciples. He took the bread and broke it to symbolize His own body being broken, as was prophesied in Isaiah 53:5 “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” He used the wine to symbolize His blood, for he said “this is my blood” symbolizing the blood that would be shed by being nailed on the cross.

Tomorrows Readings:
Old Testament: Deut. 20-22 New Testament Mark 14:26-50

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