[0:00] Now as we continue then through this section of Mark's account of the gospel, we'll look at this middle section, we might call it, or one of the middle sections anyway, of Mark 14, which divides up into several different sections.
[0:14] I mean, we looked last Lord's Day evening at what we might call Bethany, the subject with a woman anointing Jesus' head and his feet with the ointment, and how Judas then prepared to go and betray him.
[0:28] And this evening then we look at the subject of the Last Supper, and this is where Jesus, of course, has his final meal with his disciples before his own crucifixion.
[0:38] Perhaps only he alone knows it is the final one before his crucifixion. But this section, we might say, divides roughly into three parts. There is what we might call the preparation for that meal, verses 12 to 16.
[0:54] And then we have the Last Supper itself, verses 17 to 25. And then we have what we might call this brief aftermath, verses 18, yeah, about a big one, 26 to 31.
[1:10] And before we deal with Gethsemane proper itself, it's Lord willing, we'll look at next week if that's possible. So we look then first at the preparation for this event.
[1:23] And we see that Jesus himself has already made meticulous preparation for this. The first day of unleavened bread when they killed the Passover, his disciples said, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover?
[1:35] Now, there's some sort of differences in the different gospel accounts as to exactly how this works out. We are told that he sends two of his disciples.
[1:48] We don't know exactly which two from Mark's account. But Luke tells us in chapter 22, verses 7 to 9, that came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed.
[1:58] And he sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. And it specifies, in Luke alone, it specifies that it is Peter and John.
[2:09] And they said to him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? So the disciples' question is a purely locational one in Luke's account. But it is Jesus who takes the initiative. And this, perhaps, is a little bit more true than what we might expect.
[2:23] We might expect Jesus to be the one who's on the ball and has prepared. And he knows exactly where it's going to be. And he has already arranged with the master of a particular house in the city.
[2:36] Notice that there is nothing to indicate that this is a miracle. Just like with the donkey when he enters Jerusalem in that final week. We don't read anywhere that, Oh, miraculously, there'll be a donkey there.
[2:49] Or suddenly there'll be a man bearing a picture of water. He'll just miraculously appear out of nothing. Jesus has made this appearing signal. He has talked with the owner of whatever house this may be.
[3:00] And he has arranged it, perhaps weeks, perhaps months in advance, perhaps even the previous Passover, perhaps even the previous year. Because this speaks of preparation at a time when Jesus has had opportunity to have this discussion away from the rest of his disciples.
[3:19] Perhaps it was when he sent them out to spread the word throughout all Judea or whatever. But the point is that Jesus has taken the initiative here to make preparation, his particular preparation for what he knows is going to be his final meal before he suffers with his disciples.
[3:40] Matthew has a lovely little touch in chapter 26 with this account. And he says, go to the master of the house and say, my time is at hand.
[3:53] I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. This is Matthew 26 at verse 18. And this is a lovely little touch where, you know, it's clearly he has arranged beforehand.
[4:05] This is the time now. My time is at hand. Now, remember that accommodation in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover would be a premium. Apparently there was a tradition that at Passover time all accommodation was free.
[4:18] And everybody had to open their doors as much as possible to all the pilgrims that would come. There was supposedly in the AD 60s, the historian Josephus gives an account of how the high priest was persuaded by the Lord Governor to take a census of how many lambs were killed at Passover time.
[4:39] And there was a figure of something like 256,000 lambs were killed at Passover time. Because whilst every male adult Jew within a 15 mile radius of Jerusalem was required to attend the Passover in Jerusalem, for most Jews it was a sort of lifetime's dream.
[4:59] And it drew in pilgrims and attendees and crowds from all over the empire, such that the crowds swelling into Jerusalem at Passover time would be huge.
[5:12] Given that the minimum number of people required for a lamb, a Passover lamb, was 10 people. You couldn't have a Passover lamb unless you had at least 10 people to partake of it.
[5:24] And that's one reason why in Exodus it says if the household be too small, then you don't gather with somebody else so that you can have one lamb for each household. So if there was at least 10 people partaking of each Passover lamb, that means that you've got something in the region of 2.5 to 3 million people in Jerusalem who are partaking of the Passover this time.
[5:49] So, you know, accommodation is going to be at an absolute premium. This arrangement must have been made well in advance for Jesus to have this room kept, especially for him, for this upper room for this Passover.
[6:06] And he makes this signal with them, they'll be, greet you a man with a picture of water. Now we just think, okay, somebody carried out a big pot of water. As I think I've mentioned on previous occasions, this was traditionally women's work.
[6:17] I mean, no men ever did it, but the man who makes them is almost certainly somebody's slave. But still, a man carrying a picture of water is unusual. It's, you know, you could liken it perhaps to a man pushing a pram.
[6:31] You know, it's not unheard of, but it's unusual. A man pushing a pram by himself. Or, as another commentator said, if on a rainy day, in the days when perhaps in cities everybody used umbrellas, if you saw a man holding what was very obviously a woman's kind of pink flowery umbrella or something, then it would look odd.
[6:52] It would look strange. It would stand out. And this is the thing that will stand out. That on this day, the owner of this house has obviously been arranged to send his servant to whichever gate it was of Jerusalem, where the pilgrims would be coming in, almost certainly from Bethany, which would mean one particular gate of Jerusalem they would come in at, and be there holding a picture of water on your shoulder or whatever, and just wait there until you're approached by two men.
[7:18] And then just lead them to wherever it is that your master's house and lead it. A small point we need to recognize here is that this would suggest that the house to which the man with the pitcher of water leads them is not a house with which the disciples are familiar.
[7:37] It's not a friend's house. It's not somewhere where Jesus has frequented before in the past. It's not a place where they have met before. Otherwise, would Jesus not say, go to so-and-so's house.
[7:50] Remember when we met there before? Well, you know where that is. You go and prepare the Passover there. He doesn't say that. He says, go and meet up with such and such a person. They'll take you to somebody or other's house.
[8:01] We've been there before. You remember where that is? And you go, no, he doesn't say that either. He doesn't even say, go and find so-and-so in the marketplace, and they'll take you to their house, because you know them, and they'll lead you to the right place.
[8:12] No, this is a place they have clearly never been before. And that, in turn, implies that it is a location which has been kept secret.
[8:23] Jesus has kept it secret, even from his disciples. The most likely explanation for that is that he knows who is going to betray him.
[8:36] He knows it is likely to be that night, and he does not want that Passover meal disturbed. He does not want soldiers and officials and so on bursting in, in the middle of that Passover meal, that last supper.
[8:53] He wants this time undisturbed with his disciples. So this location is a secret. So quite well. I'm not saying that's the definition. That is the most likely explanation, because clearly what we do know from the evidence is the disciples have never been to this location before.
[9:12] Otherwise, you don't need to go through all this elaborate means of preparation and finding out who's going to go where. So they go to this particular house, and they already make way of the Passover.
[9:23] That would also tie in with, as Luke says, it's sending Peter and John. Of the inner circle of his disciples, these would be two at least of the three who are most close and most trusted by him.
[9:38] And you have to keep this particular location a secret, at least until the evening. Now, it's not just a case of, as I imagined in my own mind, sort of thing, oh, make ready to Passover, you should have a large upper room furnished.
[9:52] Now, that doesn't just mean the upstairs room of a house, as we would understand it. It rather means that in houses in Palestine, they would usually arrange, like, for want of a better expression, a small square box on top of a larger square box, or rectangular box, or whatever.
[10:08] Because there would be the main sort of room, and the one room house, a big room downstairs, and then there would be an upper one up on top, sort of a smaller box set on top of a larger box.
[10:18] And this would be reached by an outside stair. And the point with that is that you could go in and out of this upper chamber without disturbing anyone in the house, without them even having to see who's going in and out.
[10:31] Again, preserving discretion, at least, if not out and out secrecy. So, the upper room in any house might be used for storage purposes, it might be used as a guest chamber, it might be used in the case of a rabbi, it would be where he would go to meet with his students, and teach them, and so on.
[10:49] So, in arranging to meet and have and hold the Passover with his own disciples, Jesus is acting in many ways just like a traditional Jewish rabbi. He's meeting with them, they're having the Passover together, in an upper room, exactly as you'd expect.
[11:03] But the location is one that the disciples have never been to before. So, as we say, it's not just a case of sweeping the place out and setting the table and making sure everybody's got the right cutlery, as we might do for preparing a place for a meal.
[11:18] The Passover is a big deal. And if you've got a Passover lamb for every group of at least 10 people, and there's like a quarter of a million lambs being slaughtered, has to be slaughtered at the temple, has to be slaughtered by a priest, then, okay, there'd be a lot of priests on duty, and it's a big area, but the queues must have been phenomenal.
[11:39] The queues must have been huge. It would have taken them a big chunk of the day just to queue to get their own lamb killed. They had to be there when it was slaughtered.
[11:50] Some authorities would say that they had to physically kill it themselves. At least they would have to be under the supervision of a priest, and the priests would go along the lines with a bowl to catch the blood in that bowl, and that bowl would then be dashed against the altar, so the blood would be spat at the altar.
[12:07] And if you think, you know, a quarter of a million lambs and the amount of blood that must have been hitting that altar, the place must have really stanked like a butcher shop, and it would have, you know, had all the flesh everywhere, it would have flayed off the skin, and then you're given the whole carcass to take back to your house with you.
[12:24] And everybody's doing this, quarter of a million lambs being slaughtered like this, so that you can just imagine with the scenes in the temple that the priests were effectively having to act just like preachers for the whole day, because it has to be killed that particular day.
[12:41] So they take it back to the house. Once they're back at the house, there aren't those particular preparations. In addition to the lamb, it has to be roasted over an open fire. It wasn't allowed to touch anything.
[12:51] You couldn't touch even a pan to sort of roast it in. It had to be roasted over an open fire. It had to be a particular kind of spit that went through the whole lamb, with its legs, with its tail, with its head, everything was roasted together.
[13:06] It had been skinned, but it was the whole lamb that was roasted, and it was a spit made of pomegranate wood, and it had to be roasted. Now, roasting over an open fire, that takes a long time.
[13:18] For a whole carcass of a whole lamb that they roasted over an open fire, you know, that's going to take you a good big chunk of the day. They must have got to it right away. And they must have also already had their own lamb, because if they didn't already have their own lamb, they'd have to go and buy a lamb.
[13:36] Who holds the bag? Who holds the money? Judas. He's the one with the bag. He's the one with the money. But he is not mentioned as being involved in any of the preparations whatsoever, which would imply they already have their lamb.
[13:52] They've already bought their lamb. They're already going to take it to the temple and get it killed. And so it's just Peter and John who are involved in these preparations. So they get their lamb ready.
[14:03] Then they need the unleavened bread, which is to remind them of the haste in which they had left Egypt. And leaven was also a symbol of impurity. So there wasn't to be any leaven in the bread.
[14:14] There was to be likewise on the table, as well as the whole roasted lamb, which was to remind them of the blood spattered on the doors at the time of the Passover. There was a bowl of salt water, which was to remind them of the tears that they had shed during their slavery in Egypt, as well as of the salt waters of the Red Sea that had parted to bring them out of Egypt.
[14:34] There was bitter hurts to remind them of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. There was a particular kind of paste made of nuts and dates and apples and so on and pomade granite, which was to remind them of the clay from which they made the bricks in Egypt.
[14:50] And this might have little sticks of cinnamon stuck into it to symbolise the straw with which they had made the bricks as well. And finally there was four cups of wine. These four cups of wine were each about just under half a pint of wine or just over half a pint of wine each, but mixed about 40% mixed with water.
[15:11] So it wasn't sort of full strength, wow, potent wine and everybody's going to be a wee bit tipsy by the end of the night. But if I'm going to go mixed in 40% of water, it's quite diluted. And these four cups of wine will each be drunk at different stages throughout the Passover meal, and they each symbolise something different about the promises of God.
[15:31] All of these preparations Peter and John would have to make. Now they'd be familiar enough with it. It's not that they'd say, Oh no, what do we do now? Let's look up the list. Oh, this and this and this. They were Jewish men who had been Jewish boys.
[15:45] They'd have watched their parents prepare since they were, you know, since they can walk. They would have imbibed this every year in their own homes and in Jerusalem and so on.
[15:55] They'd have all gone to Jerusalem with their fathers at least once in their childhood and so on. They would have seen. They knew exactly what they would have to do. So although there was a lot to do, it wouldn't be unfamiliar and it wouldn't be strange or difficult.
[16:08] They'd know exactly how many ingredients they needed, exactly what they had to do, and they'd prepare it. They would have, in a sense, old hands of this, but it would have taken them all day to do it. So all the preparation that goes beforehand, it is all vital if Jesus is going to have this Last Supper with his disciples.
[16:30] You could say, Well, Jesus was God. You could just wave his hand and it would all magically appear. God chooses most of the time to work through human agencies. That which human hands can do to be faithful, we must do in faithfulness to Christ.
[16:50] Jesus sends them with a particular task to do. It is their requirement. It is their privilege to do it. Because there will come a time when it will be for the last time that we do these things.
[17:03] And a time when it truly matters. This was the time it truly mattered. Of all the Passovers there had ever been, this was the time when the Passover was going to be fulfilled. When the Lamb of God was actually going to be slain.
[17:17] That very day. And he was going to die for all the sins of all his own children who would trust and believe in him. But that which human hands can do, that which human faithfulness or human servants of Christ can do, we must do.
[17:35] Jesus can do miracles whenever he likes. But a lot of the time, he requires us to do the ordinary things, the faithful things, the familiar things that we may have been doing all of our lives, but to keep doing them.
[17:49] And to do them faithfully. And to do them in obedience to his command. That which human hands can do to be faithful, we must do in faithfulness to Christ.
[18:01] That is what Peter and John are doing here. There is this preparation. Secondly then, verses 17 to 25, we have the actual event of the Last Supper itself.
[18:14] And we find here that in the evening, Jesus comes with the twelve, which indicates to us right away Judas is there. Judas probably doesn't know the location until he actually gets there.
[18:26] And as they sat and did eat, ate the Passover, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, one of you which eateth with me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful and to say unto him one by one, Is it I?
[18:38] And another said, Is it I? And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve that dippeth with me in the dish. The son of man indeed goeth as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed.
[18:50] Good were it for that man if he had never been born. Now in Mark and Matthew, Jesus first speaks of betrayal before he actually institutes what we might call the Lord's Supper.
[19:04] Because it's only from verse 22 onwards that we read that he takes bread and breaks it and blesses it and the wine likewise. Matthew and Mark then, he speaks first about betrayal.
[19:15] In Luke, he has the supper first of all, and then he talks about the traitor. In John, remember chapter 13, he washes all the disciples' feet.
[19:26] And then you are clean everywhere. He says, But not all. Because he knew who it was that would betray him. So right through the whole thing, Jesus knows exactly who's going to betray him and he knows that he's sitting right there with his own disciples.
[19:41] So this tells us a couple of things. First of all, you know, it tells us that Judas also partook of the Lord's Supper. I know some people would dispute that.
[19:53] Some faithful, godly ministers say, No, no, he ate the Passover, but he didn't eat the Lord's Supper. You know, because he'd gone out before that was actually instituted. Well, to my mind, as far as I can understand, the scriptural evidence would suggest that Judas also partook of the Lord's Supper.
[20:12] You know, first what did he do? As they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed and break it and gave to them and said, Take ye, this is my body. He took the cup when he had given thanks and gave to them and they all drank of it.
[20:25] And he said unto them, This, that which they have just drunk of, is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine till that time I drink it near the kingdom of God.
[20:37] So, he partook of it as well. Now, this should tell us, I realize why people say, Oh no, Judas didn't partake because they think it's such a holy thing. You can't have a traitor partaking of it.
[20:48] But I would suggest to you that it is perfectly true to life that in any sitting of the Lord's Supper, there will be those who are truly the Lord's and there will be those who aren't.
[21:01] There will be those who have the outward appearance of being his, but who are not actually spiritually belonging to Christ. They may have gone through the outward motions. They may give a perfectly credible profession, but their heart does not belong to Christ.
[21:16] Their heart is ready to betray him. If not that night or that day then, some other time, further down the line, they will turn away from him. They will depart from him. They will betray him. And he knows who there is who will do that and who won't.
[21:30] So in every sitting of the Lord's Supper, there will be those who are saved, who are destined for heaven and for salvation. There will be those who are not. So I would suggest to you it is perfectly true to life that at that first Lord's Supper, there should be a traitor in the midst.
[21:49] But also it will tell us that the disciples don't actually have a clue who the traitor is. They all said, well, is it I? Is it I? You know, Nellon said, I wonder if he's going to betray me.
[22:01] He said, oh, of course, yeah, it's Judas. There he is over there with the bag. What do you expect? Oh, James, he's done it for money, I'll bet. Nobody has a clue. In John's account of the gospel, it says that even when Jesus says that what you're going to do, go and do quickly.
[22:13] And they thought, well, maybe he's going to go out and give something to the poor or then he's going to go and get the things that we need for the remainder of the feast or whatever. They still didn't get it. They still didn't think. Nobody thought, oh, yeah, that Judas, you know, he was always a bit shifty.
[22:27] It didn't cross their minds. But rather, what each of them thinks is, well, I know I haven't done it yet, but maybe I'm the one who's going to fail.
[22:38] Am I going to fail? Am I going to betray you, Lord? Lord, is it I? Is it I? Now, this is the disciples in a good light. They're not saying, Lord, is it him? Is it him?
[22:49] But rather, they're ready to say, is it me? Am I the one who's going to fail? Am I the one who's going to betray you? So none of the other disciples had a clue who the traitor was.
[23:01] But he knew. He knew himself. He knew that he planned to betray the Lord. When Jesus mentions these things, obviously they're going through this stage of saying, well, Lord, is it me?
[23:20] Or Lord, is it me? Am I the one who's going to betray you? When the arrow was come, Luke tells us, you know, when he says that he's going to be betrayed, they began to inquire amongst themselves which of them it was that should do this thing.
[23:35] In Matthew's account, likewise, we have Judas also asking, almost as the last one, because it will look, you know, well, if everybody else is saying, Lord, is it I?
[23:45] And I keep quiet, then that's going to make me look suspicious. So in Matthew's account, Judas, which betrayed him, answered, said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, God must have said it. But I think we have to take it that he must have said that very quietly and discreetly, because still nobody else gets it.
[24:01] Nobody else gets it. Oh, right, it was Judas after all. You don't have a clue that the disciples think that. None of them know, but he knows what Jesus knows.
[24:12] All of those who are saying, oh, is it me? Am I going to fail? The real traitor already knows in his heart, and Jesus already knows. Now, perhaps, Judas had thought to himself, you know, well, Jesus has spoken about being betrayed in the hands of wicked men and being crucified and so on, and if this is God's will, if this is prophesied, you know, the Son of Man goeth as it is foretolder, and then, you know, for just fulfilling God's will and God's prophecy, well, who can blame it?
[24:43] It can't be anything wrong in the person who just helps this along, the person who helps to fulfill God's prophecy, then there can't be any blame attached to them, so I must be okay.
[24:54] I'm just helping to fulfill God's will. Jesus said, the Son of Man indeed goeth as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
[25:06] Good work for that man if he had never been born. Now, the point this makes to us is that, yes, Jesus must indeed die upon the cross, and yes, Jesus must be betrayed, but it didn't have to be Judas.
[25:25] I've mentioned this in the past, I knew I, it didn't have to be Judas, and it doesn't have to be any one particular individual. If it is God's plan, it will happen, but that does not excuse or in any way whitewash those who allow themselves to be used in such a heinous plot.
[25:47] The fact that Pilate is fulfilling, you know, the scriptures, when he commits Jesus to be executed, does not, for all the hand washing that he does, it does not excuse Pilate or clear him of guilt from his part in it.
[26:04] And the fact that God's great plan may be that this should happen, does not excuse us or free us from our part in it. Somehow it would happen. Your responsibility and mine is not to say, oh well, can I change the world?
[26:19] Can I turn the course of history if I do this or don't do that? Never mind about the rest of the world. You leave that in God's hands. You and I concentrate on when are we in relation to Christ.
[26:32] Is it I who am betraying him? And if so, I must make sure at all costs that it is not me who betrays him. I must make sure at all costs that I keep my own soul faithful to Christ, that I do not let him down.
[26:50] Others may choose to do so. Somebody else may choose to betray him. If I have started down the road of betrayal, there is still time to turn back because I haven't done it yet.
[27:01] I haven't actually done the deed. I may have planned it. I may have thought it. But I haven't done it yet. And if there be things in which we are being led down a certain path but we haven't done it yet, there is time still to turn back.
[27:17] Never mind it. Oh, this may be God's unfolding providence and he may plan this. What am I? I'm just a cog in the machine. I can't do anything. You still have a responsibility for the decisions that you take and the things that you do.
[27:33] It's no use to say, well, I didn't do it. Somebody else would do it and it would all happen anyway. I'm not going to change the world by whatever I do. Maybe not. But you can, under God's providence, change what happens to your soul, to your life.
[27:49] You're not responsible for what Joe Bloggs or what Mary Smith or somebody else does. You're not responsible for your neighbor's salvation or activity in that sense, but you are responsible for your own soul.
[28:03] Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Good work for that man if he had never been born. It would be better never to have existed than to end up in a lost eternity through having betrayed Christ.
[28:19] And that is the solemn reality of every soul. It would be better not to have been born than to end up rejecting Christ.
[28:31] And this is the responsibility we each have. If that betrayal is going to take place and if it may be in God's perfect providence, still, it doesn't have to be you.
[28:44] You have the responsibility and you would not have the responsibility if you did not have the power to resist and to turn back even at the eleventh hour and to make sure that whoever else betrays Christ it will not be me.
[29:05] You have to make sure that your hands remain at least clean of this particular sin because if it has not happened yet, whatever it may be, there is still time.
[29:19] Jesus knows who is going to betray him. Judas knows that he plans to betray him. He knows that he is at least in the incipient stage he is potentially the traitor that he has planned to be the traitor but he has not yet done the act of tragedy.
[29:42] Whilst there is life there is hope the fact that this may be planned the fact that this may be God's providence that it should have and does not dictate who it must be by whom the Son of Man goeth as it is written on him.
[30:01] This is still the hour when Judas could yet turn back could yet throw himself on his Master's mercy and say Lord I plan to do this wicked thing I am sorry I will turn from it have mercy on me forgive me there would have been forgiveness there would always be forgiveness if there is a genuine repentance there would even have been forgiveness after the event if there was genuine repentance and genuine humility but Judas fulfills that which he has set his heart upon and Jesus knows what he is going to do.
[30:43] In the Last Supper we should notice that there is there is no big feast in the human sense that it is after they have had their Passover meal as they did eat Jesus took bread and blessed and break it and gave it to them and said take eat this is my body in John's account of the Gospel it says supper being ended well he washed their feet they are already in a sense full they have had their fill of all of the lamb and the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs and all that is there so the Lord's Supper is never meant to be a big fat feast it is rather symbolic and spiritual you only need a wee bit you only need a wee bit of bread you only need a wee sip of wine because that of which you partake symbolises so much more it's like if you were going to walk across America from the Atlantic to the Pacific if you start in the Atlantic you don't have to scoop up the whole Atlantic in your mouth and your arm you just bit your toe your hand in the Atlantic on one side and that's huge touch the ocean you go all the way across the Pacific you stick your foot or your toe or your hand in the Pacific and you say right I've gone from ocean to ocean
[31:59] I've gone from sea to sea but all you've done is actually touch the tiny little bit of both pieces you partake of the symbols of Christ's salvation you don't need a whole loaf of bread for yourself you don't need a whole bottle of wine a sip and a bite is enough because they already had their food they already had their meal and this is part of what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 11 you know if you're hungry you can eat at home if you need to actually eat for hunger's sake you can pick it out beforehand but when it comes to the Lord's Supper you're not there to make gluttons of yourselves you're not there to get drunk it's a spiritual it's a spiritual place you just need a little bit it's symbolic and it's spiritual but when Jesus institutes it he does so with thanksgiving and blessing as they did eat Jesus took bread and blessed and break it and gave to them and said take eat this is my body he took the cup when he had given thanks and gave it to them and they all drank in it this holy thing as when Jesus feeds the 5,000 as when he feeds the 4,000 as when he breaks the bread for the two disciples at the end of the road to Emmaus he gives thanks and they recognize him in the breaking of bread the Lord's people should always give thanks before they partake of whatever he gives them and certainly the Lord's Supper is instituted with thanksgiving and with blessing it is that which he gives to his children this is my body this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many
[33:44] I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until the day that I drink it new in the kingdom of the Lord Matthew's got this lovely little touch again in his own account when he takes the cup this is my blood of the New Testament shed for many for the mission of sins I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom see Mark says I won't taste of it again till I drink it new in my father's kingdom Jesus says till I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom now we don't know exactly when that with you is going to be we don't know whether that means one of his resurrection appearances because the kingdom of God the kingdom of heaven has then begun to come in we don't know whether it means in heaven itself once all the disciples have been gathered into glory we don't know whether they're gathering into glory still has to wait till the final marriage supper of the lamb when then he will eat and drink with all his children together we don't know it's a lovely little touch though he's not just going to say oh once i get to get to heaven then i can drink and eat till my heart's content no he's going to wait for them all to come he's going to wait for them all to be there as
[34:54] Matthew tells us and then when they are finished they go out when they had sung a hymn they went out into the mount of all now this is not of course the place to go into a sermon about hymns and psalms and so on the hymn to which almost certainly they sing is probably one taken from what is called the hillel section of the psaltery it is almost certainly one or a section of the psalms from 113 to 118 the particular praise psalms that were used at the time of the passover almost certainly it's not a hymn of human composition but i'm not getting into that debate that would be another sermon and another time almost certainly it is a section of the psaltery which they sing from they went out into the mount of all us they know roughly where they went to the garden of gethsemane towards the foot of the mount of olives across the kidron valley and so we enter into this final section of what we'll be dealing with tonight which is verses 26 to 31 where we have what we might call the aftermath of the lord's supper they go out yes into the mount of olives and it's an interesting little detail about the passover remember how in john's account of the gospel it says you know that judas went out from them and it was night in exodus 12 we read at verse 22 moses called for all the children of israel said to them draw out take a lamb according to your families and kill the passover you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lintel on the two side posts for the blood that is in the basin and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning on the night when the passover was eaten no israelite was to go out of their house until the morning why because the angel of death was at work that night and the firstborn of any that were found out and about would be slain by the angel of death by god's avenging angel what turned him back he didn't look at and say oh yeah israelite's there egyptians there okay these ones get killed these ones get spared he's not interested in race or colour or nationality or language or speech or identity he is turned back only by the blood it is the blood on the doorpost that turns back the angel of death you go out of the house covered by that blood it's on your own head whatever happens so in other words to venture out on the night of the passover was to invite death i would suggest you that jesus knows exactly what he is doing when he does this he goes out from the house at night on the night of the passover which according to the scriptures and according to the passover would invite death itself which is what he is doing he is inviting death to come and find him everything is under his control everything is under his arrangement he knows he will betray him he knows it will be that night he may not know the precise hour when it's going to happen but he knows it is coming so they go and they go out from the house and jesus said unto them all ye shall be offended because of evil's night but it is written i will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scathed he is quoting directly from zechariah chapter 13 verse 7 where we read awake o sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow said the lord of hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scathed and i will turn my hand upon the little ones so he's quoting scripture it's a fulfillment of scripture that he's going to be smitten and that they are all going to run and they're all going to leave him all of you shall be offended because of me this night because of what's written but after the i am risen in other words i'm going to die but after i'm risen i'll go before you into galilee he's speaking of his own arrest he's speaking of his own killing he's speaking of his death and of his resurrection and seeing them again in galilee this ought to be a solemn focus on jesus words as they walk out from jerusalem and to the mount of olives and to the garden of gethsemane and he's talking about the key events of the next 24 hours and instead peter says oh also be offended yet will not i and that's when jesus says verily i say to thee this day even in this night before the cock crowed twice thou shalt deny me thrice the way this is worded you got to remember that for the jewish culture the day began at 6pm so the day began in the evening you know like in genesis 1 the evening and the morning or the first day so the day that had begun at sunset before they ate the passover and so on that day would not end until the night was over and all the day that had followed and then night fell on what would be for us the friday evening so this whole day even before the night is done even before the first part of this day is done you will have betrayed me in the next few hours peter it won't even take days in this day even in this night thou shalt betray me three times before the cock crowed twice thou shalt deny me thrice but he spake them more vehemently i should die with thee i will not deny thee in any words likewise also said they all you see what's happened here the focus by peter's protestations it's been shifted jesus is on his way to get settled he speaks of his death he speaks of his resurrection he speaks of the focus of what he is about to do and what does peter do and what does the other disciples do in following it they make it all about themselves he makes it all about himself he's not really listening to jesus teaching about the death and his resurrection he's just thinking about well i'll be loyal no matter what happens lord me i i'll be staying with you he makes it all about himself and because it's all about himself of course he fails and he does fail and he will fail and all the other disciples will fail because they're making it about themselves one of the things that changes in our hearts when we become born again when we belong to christ is that even our salvation itself ceases to be about me ceases to be about myself ceases to be about us it's not about oh james that was a close call i almost went into hell there but now thank goodness i'm heading for heaven i'm gonna be with the lord i'm gonna see jesus that's great oh i'm gonna get out of that pit of hell i'm gonna be in heaven oh thank you lord for saving me and it's all about me but when our hearts are changed it's yeah okay that was hell but jesus we're gonna see the lord we're gonna be with the lord look at what the lord has done this is where i was this is where i'm done look at what the lord has achieved think of the cost of the lord he himself descended into hell think of what he endured when my salvation look at where he is enthroned to the where i'm gonna be with him and the focus is all upon christ when we are changed when we are transformed when we are converted the focus is no longer upon ourselves the focus is upon christ and peter as yet doesn't get this jesus is talking about his death he's talking about his resurrection but peter it's all about me and the disciples it's all about them how loyal they're gonna be maybe they know now oh i'm not gonna be the traitor that's good and so now they're puffed up perhaps who knows or maybe they just can't see past their own selves and their own loyalties as long as our salvation continues to be about us it will still be at that pre-converted stage it may be our individual needs that bring us to christ yes fine but once we are converted and changed it should no longer be about us it can no longer be about us but rather we are changed from glory into glory till in heaven we take our place till we cast our crowns before we lost in wonder love and place it becomes all about christ and what he has done and what he has achieved and our place in that as long as we are there our place my place what's my position who cares just so long as we are there with christ because at the end of the day everything that has happened in this night we've been speaking of everything that has happened is the focus of that supper everything that has happened is a work of salvation and redemption it's all about christ that is who it should be focused on and that is who we should be focused on as well and what is the a person that has helped myself as if that isì—´ to get to it again okay thank you and hope n if you guys need those changes for an another even more that will comemission in even before and you