The Last Supper

Meditations of the Gospel of Mark

October 8, 2020

The Last Supper

As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.”

Mark 14:22

Read: Mark 14: 12-25

The details of the Last Supper, which provide the theology and liturgy for the sacrament of Holy Communion, are found in the other three Gospels. Mark provides us with a rather brief summary of Jesus’ time in the Upper Room with the twelve disciples. But there are some striking details in Mark’s account that can give us pause to consider our own response to the call of God on our lives.

As I read Mark’s account this morning, what caught my attention was the detail Mark provides about the instructions Jesus gave his disciples. Go into the city, find a man carrying water, follow him, at the house he enters inquire about a guest room, go upstairs to a room already set up. “So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there” (Mark 14:16).

Who was the man carrying the water? Whose house did this man enter? Who told the homeowner to prepare his guest room for Jesus to have the Passover meal with his disciples? The Bible doesn’t answer these questions, but these people are essential in a Passover meal that led to the holiest of our sacraments: the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion. During this season of pandemic, I have so missed partaking in the sacrament. I have been blessed, as of late, to visit an Anglican Church where I have again tasted the bread and cup. God does provide!

My Takeaway: When we, by faith, partake in Holy Communion, we experience anew the presence of our Lord Christ Jesus in our life as we look forward to his coming again in Final Victory. Several unnamed people labored anonymously to prepare our Lord’s Passover meal which gives us this sacrament that sustains our spiritual life.

“Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NRSV)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.