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MARK’S GOSPEL…THE MEW COVENANT – 35

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Mark‬ ‭14‬:‭22‬-‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

Just another Passover celebration in the life of Jesus…or was it?

I wonder if the disciples ever realised what a life-and-world-changing event was about to happen at that moment. Centuries before, Jeremiah had predicted that what Jesus Christ was about to do, to make a new covenant between the Father and Himself, was God’s solution to His people’s dismal failure as His own covenant nation. 

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

A New Covenant? Why? What was wrong with the covenant God had cut with Israel at Mount Sinai? Centuries of disobedience, lawlessness, and idolatry defined the Israelites despite God’s pleading, patience, and expressions of love and mercy towards His people. Israel’s history was stained with defiance and betrayal. 

There was nothing wrong with the covenant but everything wrong with the people. Their hearts were hard and incurably wicked. A new covenant, based on what God could do rather than on what they could never do, was the answer. 

Included in the promise of a new covenant was the promise of new hearts. 

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36‬:‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Now, at this moment, in the Upper Room, in the presence of His eleven closest companions (Judas had left the company), Jesus set up His New Covenant, not another ceremony signed in animal blood but an eternal agreement between Himself and the Father, to be signed in His own blood. 

So significant was this covenant for the eternal redemption of the human race that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could not entrust to sinful humans the honour of being in covenant with God. The only perfectly obedient human who was eligible to be in covenant with Father was Jesus Himself. 

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many…”

An ordinary, everyday event…eating bread and drinking wine…was elevated, in this moment, to an eternal truth. Bread, the staff of life…wine, the blood of the grape, speaking of life and death…so, in symbolic simplicity, Jesus revealed the heart of God in the inauguration of His New Covenant…a covenant between Father and Son signed in His blood…with us, condemned sinners, as His beneficiaries. 

What so many of God’s people have sadly missed is that the New Covenant is not an addition to the Old but completely replaces it. 

“By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”

Hebrews‬ ‭8‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

According to Google, 

“Obsolete” means no longer used, in general use, or useful because something newer or better has been invented. For example, an old model of a cell phone might become obsolete when a new smartphone is released, or an old programming language might be deemed obsolete when it’s replaced by a more efficient one.”

God’s people need to get the impact of this word “obsolete”! If the Old Covenant is obsolete, outdated and discarded, why do many of God’s people still observe some of its laws, rituals, and practices as though they still apply…for example food taboos, Sabbath observance, holy festivals, even prayer rituals? 

This little scene in the Upper Room is a line in the sand, a deciding moment in history, a new dispensation in God’s dealings with humanity…law as a way of acceptance with God forever declared redundant…grace, the new way forever because mercy, redemption, and forgiveness are freely given through the body and blood of Jesus. 

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth….Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬, ‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The only safe place in which we can take shelter from God’s wrath against sin is in the body and blood of the one who is in covenant with the Father on our behalf. No law, ritual, tradition, or sacrifice can add or substitute for what Jesus has done for us. 

Paul issued a serious warning…

“Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Law and grace can never live in peace together because the one cancels the other. 

In this breathtaking scene in the Upper Room, history stood still, then made an about-turn, retracing its step to the moment when the Lamb of God was slain in eternity and the magnitude of that sacrifice cast its shadow across time. Instead of the covenant at Sinai, with its exposure of humanity’s evil heart, the cross of Jesus will always be the defining moment for every sinner…”Yes!” Or “No!”

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THEY RECOGNISED HIM

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THEY RECOGNISED HIM

“They came to the edge of the village where they were headed. He acted as if He were going on but they pressed Him: ‘Stay and have supper with us. It’s nearly evening; the day is done.’ So He went in with them. Here is what happened. He sat down at the table with them. Taking the bread, He blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognised Him. And then He disappeared.'” Luke 24:28-31.

‘He blessed and broke and gave it to them.‘ Sound familiar? This was another trigger for these disciples. Jesus had probably done this hundreds of times during the course of His association with them. Many more than the inner Twelve followed Him around and no doubt He had shared many a meal with them. This was the first clue to the identity of the stranger who had accompanied them on their journey home.

Peter had his own triggers which brought back both painful and precious memories: The crowing of a rooster would always remind him of his terrible failure, and a coal fire of his Master’s gracious forgiveness. For these disciples it was the simple gesture of blessing and breaking the bread.

Perhaps they were not in the Upper Room at His last Passover meal when He formally established a new covenant with them. They were not part of the inner circle but it was a familiar action, nevertheless. And who could miss the wounds in His hands which had, up to this point, been hidden?

It was those nail-prints which clinched it for them. No one could go through that ordeal and come out alive, with Roman soldiers on guard to make sure that every execution was carried out to the death. Their fuzzy, grief-soaked minds were suddenly cleared and they saw Him and recognised Him. Strange that it was His hands, not His face or His voice that finally convinced them.

Jesus must have enjoyed that moment! He has been on the road with them for a while, walking alongside them, listening to them, and talking to them but they were blind and deaf to all the familiar things about Him? Why? Was it because their disappointed expectation blinded them to His identity and His intention?

That’s how it often is with us too. Our expectations of God are either too low or too tied to our circumstances to allow us to recognise Him with us. We are in a tough spot and God seems silent or absent. We pray and nothing happens. Times get tougher and doubts and fears increase. Everything looks dark and hopeless. We have high hopes and they die when Jesus does not show up.

These are not intended to be faith-killing but faith-building moments. Faith does not grow when everything goes our way. Faith grows when there is nothing happening and we have to stake ourselves on God’s faithfulness. Satan comes in these times to call God’s character into question, like he did with Eve, because he desperately wants to discredit God so that we will mistrust Him.

But there is inexpressible joy awaiting us when Jesus shows us that He has been there all the time, putting everything in place to answer our cry. What an awesome moment when He reveals Himself and we know that our trust was worth it all! Even if everything seems dark and hopeless to you right now, won’t you trust Him? At the right moment, He will show you that He has been there all the time and His plans for you are good.