Mk 14:12-16, 22-26
The narrative about the preparations for the Passover and the Lord’s Supper are part of Mark’s passion account, which begins with the conspiracy against Jesus, the anointing at Bethany, and Judas’ plot to betray Jesus (14:1-11). The narrative is divided by Jesus’ prediction of Judas’ betrayal (14:17-21), and it is followed by Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s denial (14:27-31).
The narrative about the preparations for the Passover and the Lord’s Supper are part of Mark’s passion account, which begins with the conspiracy against Jesus, the anointing at Bethany, and Judas’ plot to betray Jesus (14:1-11). The narrative is divided by Jesus’ prediction of Judas’ betrayal (14:17-21), and it is followed by Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s denial (14:27-31).
The narrative about the preparations for the Passover comes from the same cycle or type of oral tradition as the narrative of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (11:1-11). Both contain preparation by the disciples, predictions by Jesus, and fulfillments of the predictions. The placement of the narrative about the Lord’s Supper illustrates Mark’s interest in the connection between Passover and the Eucharist.
Passover was the annual remembrance and celebration of Israel’s release from Egyptian slavery during the night. It began at sunset after the Passover lambs had been sacrificed in the Temple. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was joined to Passover at an early date to commemorate Israel’s affliction in Egypt and the haste with which the nation left the land of slavery. By remembering the past events of salvation, the people looked forward and hoped for deliverance from the present Roman domination.
The early practice of celebrating the Eucharist has been woven into this narrative by Mark. The words of blessing for the bread, “Take it; this is my body” (v 22), and the words of thanks for the cup, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many” (v 24), reflect a liturgical formula of the early Church.
The emphasis of this formula is on the absence of Jesus. “Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (v 25). The early Church remembered Jesus by breaking bread and drinking wine; it celebrated his absence, while waiting for his coming in glory.
Also, Mark does not understand Jesus’ death as beginning anything new. His blood is that “of the covenant” (v 24); only Luke makes Jesus’ action a “new” covenant. Jesus’ death is a continuance and perfection of the covenant which Moses sealed in blood between the Israelites and God (cf Ex 24:1-8).
Therefore, every time that followers of Jesus gather together to break bread and to drink wine in his memory, they do so like the Israelites of old; that is, they remember his great deeds of the past and they look forward with hope to his coming in glory.