Mark 14:22-26

Verse 22.

(l) "as they did eat" Mt 26:26, Lk 22:19, 1Cor 11:23 (m) "Take, eat" Jn 6:48-58 Verse 24.

(n) "This is my blood" 1Cor 10:16, Jn 6:53 Verse 25.

(o) "it new" Joel 3:18, Amos 9:13,14 Verse 26.

(2) "hymn" or "psalm"

Luke 22:15-20

Verse 15. With desire I have desired. This is a Hebrew form of expression, and means I have greatly desired. The reasons why he desired this we may suppose to have been--

1st. That, as he was about to leave them, he was desirous once of seeing them together, and of partaking with them of one of the religious privileges of the Jewish dispensation. Jesus was man as well as God, and he never undervalued the religious rites of his country, or the blessings of social and religious intercourse; and there is no impropriety in supposing that even he might feel that his human nature might be prepared by the service of religion for his great and terrible sufferings.

2nd. He doubtless wished to take an opportunity to prepare them for his sufferings, and to impress upon them more fully the certainty that he was about to leave them, that they might be prepared for it.

3rd. We may also suppose that he particularly desired it that he might institute for their use, and for the edification of all Christians, the supper which is called by his name--the Lord's Supper. All his sufferings were the expression of love to his people, and he was desirous of testifying always his regard for their comfort and welfare.

Before I suffer.

(2) "With desire I have desired", or "I have heartily desired" Verse 16. Until it be fulfilled. Mt 26:29.

(g) "until" Lk 14:15, 1Cor 5:7,8, Rev 19:9 Verse 17. And he took the cup and gave thanks. This was not the sacramental cup, for that was taken after supper, Lk 22:20. This was one of the cups which were usually taken during the celebration of the Passover, and pertained to that observance. After he had kept this in the usual manner, he instituted the supper which bears his name, using the bread and wine which had been prepared for the Passover, and thus ingrafted the Lord's Supper on the Passover, or superseded the Passover by another ordinance, which was intended to be perpetual. Verses 19,20. Mt 26:26, also Mt 26:27,28

Verse 19.

(h) "And he took bread" 1Cor 10:16, 11:24

1 Corinthians 11:23-25

Verse 23. For, etc. In order most effectually to check the evils which existed, and to bring them to a proper mode of observing the Lord's Supper, the apostle proceeds to state distinctly and particularly its design. They had mistaken its nature. They supposed it might be a common festival. They had made it the occasion of great disorder. He therefore adverts to the solemn circumstances in which it was instituted; the particular object which it had in view--the commemoration of the death of the Redeemer; and the purpose which it was designed to subserve--which was not that of a festival, but to keep before the church and the world a constant remembrance of the Lord Jesus, until he should again return, 1Cor 11:26. By this means the apostle evidently hoped to recall them from their irregularities, and to bring them to a just mode of celebrating this holy ordinance. He did not, therefore, denounce them even for their irregularity and gross disorder; he did not use harsh, violent, vituperative language; but he expected to reform the evil by a mild and tender statement of the truth, and by an appeal to their consciences as the followers of the Lord Jesus.

I have received of the Lord. This cannot refer to tradition, or mean that it had been communicated to him through the medium of the other apostles; but the whole spirit and scope of the passage seems to mean, that he had derived the knowledge of the institution of the Lord's Supper directly from the Lord himself. This might have been when on the road to Damascus, though that does not seem probable, or it may have been among the numerous revelations which at various times had been made to him. Comp. 2Cor 12:7. The reason why he here says that he had received it directly from the Lord is, doubtless, that he might show them that it was of Divine authority. "The institution to which I refer is what I myself received an account of from personal and direct communication with the Lord Jesus himself, who appointed it. It is not, therefore, of human authority. It is not of my devising, but is of Divine warrant, and is holy in its nature, and is to be observed in the exact manner prescribed by the Lord himself."

That which also I delivered, etc. Paul founded the church at Corinth; and of course he first instituted the observance of the Lord's Supper there.

The same night in which he was betrayed. By Judas. See Mt 26:23-25, 48-50. Paul seems to have mentioned the fact that it was on the very night on which he was betrayed, in order to throw around it the idea of greater solemnity. He wished evidently to bring before their minds the deeply affecting circumstances of his death; and thus to show them the utter impropriety of their celebrating the ordinance with riot and disorder. The idea is, that in order to celebrate it in a proper manner, it was needful to throw themselves as much as possible into the very circumstances in which it was instituted; and one of these circumstances most fitted to affect the mind deeply, was the fact that he was betrayed by a professed friend and follower. It is also a circumstance the memory of which is eminently fitted to prepare the mind for a proper celebration of the ordinance now,

Took bread. Evidently the bread which was used at the celebration of the paschal supper. He took the bread which happened to be before him--such as was commonly used. It was not a wafer, such as the papists now use; but was the ordinary bread which was eaten on such occasions. Mt 26:26.

(a) "I have received" 1Cor 15:3 (b) "the Lord Jesus" Mt 26:26 (*) "bread" "loaf" Verse 24. And when he had given thanks. Mt 26:26. Matthew reads it, "and blessed it." The words here used are, however, substantially the same as there; and this fact shows that, since this was communicated to Paul directly by the Saviour, and in a manner distinct from that by which Matthew learned the mode of the institution, the Saviour designed that the exact form of the words should be used in its observance, and should thus be constantly borne in mind by his people.

Take, eat, etc. Mt 26:26.

(2) "do in" "for a" Verse 25. After the same manner. In like manner; likewise. With the same circumstances, and ceremonies, and designs. The purpose was the same.

When he had supped. That is, all this occurred after the observance of the usual paschal supper. It could not, therefore, be a part of it, nor could it have been designed to be a festival or feast merely. The apostle introduces this evidently in order to show them that it could not be, as they seemed to have supposed, an occasion of feasting. It was after the supper, and was therefore to be observed in a distinct manner.

Saying, This cup, etc. Mt 26:27,28.

Is the new testament. The new covenant which God is about to establish with men. The word "testament" with us properly denotes a will--an instrument by which a man disposes of his property after his death. This is also the proper classic meaning of the Greek word here used, διαθηκη, (diatheke.) But this is evidently not the sense in which the word is designed to be used in the New Testament. The idea of a will or testament, strictly so called, is not that which the sacred writers intend to convey by the word. The idea is evidently that of a compact, agreement, COVENANT, to which there is so frequent reference in the Old Testament, and which is expressed by the word --Berith--a compact, a covenant. Of that word the proper translation in Greek would have been συνθηκη, a covenant, agreement. But it is remarkable that that word never is used by the Seventy to denote the covenant made between God and man. That translation uniformly employs for this purpose the word διαθηκη--a will, or a testament--as a translation of the Hebrew word, where there is a reference to the covenant which God is represented as making with men. The word συνθηκη is used by them but three times, Isa 28:15, 30:1, Dan 11:6, and in neither instance with any reference to the covenant which God is represented as making with man. The word διαθηκη, as the translation of --Berith--occurs more than two hundred times. (See Trommius' Concord.) Now this must have evidently been of design. What the reason was which induced them to adopt this can only be conjectured. It may have been that, as the translation was to be seen by the Gentiles as well as by the Jews, (if it were not expressly made, as has been affirmed by Josephus and others, for the use of Ptolemy,) they were unwilling to represent the eternal and infinite JEHOVAH as entering into a compact, an agreement, with his creature man. They therefore adopted a word which would represent him as expressing his will to them in a book of revelation. The version by the Seventy was evidently in use by the apostles, and by the Jews everywhere. The writers of the New Testament, therefore, adopted the word as they found it; and spoke of the new dispensation as a new testament which God made with man. The meaning is, that this was the new compact or covenant which God was to make with man in contradistinction from that made through Moses.

In my blood. Through my blood; that is, this new compact is to be sealed with my blood, in allusion to the ancient custom of sealing an agreement by a sacrifice. Mt 26:28.

This do ye. Partake of this bread and wine; that is, celebrate this ordinance.

As oft as ye drink it. Not prescribing any time; and not even specifying the frequency with which it was to be done; but leaving it to themselves to determine how often they would partake of it. The time of the passover had been fixed by positive statute; the more mild and gentle system of Christianity left it to the followers of the Redeemer themselves to determine how often they would celebrate his death. It was commanded them to do it; it was presumed that their love to him would be so strong as to secure a frequent observance; it was permitted to them, as in prayer, to celebrate it on any occasion of affliction, trial, or deep interest, when they would feel their need of it, and when they would suppose that its observance would be for the edification of the church.

In remembrance of me. This expresses the whole design of the ordinance. It is a simple memorial, or remembrancer, designed to recall, in a striking and impressive manner, the memory of the Redeemer. It does this by a tender appeal to the senses--by the exhibition of the broken bread, and by the wine. The Saviour knew how prone men would be to forget him; and he therefore appointed this ordinance as a means by which his memory should be kept up in the world. The ordinance is rightly observed when it recalls the memory of the Saviour; and when its observance is the means of producing a deep, and lively, and vivid impression on the mind, of his death for sin. This expression, at the institution of the Supper, is used by Luke, (Lk 22:19;) though it does not occur in Matthew, Mark, or John.
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