Scripture referenced 4 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Mark 14:1-26 the main passage read and taught through, covering the anointing at Bethany, Judas agreeing to betray Jesus, and the Last Supper
1 It was now two days before the feast of the Passover and the unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception, and kill him.
2 For they said, “Not during the feast, because there might be a riot among the people.”
3 While he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster jar of ointment of pure nard—very costly. She broke the jar, and poured it over his head.
4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, saying, “Why has this ointment been wasted?
5 For this might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor.” They grumbled against her.
6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me.
7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me.
8 She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burying.
9 Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News may be preached throughout the whole world, that which this woman has done will also be spoken of for a memorial of her.”
10 Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them.
11 They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. He sought how he might conveniently deliver him.
12 On the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?”
13 He sent two of his disciples, and said to them, “Go into the city, and there you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him,
14 and wherever he enters in, tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’
15 He will himself show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Get ready for us there.”
16 His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found things as he had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.
17 When it was evening he came with the twelve.
18 As they sat and were eating, Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, one of you will betray me—he who eats with me.”
19 They began to be sorrowful, and to ask him one by one, “Surely not I?” And another said, “Surely not I?”
20 He answered them, “It is one of the twelve, he who dips with me in the dish.
21 For the Son of Man goes, even as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”
22 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had blessed, he broke it, and gave to them, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body.”
23 He took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them. They all drank of it.
24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many.
25 Most certainly I tell you, I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew in God’s Kingdom.”
26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
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Keep this verse
1 John 1:9
quoted to reassure that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Hebrews 4:16
quoted as an invitation to come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace in time of need
16 Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need.
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1 Corinthians 11
quoted as the words of institution for the Lord's Supper, passing on what Paul received from the Lord about the bread and the cup
1 Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
2 Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.
3 But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.
5 But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved.
6 For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered.
7 For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.
8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man;
9 for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man.
10 For this cause the woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.
11 Nevertheless, neither is the woman independent of the man, nor the man independent of the woman, in the Lord.
12 For as woman came from man, so a man also comes through a woman; but all things are from God.
13 Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled?
14 Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?
15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering.
16 But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither do God’s assemblies.
17 But in giving you this command, I don’t praise you, that you come together not for the better but for the worse.
18 For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it.
19 For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you.
20 When therefore you assemble yourselves together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.
21 For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken.
22 What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly, and put them to shame who don’t have enough? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’t praise you.
23 For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.
24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”
25 In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a way unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body.
30 For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.
31 For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
33 Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest your coming together be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message came from Mark 14:1-26, covering Jesus' anointing at Bethany, Judas agreeing to betray Jesus, and the Last Supper. Pastor Brian walked the congregation through Thursday of passion week, the day before Jesus would be put on trial and crucified, and closed the evening with the church sharing communion together.
What was said
The passage sits on the eve of the crucifixion, and Pastor Brian opened by noting what that timing means. Jesus had fully resolved to go to the cross knowing he would be betrayed and abandoned by his closest followers. That resolve, Pastor Brian said, is the shape of his unconditional love and his unwavering commitment to reconcile us back to God.
The woman who anointed Jesus at Simon's house became the first stopping point. Those at the table were indignant at the waste, but Jesus defended her and said her act was beautiful. Pastor Brian drew out the detail that she was preparing his body for burial, whether she knew it or not, and then stayed on Jesus' words in verse nine: wherever the good news is preached, what she did will be remembered. From that, Pastor Brian said faithful and loving actions toward Jesus will not be forgotten, and that the small things matter.
When the passage moved to Judas, Pastor Brian was careful not to make Judas a theological sticking point. He said plainly that he does not know what passed between Judas and God before Judas took his own life, because the text does not record it. What he did want the congregation to hold onto was 1 John 1:9, that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse. He noted that Judas was not the only one to betray Jesus that week, that the disciples denied and abandoned him too, and that in some way all of us have done the same.
The heart of the message was the Last Supper itself and the way Jesus took old symbols and gave them new meaning. The bread and the cup already carried the weight of Passover, of God passing over homes marked by the blood of the lamb, of a covenant sealed by animal sacrifice year after year. Jesus pointed to himself and said, that is me now. My body, my blood, once for all time. Pastor Brian quoted Hebrews on that point: God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
Pastor Brian also paused on verse 25, where Jesus says he will not drink wine again until he drinks it anew in the kingdom of God. That line, he said, is not just sorrow. It is assurance. Jesus is giving his disciples, and the church, a promise of his victory over death and of a future together in the kingdom.
The service closed with communion. Pastor Brian explained that First B keeps an open table, with the only requirement being faith and trust in Jesus. He read from 1 Corinthians 11 and framed the Lord's Supper as both a looking back at the cross and a looking forward to Jesus' return. Because Jesus is now our high priest and mediates a better covenant on better promises, Pastor Brian said, we can come boldly to the throne of grace, not with hesitation, but with confidence.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The preacher described the woman who anointed Jesus as performing 'a beautiful act of love and devotion,' and said that 'faithful and loving actions toward Jesus will not be forgotten.' What does that assurance mean to you personally, and does it change how you think about the small, everyday things you do?
- Jesus took familiar symbols from the Passover, bread and wine, and gave them new meaning pointing to himself. Where else in your own life have you seen God take something old or familiar and give it new significance?
and 3 more questions in the guide
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