“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.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Mark 14:25-26
Mark 14 [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.”
Mark 14 [23.] He took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them. They all drank of it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many. 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.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Mark 14 [27.] Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ However, after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee.”
Meaning:
Jesus had just given his disciples the bread and the cup, saying, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14:22-24). These two verses close the Last Supper. In the first, Jesus looks beyond his death to the coming Kingdom of God. In the second, the meal ends with a song, and Jesus leads his disciples out into the night towards Gethsemane.
- “I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine”
“The fruit of the vine” was the traditional phrase used in the Jewish blessing over wine, which was spoken over each cup at the Passover. With these words Jesus announced that this was his last meal before his death. He would not share the festive cup again in this age. The sentence is a farewell, spoken with full knowledge of what was coming within hours.
- “Until that day when I drink it anew in God’s Kingdom”
The farewell is also a promise. Jesus did not expect death to be the end. He looked forward with certainty to a day when he would drink again, “anew”, in the Kingdom of God. The prophets pictured God’s final salvation as a great banquet: “In this mountain, Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines”, and on that day “He has swallowed up death forever!” (Isaiah 25:6-8). Revelation speaks of the joy of that day: “For the marriage of the Lamb has come” (Revelation 19:7).
Each time believers share the Lord’s Supper, they look back to the cross and forward to that day: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
- “When they had sung a hymn”
The Passover meal ended with the singing of psalms. The group of Psalms 113 to 118, called the Hallel or “Praise”, was sung during the feast, part before the meal and part after it. So the last words Jesus sang with his disciples probably included, “Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever” (Psalm 118:1), and “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner” (Psalm 118:22), a verse he had applied to himself only days before (Mark 12:10-11). Another of these psalms says, “Precious in Yahweh’s sight is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).
Jesus knew that betrayal, arrest and the cross lay just ahead, yet he sang praise to God. His trust in his Father did not fail in the darkest hour.
- “They went out to the Mount of Olives”
Leaving the upper room, they walked out of the city, down across the Kidron valley and up the slope of the Mount of Olives, where Jesus had first arrived at the start of that week (Mark 11:1). It was a full moon, as it always is at Passover. At the foot of the mount lay the place called Gethsemane (Mark 14:32), where Jesus would pray in anguish and where Judas would lead the crowd to arrest him.
The Significance of Mark 14:25-26
- Worship in the dark hour
Jesus sang praise on the way to suffering. Later, in a prison at midnight, “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (Acts 16:25). Praise is not only for easy times; it expresses trust when the way ahead is hard.
- A sure hope
Jesus spoke of the Kingdom as certain. Believers can face loss, suffering and even death with confidence that God’s great feast is coming, and that Christ himself will share it with them.
- Remembering until he comes
The Lord’s Supper is both a memorial and a promise. It keeps the church looking back to the cross and forward to the return of Christ.
Cross-References:
Isaiah 25:6-8: "In this mountain, Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines," The banquet of God’s Kingdom.
Psalm 118:1: "Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever." Part of the Passover hymn.
1 Corinthians 11:26: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes." The Supper looks forward.
Revelation 19:7: "Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come," The celebration to come.
Conclusion: At the end of the Last Supper Jesus solemnly declared that he would not drink the fruit of the vine again until he drank it anew in God’s Kingdom. His words were both a farewell before his death and a confident promise of the Kingdom beyond it. Then, after singing the Passover psalms of praise with his disciples, he went out to the Mount of Olives to face betrayal and the cross.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible