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Mark 14:23

in Mark 14

Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them: and they all drank of it.

KJV

And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.

This verse in Mark 14

Commentary

17 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

On the Sacraments, Book 4, Chapter 5 · Written before 397.

And before the words of Christ, the cup is full of wine and water: when the words of Christ have been spoken, there the blood of Christ is made, which redeemed the people. Therefore, see how mighty is the word of Christ in converting all things. Then the Lord Jesus himself testifies to us that we should receive his body and blood. Should we doubt his faith and testimony?

This site's exposition

He took the cup, gave thanks

on Mark 14:23-24

Jesus calls the cup My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, the words of Exodus 24:8 at Sinai. Mark adds no explanation and lets the covenant language carry the weight.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers5 voices

Daniel the disciple of Arsenius used to talk also about a hermit in Scetis, saying that he was a great man but simple in the faith, and in his ignorance he thought and said that the bread which we receive is not in very truth …

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

SERMON 227 · Written before 430.

proposed

You hold the sacraments in their order. First, after the prayer, you are admonished to lift up your hearts; this befits the members of Christ. For if you have become members of Christ, where is your head? Members have a head. If the head had not gone before, the members would not follow. Where did our head go? What did you recite in the Creed? On the third day, He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father. Therefore, our head is in Heaven. Thus when it is said: Lift up your hearts, you answer: We have them with the Lord. And so that you do not attribute the fact that you have your hearts with the Lord to your own strengths, merits, or labors—for it is a gift of God to have your heart lifted up to Him—the bishop or the priest who offers the sacrifice continues and says—when the people respond: We have them with the Lord—: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God, because we have our hearts with the Lord. Let us give thanks because if he did not give it, we would have our hearts on earth. And you attest by saying: It is right and just, that we should give thanks to Him who made us have our hearts lifted up to our head. Then, after the sanctification of God's sacrifice, because he willed that we ourselves should be his sacrifice—this was shown when the first sacrifice of God was laid down and we—meaning the sign of the reality—which we are; behold where the sanctification has been accomplished, we say the Lord's Prayer, which you have received and rendered. After it has been said: Peace be with you, and the Christians give each other a holy kiss. It is a sign of peace: as the lips show, let it be done in conscience, that is, just as your lips approach your brother's lips, let your heart not depart from his heart. Great indeed are the sacraments and very great indeed. Do you wish to know how they are commended? […]
Being mindful, therefore, of those things that He endured for our sakes, we give You thanks, O God Almighty, not in such a manner as we ought, but as we are able, and fulfil His constitution: "For in the same night that He was betrayed, He took bread" [1 Corinthians 11:23] in His holy and undefiled hands, and, looking up to You His God and Father, "He broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, This is the mystery of the new covenant: take of it, and eat. This is my body, which is broken for many, for the remission of sins." In like manner also "He took the cup," and mixed it of wine and water, and sanctified it, and delivered it to them, saying: "Drink all of this; for this is my blood which is shed for many, for the remission of sins: do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show forth my death until I come." Being mindful, therefore, of His passion, and death, and resurrection from the dead, and return into the heavens, and His future second appearing, wherein He is to come with glory and power to judge the quick and the dead, and to recompense to every one according to his works, we offer to You, our King and our God, according to His constitution, this bread and this cup, giving You thanks, through Him, that You have thought us worthy to stand before You, and to sacrifice to You; and we beseech You that You will mercifully look down upon these gifts which are here set before You, O God, who standest in need of none of our offerings. […]

A commentator

Didache

The Didache, Chapters 9-10 · Written before 100.

proposed

Now concerning the Thanksgiving (Eucharist), thus give thanks. First, concerning the cup: We thank thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which Thou madest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. And concerning the broken bread: We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou modest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever. But let no one eat or drink of your Thanksgiving (Eucharist), but they who have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord hath said, Give not that which is holy to the dogs. But after ye are filled, thus give thanks: We thank Thee, holy Father, for Thy holy name which Thou didst cause to tabernacle in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which Thou modest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Thou, Master almighty, didst create all things for Thy name's sake; Thou gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us Thou didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant. Before all things we thank Thee that Thou art mighty; to Thee be the glory for ever. Remember, Lord, Thy Church, to deliver it from all evil and to make it perfect in Thy love, and gather it from the four winds, sanctified for Thy kingdom which Thou hast prepared for it; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever. Let grace come, and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God (Son) of David! If any one is holy, let him come; if any one is not so, let him repent. Maran atha. Amen. […]

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 407.

proposed

(ubi sup.) Let there not be therefore a Judas at the table of the Lord; this sacrifice is spiritual food, for as bodily food, working on a belly filled with humours which are opposed to it, is hurtful, so this spiritual food if taken by one polluted with wickedness, rather brings him to perdition, not by its own nature, but through the fault of the recipient. Let therefore our mind be pure in all things, and our thought pure, for that sacrifice is pure. There follows: And he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many.
10 more voices on this verse

The Medieval Church4 voices

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 604.

proposed

(Mor. ii. 37) When His Passion was approaching, He is said to have taken bread and given thanks. He therefore gave thanks, who took upon Him the stripes of other men's wickedness; He who did nothing worthy of smiting, humbly gives a blessing in His Passion, to show us, what each should do when beaten for his own sins, since He Himself bore calmly the stripes due to the sin of others; furthermore to show us, what we who are the subjects of the Father should do under correction, when He who is His equal gave thanks under the lash.

A commentator

Bede

On the Gospel of Mark · Written before 735.

proposed

And taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. As he is said to be approaching his passion, he is reported to have given thanks when he took the bread. Therefore, he gives thanks, who bears …

A commentator

Bede

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 735.

proposed

(ubi sup.) The wine of the Lord's cup is mixed with water, because we should remain in Christ and Christ in us. For on the testimony of John, the waters are the people, and it is not lawful for any one to offer either wine alone, or water alone, lest such an oblation should mean that the head may be severed from the members, and either that Christ could suffer without love for our redemption, and that we can be saved or be offered to the Father without His Passion. (Apoc. 17:15) It goes on: And they all drank of it.
But in a mystical sense, the Lord transfigures into bread His body, which is the present Church, which is received in faith, is blessed in its number, is broken in its sufferings, is given in its examples, is taken in its doctrines; and He forms His Blood (formans sanguinem suum ap. Pseudo-Hier.) in the chalice of water and wine mingled together, that by one we may be purged from our sins, by the other redeemed from their punishment. For by the blood of the lamb our houses are preserved from the smiting of the Angel, and our enemies perish in the waters of the Red sea, which are the sacraments of the Church of Christ. Wherefore it goes on: And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them. For we are saved by the grace of the Lord, not by our own deserts. Happy intoxication, saving fulness, which the more we drink gives the greater sobriety of mind! Judas therefore drinks and is not satisfied, nor can he quench the thirst of the everlasting fire, because he unworthily partakes of the mysteries of Christ. There are some in the Church whom the sacrifice does not cleanse, but their foolish thought draws them on to sin, for they have plunged themselves in the stinking slough of cruelty.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The death Christ died was a bloody death, and frequent mention is made of the blood, the precious blood, as the pride of our redemption; for the blood is the life, and made atonement for the soul, Lev. xvii.
And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks,.... Over it, and for it, by blessing it, and appropriating it to the present use and service: he gave it to them; his disciples, and they all drank of it; Judas, as well as the rest, as he bid them do; See Gill on Mat 26:27.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Apply the doctrine of Christ crucified to yourselves, and let it be meat and drink to your souls, strengthening, nourishing, and refreshing, to you, and the support and comfort of your spiritual life.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

These verses contain Mark's account of the institution of the Lord's Supper. The simplicity of the description deserves special observation. Well would it have been for the Church, if men had not departed from the simple statements of Scripture about this blessed sacrament! It is a mournful fact that it has been corrupted by false explanations and superstitious additions, until its real meaning, in many parts of Christendom, is utterly unknown. Let us however, at present, dismiss from our minds all matters of controversy, and study the words of Mark with a view to our own personal edification.
These verses contain Mark's account of the institution of the Lord's Supper. The simplicity of the description deserves special observation. Well would it have been for the Church, if men had not departed from the simple statements of Scripture about this blessed sacrament! It is a mournful fact that it has been corrupted by false explanations and superstitious additions, until its real meaning, in many parts of Christendom, is utterly unknown. Let us however, at present, dismiss from our minds all matters of controversy, and study the words of Mark with a view to our own personal edification. Let us learn from the passage before us, that self-examination should precede the reception of the Lord's Supper . We cannot doubt that this was one object of our Lord's solemn warning, "One of you who eats with me shall betray me." He meant to stir up in the minds of his disciples, those very searchings of heart which are here so touchingly recorded — "They began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, Is it I?" He meant to teach His whole Church throughout the world, that the time of drawing near to the Lord's table should be a time for diligent self-inquiry. The benefit of the Lord's Supper depends entirely on the spirit and frame of mind in which we receive it. The bread which we there eat, and the wine which we there drink, have no power to do good to our souls, as medicine does good to our bodies, without the co-operation of our hearts and wills. They will not convey any blessing to us, by virtue of the minister's consecration, if we do not receive them rightly, worthily, and with faith. To assert, as some do, that the Lord's supper must do good to all communicants, whatever be the state of mind in which they receive it, is a monstrous and unscriptural figment of imagination, and has given rise to gross and wicked superstition.

Modern Voices1 voice

A commentator

GK Chesterton

Heretics, Ch. 7: Omar and the Sacred Vine (1905) (1905)

proposed

But Omar makes it, not a sacrament, but a medicine. He feasts because life is not joyful; he revels because he is not glad. "Drink," he says, "for you know not whence you come nor why. Drink, for you know not when you go nor …

How the passage was read

On Mark 14:12-26

On Mark 14:12-26

The meal on the table

Mark dates the meal precisely: “when they sacrificed the Passover lamb.” Passover (Pesach) was then a Temple feast: the lamb slain in the courts that afternoon, eaten that night with unleavened bread (matzah) and wine, in a room inside Jerusalem, in company: exactly the arrangements the disciples are sent to make. The hymn sung on the way out (14:26) would by long custom have been from the Hallel, Psalms 113–118, the Passover psalms: which means “the stone the builders rejected” (Psalm 118:22) was likely on His lips that night.

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Sources: Mishnah Pesachim 10 (the meal's order) · Psalm 118:22 (the Hallel's rejected stone)

The words behind it

11 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Corinthians 10:16

    Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?

    it leads to

    • 1 Corinthians 11:23–29

      For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread,

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Matthew 26:26–28

      While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”

    • Acts 2:42

      They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

    • Hebrews 3:14

      We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first.

    • 1 John 1:7

      But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

  • Through

    Mark 14:22

    While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it; this is My body.”

    it leads to

    • Matthew 26:26–29

      While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”

    • Mark 14:24

      He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

  • Through

    Romans 14:6

    He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; he who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord…

    it leads to

    • 1 Corinthians 10:30–31

      If I partake in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

Where this verse is studied

About Mark

The Judas Kiss — Gustave Doré (engraving), public domain
The Judas Kiss — Gustave Doré (engraving), public domain
This page draws on 16 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Ambrose of Milan, On the Sacraments, Book 4, Chapter 5; Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions (Book VIII), Section 2, XII; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 227; Bede, On the Gospel of Mark; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks; Didache, The Didache, Chapters 9-10; GK Chesterton, Heretics, Ch. 7: Omar and the Sacred Vine (1905); Gregory the Dialogist, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Pseudo-Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas.