“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it” (Mark 14:22-23).
This institution of the Lord’s Supper is also found in Matthew 26:27 and Luke 22:17. While all three accounts are substantially the same, Mark differs in that only he is specific in saying all the disciples drank from the same cup.
It is part of a larger point in Mark. Three verses later, Jesus tells his disciples they will all fall away. Peter replies: “even if all fall way, I will not.” Two verses later all the disciples say “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.” Finally, when Judas comes to betray Jesus in the garden, all the disciples flee (vs. 50).
Three points stand out to me: First, the table of the Lord is not a table of merit. It is a table of grace. Not one of those disciples deserved to sit in fellowship with Jesus. But they all did, and they all did at the invitation of Jesus. None of us comes to the table of the Lord worthy of the fellowship it provides. But by the grace of Christ, we join him, and one another, there. Second, we are either all in it together, or not in it at all. The table of the Lord reminds us we are one body. Third, we come not just to be reminded of who we are, but to be reminded of what Christ can make of us if we remain, together, in fellowship with Him.