Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
All Commentaries on Mark 14:25 Go To Mark 14
Theophylact of Ochrid
AD 1107
That is, giving thanks, He brake it, which we also do, with the addition of some prayers. There follows: “And gave to them, and said, 'Take, eat: This is My Body.’ “.
That, namely, which I now give and which ye take. But the bread is not a mere figure of the Body of Christ, but is changed into the very Body of Christ. For the Lord said, “The bread which I give you is My Flesh.” But the Flesh of Christ is veiled from our eyes on account of our weakness, for bread and wine are things to which we are accustomed, if however we saw flesh and blood we could not bear to take them. For this reason the Lord bending Himself to our weakness keeps the forms of bread and wine, but changes the bread and wine into the reality of His Body and Blood.
Some say that Judas did not partake in these Mysteries, but that he went out before the Lord gave the Sacrament. Some again say that He gave him also of that Sacrament.
As if He had said, I will not drink wine until the Resurrection; for He calls His Resurrection “the kingdom", as He then reigned over death. But after His Resurrection He ate and drank with His disciples, shewing that it was He Himself who had suffered. But He drank it "new”, that is, in a new and strange manner, for He had not a body subject to suffering, and requiring food, but immortal and incorruptible. We may also understand it in this way. The vine is the Lord Himself. By the offspring (genimen) of the vine is meant mysteries, and the secret understanding, which He Himself begets (gererat), Who teaches man knowledge. But in the kingdom of God, that is, in the world to come, He will drink with His disciples mysteries and knowledge, teaching us new things, and revealing what He now hides.
