Preparation and Betrayal
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Mark 14:10-26
Mark 14:10-26
10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.
12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13 And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, 14 and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
This passage splits down into four sections;
verses 10-11 detailing Judas’s plot to betray Jesus,
verses 12-16 are about preparing the passover meal,
verses 17-20 as they are eating the passover Jesus shares that one of the 12 will betray him
Verses 22-25 Jesus inaugurates the Lord’s Supper
The key themes in this passage are:
Preparation - The greek word for ‘prepare’ appears four times in verses 12-16.
Betrayal - The word ‘betray’ also appears four times in this passage. This was a kairos moment! Interestingly it was on the fourth day that God created the planets, the sun and the moon to govern times and seasons. These two words appearing four times each in a funny way tell us another story - a story of God’s timing aligning. The disciples don’t know it, but they are about to live through the most important times in human history.
Sacrifice - As they ate the Passover, a bloody sacrifice of a lamb. Jesus, the lamb of God instituted the Lord’s supper, an unbloody sacrificial meal pointing to his own sacrifice for the sins of the world.
VERSES 10-11
I grew up on the Chronicles of Narnia, each year we would rewatch the BBC adaptations of the books by CS Lewis. In the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe one of the most important moments in the story happens at the Beaver’s dam. Mr and Mrs Beaver and the four Pevensey Children are enjoying supper together and are caught up in tales of Aslan and hope for the future when suddenly Lucy notices that Edmund has gone. Edmund, bitter and offended at the excitement of the others skulks off into the woods and makes for the White Witch’s castle to betray them all.
This is an almost exact picture of what is happening here - On that Tuesday evening at Bethany, as the woman anointed jesus with expensive perfume, Judas offended and bitter skulked off into Jerusalem to betray him to the chief priests.
In both cases - it was bitterness and greed that drove the betrayal. Edmund betrayed his own brothers and sisters for a box of turkish delight, Judas betrayed Christ for a sum of 30 pieces of silver; half the value of the perfume that the woman had poured out on Jesus’s head.
Bitterness and greed in the heart if left unchecked will cause great damage. Both lead to irrational behaviour; bitterness gives way to entitlement, greed gives way to foolishness.
Luke and John’s gospel tell us that Satan actually entered Judas and led him to betray Jesus.
2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,
Elsewhere in the New Testament we are told that it was actually God’s sovereign decree that Jesus would be betrayed:
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
So if Satan actually influenced Judas to betray Jesus, and if it was actually God’s sovereign decree that Jesus would be betrayed, how can God hold Judas responsible for his actions? But this is exactly what God does. Jesus himself says it in verse 21
21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
Is God sovereign over all the affairs of life? Yes. Are there spiritual forces at work in the world attempting to influence people? Yes. Are people still responsible for their actions? Yes.
VERSES 12-16
In verse 12 we pick things up on the Thursday of Passion Week, the day on which the Passover Lambs were being sacrificed. Jesus sends two of his disciples into Jerusalem to prepare a place for them to eat the passover. This passage is very reminiscent of the triumphal entry in chapter 11, when Jesus sent two disciples into Bethany to find a colt. Both passages are intended to show us that Jesus understands who He is - He knows His purpose and where He is going.
A man carrying a water jug would have been an unusual sight - only women and slaves carried water. So maybe his disiples were thinking what? Jesus you’ll have us chasing around for a needle in a haystack, but sure enough, just as Jesus promised there they find a man carrying water and he leads them directly to where they want to go.
It’s never a risk to follow Jesus. It’s never a risk. People say - you spell faith RISK but no that’s how you spell risk. Following Jesus is a sure bet, doing what he tells you to do is the least risky course of action you can take. However absurd his commands might seem to the world, we can trust them and that they will do us good. He will never let you down, never have you running in circles for no purpose, His word never returns void. He said you will find peace in a storm, he said you will find joy in suffering, he said you will find glory in making yourself lower. These things are only improbable if we take Jesus out of the equation.
Many think that this upper room could have actually been the same upper room of Acts 2, where Pentecost broke out, and the same upper room of Acts 4 , when Peter comes back after being led out of prison. It may have been Mark’s mother’s house.
These four verses are all about preparation - the disciples preparing the passover meal. Preparing to commemorate God’s deliverance of His people from slavery by sacrificing a lamb and consuming it. As they prepared this meal they were rehearsing what was about to happen to Jesus - they were being prepared for what was to come.
VERSES 17-21
The text tells us that when it was evening Jesus arrived with the rest of the twelve and they reclined at the table and ate the passover. God commanded the people to eat the first passover meal standing up, but after they arrived in the promised land they ate while lying down to show that they had entered into the rest of God’s promises.
Jesus then announces that one of those eating with him would betray him, and they disciples were greatly grieved and began to ask ‘is it I?’ And Jesus without revealing the identity of his betrayer outright, tells them that it is one of his twelve disciples.
Each of the twelve is utterly horrified at the thought of betraying Jesus, but before the sun rises each of them would betray Jesus. Not one disciple stood by him all the way through; each of them fled, others went into hiding, and Peter denied that he even knew him three times.
Let us remember that these were men who had walked with Jesus for three years, they had shared nearly every meal with him, but when the chips were down they failed him. Let’s never put too much faith in our own strength - let’s not be too impressed with our faith, but be poor in spirit, meek and humble.
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Now why was Judas’s betrayal counted as worse than Peter’s? For a number of reasons, it was premeditatied, it wasn’t out of fear, he had schemed and plotted to betray Jesus out of greed and malice.
The original Last Supper is attended by traitors (v. 18) and cowards (v. 50); it a table not of merit but of grace! - James Edwards
Doesn’t this give us confidence to come to the Lord’s table today? Knowing that Christ came and poured out his life for sinners, for failures, for cowards, for the broken. Remember that Christ built his church on the one who denied him three times.
If Christ forgave and loved those who betrayed him and let him down in his hour of need, so must we.
VERSES 22-26
Towards the end of the feast Christ took some bread, said a blessing and then broke it and gave it to them saying ‘take, this is my body.’ And then he took a cup of wine, gave thanks and passed it to them and they all drank of it. He said ‘this is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out for many.’
Debate has gone on for centuries about what exactly Jesus meant by those words, ‘this is my body’. The Roman Catholic Church holds that the bread, when blessed by the priest, actually becomes the real flesh of Christ, and as such it is venerated. But is that what Christ meant? Well, the passover meal itself was packed with significance. They ate bitter herbs to signify the bitter hardship of life in slavery. The herbs themselves didn’t become that bitter hardship - they represented it and served as a memorial to it.
Furthermore, Jesus makes several other statements like this; I am the door (john 10:7) and I am the bread of life (john 6:35), but of course no one assumes that Jesus had become a door at this point or a piece of bread.
This isn’t to make light of his statements here, but to show that we must proceed with care. What we can absolutely say is that Jesus tied his presence to this sacrament of the Lord’s supper, and in a very real way, when we take of the bread and the wine He is present by faith. And we all share in Him when we share the Lord’s supper. We are united in and by Christ in communion - made one through his body, made righteous by his blood. It’s a means of grace in our lives.
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