Mark 14:12-21 — One of You

 Mark 14:12-21

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?”

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, 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?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 

And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 

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.” 

They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 

He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 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.”

Comments:

The disciples asked Jesus for directions...Jesus gave them some very specific instructions that revealed that nothing was outside of his knowledge. This miracle should have served to comfort the disciples as the day of his death approached.

v. 18 Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me." And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, "Is it I?" And another said, "Is it I?"

Jesus said one of them would betray him, but Jesus didn't treat any of them differently though he knew all along who it was. They didn't know who it would be. It made them sorrowful to think that one of their close group would betray Jesus, and secondly because each one began to wonder if it might be them. Why? Perhaps it was because they knew their own impure thoughts and weaknesses. This passage reminds me of John 8:1-11, where Jesus was confronted by the mob that wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery. He stooped and wrote in the sand saying, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Remember how, one by one, they dropped their rocks of accusation and self-righteousness in the sand of conviction and went home.

"The King's Game", Carved in the stones 
by Roman soldiers where Jesus was beaten.

Here in our Mark 14 passage, I picture Jesus looking around the room as he must have done (He didn't stare at Judas or they would have guessed) and each feeling the conviction in their hearts of their own sin. In fact, by their sins, each and all were guilty of betraying him—as are we today. We are not mere observers of the crucifixion, but participants. It was our sin that put Jesus on the cross. It was our sin that betrayed him with a kiss…that spit in his face…that beat him and whipped him…that drove the nails into his feet and hands…that dropped him savagely on the cross into the hole…pierced his side…and sealed his tomb.

But just as Jesus knew ahead of time the details for arranging the room to prepare for the Passover, he knew ahead of time the price to be paid to set us free from our sins—not just our mistakes, but our conscious choices to do the wrong thing. He chose to do it for us as an act of prodigal love. 

The crucifixion changes our perspective, his love melts our heart, and we go home different…no longer condemned. As Jesus said to that woman in John 8, 

         “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”